Remember when the sister site MF so hated by some was about to die and Domina was hoping to take the torch and become the new and improved MF 2.0?

There were differences and many here were seeing them as pluses:

- MF was barely getting by as software, while Domina was brand new and well administered;

- MF was self-governing while Domina was moderated;

- Most of the posters at MF were men, a much greater percentage of Domina posts came from mistresses;

- MF was looking like having survived multiple world wars while Domina looked like a proof of concept;

- MF had a New York accent while Domina had a Southern drawl.

What happened since? Things did not work as expected. It was mostly a muddle through by both sites, resulting in a convergence where they do not differ that much, and this might be a good thing. As the general climate towards SW became more hostile there is a little safety in numbers and duplication.

But what if Domina got everything it wished for when it started? (be careful what you whish for).

Let’s make a nice thought experiment or Gedankenexperiment and let’s think that MF would disappear, and Domina get all the MF users then some. What it would look like?

It would look like a site with a lot more traffic, a lot more posts, and a shifting culture. You have to remember, there was a time MF was new and it was moderated many years after.

The biggest change would come from the composition of the crowd. What gave Domina its distinctive flavor was a very high ratio of women to men, maybe 1 for 10. As the number of members would increase it would eventually reflect the real BDSM population at large, maybe 1 for 50 to 1 for 100.

Out of that 100 men maybe 10 would ask provocative questions, and 5 be troublesome for the simple uncomplicated souls believing in female supremacy as the one size fits all for all aspects of BDSM. Not all the women would be moderators, and those who are would have their hands full. The well managed well behaved zoo would risk turning into a jungle.

So what would Domina look like? Like MF with more reliable software.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I need to think about this in some detail. My off the top of my head first response starts with noting that I was never completely happy with the notion that this place was merely the Max Fisch Old Timers Refugee Camp.

I have gotten into the habit of quoting old threads. I will now dredge up another:

http://domina.ms/~domroot/thebuzz/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2106#Post2106

"But what if Domina got everything it wished for when it started? (be careful what you whish for)."

Can you clarify what you mean by "when it started"? Domina.ms has been around since Oct 2015. I get the idea now and then that some posters think it only got started in the summer of 2019 when there was the MF Death Watch Scare which generated a large influx of new users.

Hi Thomas. Thank you for the link, it was instructive. As you probably know I joined with the last wave of immigrants and I had doubts because I was sentimentally attached to MF. Many good memories.

It looks like Mistress Ayn had a pretty good feeling about the way things were working between waves.

My impression was that we were the second wave and that Domina was started on a first wave of immigration under similar conditions, and had a long low between the two waves.

I had doubts from the beginning about moderation and they have not been allayed. I have seen moderation mistakes as well as successes, to me it is a tradeoff and a mixed blessing. Would you rather live in a zoo or in a jungle? Each has its own risks.

My point though was different. I firmly believe that while we have free will and can make a difference we are largely a product of our circumstances. That goes for Domina and MF.

Personally I am glad that they both exist and I see them as sister sites. But the point I was making was that if Domina had as many members and as long a history as MF it would end pretty much looking like it.

... And I think that is the time that for those of us who enjoyed MF, we look back fondly upon it.

My understanding is that The Buzz was very much supposed to have the same look/feel of MF, and eventually the same basic membership, b/c it was set up as a replacement when it looked like MF was going to disappear and Domina.ms was willing to jump in and save that community by providing this forum.

As for the "good ole days" of The Buzz (from founding to the MF influx of 2018), yea... I loved it because the discussions tended to go deeper rather than simple surface questions (even if it took a long time to play out a thread). But, that doesn't mean it was better or if there was just one site for all of us it would be any worse.

This and everything else is true. But we were also younger and there was less competition from other forms of media. The grass always looks greener in the good old days

Another site intended as a Maxfisch "replacement" I remember was All Star Dommes. As I recall it had a significant Domme presence with lots of interactions but seemed to disappear quite quickly. I see the domain name now shows as available when you search for it.

I recall having an extensive discussion with Miss Grey (mygreyheaven) and a couple of other Dommes and subs regarding the logistics and practical aspects of extended (24-48 hour+) captivity type sessions. I think Miss Darcy was active there too although I seem to recall the Dommes were largely west coast based. There was one who I think had been a protege of Eisianna Eiger of SF but her name won't come to me. I think she just used a first and last name without any title.....Tara something maybe? edit....It came to me....I'm pretty sure it was Tara Stirling

My recollections are a little hazy....anybody else remember any details?

All Star Domms was around for a couple of years. Eisanna joined it when she closed her forum. She eventually retired from the scene entirely. A lot of people have gone their own way over the years. The strong presence of social media and life style groups have also replaced this type of discussion forum. Being a creature of habit, I'm glad this site and MF is still going. :-)

furfan, Could it be Mistress Gina you were thinking of?

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Would it have a Political Section? We started without one, then we had one for a while but now we are again without one. MF has one from what I can see when I lurk over there it gets more new posts there than their Lobby. In a situation where MF has disappeared and Domina.ms has absorbed most of its membership I would see a continual problem trying to interject politics into the Lobby and the OT forum here. This alone would create frequent aggravation for the mods.

What happened to the politics section here? Not that I was a big fan, I posted only once, but who takes this kind of decisions and based on what? I notice that there are sections with no posts for months, and some of them I am happy that they are still around and hope they will revive, while others I don't care for.

But that's not the point, probably somebody else does. But once you have a section which attracts involvement why stop it? Is there an elite which decides what flies and what does not? I think that these are the kind of decisions you consider carefully and publish before you start a site.

You might have a beloved leader or a council taking the decisions, or you publish a manifesto, or you need wide consensus.