One of the perks of being Editor is the ability to spout off when the mood hits me. It has hit me now! I'm tired. Tired of uppity submissives and omnipotent dominants who feel that they are practicing the 'one true way' of doing things and of conducting themselves and if the rest of us lowly kinksters wish to be worthy we must follow their pristine example. BAH!

Masters and dominants run around mentoring newbies to the 'ways' of BDSM (groan), the 'right' way to do this and that, the people to be 'warned' against, the groups that you shouldn't go near. Submissives speak with syrupy politeness and then turn around and stab each other in the back with the innocence of a viper. Give me a break.

Individual 'leaders' attack other leaders, their jealousy and insecurity far surpassing any sense of fair play that might have once graced their brain. Paranoia runs rampant, and people are taking things on a personal level that had nothing to do with them in the first place, hence increasing the animosity in various communities (both online and off).

Communities are at war with each other, both internally and externally as various factions strive to be the biggest, fastest, and most righteous. And all the while EVERYBODY moans and groans about the degeneration of protocol and integrity that has eroded BDSM since the inception of the Internet. As if the kink community must stay entrenched in the 'old ways' and shouldn't dare to evolve the way any other community does.

We are not one big community; we haven't been for years. We are a culture, with a set of basic principles that we share. Much like a shared religion or nationality we are a group of people with some common ground that chooses to celebrate our beliefs in a million different ways. One is not better or worse than the other folks. We are individuals, who are allowed individual expression. We are evolving, moving forward, changing with the times. Accept it. Accept your neighbor. You are under no obligation to follow their ways but they are under no obligation to follow yours either.

It's time for the members of the BDSM culture to grow up and accept that if we continue to battle between ourselves we are never going to find acceptance outside our little world. If we can't accept each other, why should the rest of the world accept us? And isn't that what we all really want? To be able to walk the streets without hiding who we are?

Nuff said!

Something I'm proud of is how The Dominant's View offers such a high caliber of information to member of the BDSM culture at large. We get bigger every issue and more people read us every issue. However, our success is also our albatross and we find we can no longer get free hosting. Throughout the zine you will find buttons asking for donations, we need them to keep TDV alive. Please, if you have a spare $5, consider sending it our way. We'll be moving to a new server this month and will have to start paying to keep the site up. For now the money will come from my own rather empty pocket, and I'm not sure how long I can keep that up. In the meantime I'll be attempting to generate cash flow through paid advertising and affiliate programs. Any and all help from you, dear reader, will be greatly appreciated. Visit our new bookstore to browse some of the best educational BDSM books availabie or do all your online book shopping through our link to Barnes & Nobel - we recieve a commission on anything you buy.

On to bigger and better things - like this issue of TDV. We're packed with goodies again to keep the discriminating dominant in food for thought and various tips and tricks. Our dungeon has a little bit for everybody this issue including plans for a Horse and flogging basics and a wonderful list of pervertables.

Truth and beauty, our personal perceptions that draw us to our kink, Virgo discusses Aesthetics and BDSM. Our Features section contains many personal views, from coming out to your family to one master's view on slavery, submission and control.

Do you love to leave marks upon your submissive? But your submissive doesn't like pain so the marks are few and far between? Check out Sub Missives, hear one submissive's way of dealing with this problem.

We have delicious erotica from Echous and Lizbeth Dusseau as well as a wonderful variety of poetry that is beyond normal 'Ode to a Master' topic seen in most venues. Our BDSM Art and our Amateur Photography pages will fill your eyes with beautiful women as we show Krysztof Nemeth's art and Sir Charles' images.

As has come to be our standard, there's more in Issue 23 than we are able to mention. Please, grab yourself a cup of Java or your beverage of choice and enjoy The Dominant's View. Your feedback is always welcome in our Forum or via email to the individual contributors or myself.

All the best in 2004!
Kayla Kuffs
Editor