About online etiquette
Time to speak out about online etiquette. While I’m aware of the content we share and how it can come across, we merely share to inspire. Our images are aimed towards the aesthetic side of our fetishes. Our profile descriptions have also always been quite clear. Despite that, you still encounter followers who think it’s normal to make rude remarks or, worse, share their genitals in the DM. And yes, despite having ‘straight male’ in my profile in the past, I’ve received various horrendous images which are best described as ‘mushrooms in the grass’.
Shortly after our relationship started, we agreed that trust is very important to us. Hence, we both have access to each other’s phones, online accounts, etc., so we can always read along. It gave me quite an impression about the stuff some people (read men) send rather bluntly. Sometimes women speak out about the things they receive in their DMs, and I would occasionally say, ‘I’m sometimes embarrassed by my kind.’
Many years ago I was already made aware of this behaviour. After a motorcycle accident I was stuck at home and bored, so I started chatting randomly on MSN Messenger. Later on she told that I was the first man that didn’t ask about her cup size in the first contact. It’s hard to understand why you would want to ask random women about the size of their chest imho; I just didn’t get it while many seem to have no clue about the online etiquette.
After years of online activity and talking to various people, you learn that there is a group of people who think it’s normal to act rude. When it comes to Fetish Erotica, I’ve always been very protective of her and responded to people who misbehaved themselves in the comments or DM. She is such an amazing woman, and she should be treated like that. Just as any other man or woman who runs an online profile should be treated with the greatest respect.
My go-to comment for rude people: if you can’t say it to a stranger in a bar, you can’t say it on social media or in a DM. It’s really that simple. Before sending anything in the DM, read a profile! That usually gives some basic info about the person you want to get in touch with. And trust me, sharing unsolicited explicit fantasies or dick pics are not the way to start a conversation.
Because of the misbehaviour of a group of people, I sometimes used to say I was embarrassed about my kind. On the other hand, they’ve made my life easy! As I truly believe in ‘Always be a gentleman’, the first contact was always respectable, even in the fetish scene. You first want to learn if there is a connection; anything else comes at a later moment. Sometimes I wonder how successful people without an online etiquette actually are. Can’t imagine those keyboard warriors finding themselves in the situations they dream of.
Looking back at what I’ve found in my personal DMs in the past decade, there are a few screenshots that remain. The random dick pics have always baffled me. Why does anyone send something like that without consent? The same goes for love hearts and ‘I love you’ comments. I always ignored it, like anything that I don’t want to waste my time on. Like a ‘Hi’ and single emoticons. On the other hand, I’ve always responded to meaningful messages. Often resulting in online friendships.
If you want to get in touch with someone, just know your online etiquette and always be a gentleman. Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say to a stranger in a bar, even in our fetish world. In the end, as far as I know, everyone in our community is just a normal person (with a fetish) and their own standards. Just start any conversation with a normal sentence or question. And for those with fantasies about a rubber partner, bring something to the table.
Fetics
