Quo vadis Domina? – The price of success

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?

,

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.

Nomasks, I have to admit that I struggled to understand not what you were saying, this was clear, but how it fits in the puzzle.

I would say that reviews are always an important component of a forum like this, but there are other important components too.

Even for reviews, what goes there is a subject for debate. Do all reviews have to be positive? Various people have different interests. It is pretty clear and expected that the activities we are interested in are different, not to mention that for instance I am less interested in a blow by blow description of a session than of what is in the eyes or mind of the mistress.

There is no mystery or conspiracy. Sorry, no wizard is lurking behind the curtains, pulling the strings.

My decision was based on an overwhelming amount of complaints from members.

Politics Forum Closure
( 1 2 all )
by DominaAdmin

http://domina.ms/~domroot/thebuzz/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=14823#Post14823

I have decided the "Politics" Forum should be deleted. The Buzz is first and foremost a Board dedicated to Female Domination. I have concluded that the Politics Forum is detracting from that goal.

I want to thank Cheyenne for all her work on this Forum. Attempting to herd cats is a thankless, and tiresome job.

I hope my decision leads to a more positive user experience.
_________________________
G.

Domina.ms Admin

I take issue with your repeated criticism of responsible moderation.

Domina.ms the Buzz is a board dedicated to Female Domination.

You seem to suffer from the misconception that professional reputations are not at stake.

From it's inception, until it's abandonment, the Hang was responsibly moderated! I know, I was there.

The wanton character assassination Mistresses have been subjected to elsewhere, will not be tolerated here!

While you might metaphorically refer to the Buzz as a zoo. I prefer to think of it as a national park. No poachers allowed.

If the park rules are to strict...there's always the jungle.

Trolls infested it to the point that even I asked for it to be removed. That was a shame because it was cool for a while. But, at some point it was too much of a distraction for a FemDom forum.

I almost hate posting this because it sounds like a major suck-up but I think you and the other mods do a great job of allowing things to play out with a light hand until they spin out of control (and even then you seem to give a lot of rope).

Moderation is generally a thankless job but I for one wish to thank you.

Asp

First I agree with Aspx that moderation is a thankless job, and that you are doing it well. The curse or blessing of a good referee is that the better he is the less visible he is. When a referee becomes the focus of attention (like let's say the ex president) it means he fails at the job.

So you can be assured that my reservations and doubts have nothing to do with you. I can give examples of abuses and errors of moderation done here, and I expect you would agree with me, at least for those specific cases.

I do not think that it is necessary, because the conflict between the concepts of forums and moderation is natural and unavoidable.

What makes a forum best is free speech and opening to the widest possible range of subjects and points of view.

Moderation is a big plus for highly technical forums where the moderator is an expert who can decide what the valid knowledge is as opposed to incorrect opinions.

Normally any forum should have rules of conduct which are usually the first thing you read before joining. When the rules of conduct are sensible and represent the shared values of the members you do not need moderators just to enforce them, because any member or any other member who will notice infractions will complain and enforce the shared values. You need an admin like yourself to implement the rules, and this is a job you do very well.

However the way this site started was different. You had subject admins having administrative powers for instance in the lobby, and I did have the case of an abusive one threatening me "Can't you see that my name is in green?"

This was corrected, and my reservations nowadays are more in principle. If you are libertarian, which I am, choosing a free market over a planned economy which btw becomes more and more fashionable, is consistent with seeing a system with a minimum number of rules as being superior.

What about the argument that the Buzz is dedicated to Female Domination and that we are speaking of real life professions that can be affected?

I am sympathetic to it, I hope you do not see my reticence as asking for license to attack and destroy. The conceptual problem with it is even if you buy the argument, what can you hope to achieve?

If somebody wants to attack a mistress there are lots of different places where he or she can do that. If you want to be able to defend her the more influence you have the better the chance to do it.

So to some extent you have a choice, do you want to be a sanctuary or do you want to be a popular site?

Your patience and tact in dealing with that section were amazing. There were a few guys completely overboard. I am not sure to what extent this was because of the subject matter or this is a sign of the times in that we are losing the tolerance to accept opposite point of views, especially in politics.

SERIOUSLY?!? You think we are losing tolerance for others opinions? That has to be the stupidest thing that I've read on this board in at least the last 3 months. We are incredibly tolerant of you, and people like you's, dumbass opinions... it is destroying not just the planet but the very fabric of the known universe (cosmic string warming is a scientific fact!!!).

If you are gonna spew this kind of crazy, go do it on MF or even better yet... get the hell out of my country you traitorous, commie, free-market, Muslim, libertarian, multi-lingual, snowflake, Keynesian, drug pushing, Papist, Al-Jazeera watching, dick trickle-down onto the carpet bastard.

However, please don't take the above as disagreeing with your perfectly valid and cogent points... I want to make clear that this is a vicious personal attack based on my unthinking visceral reaction to your general views and not a condemnation of the specific content of this post... Thank you for listening.

I love to hear a real patriot talking, but Keynesian? That hurts!

Hey... If the economic levers of government spending fits *shrug*