h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was mooching around the Guide t'other day when it occurred to me to search for something to do with BDSM. Not a sausage! (I didn't find this article then.) I reckon there should be something dealing with all the other business involved in the general scene, including consensual sadomasochism, B&D, and basic definitions of related fields like fetishism etc. A convenient one-stop. I was going to do this all alone, but it's so very large and complex; besides, has it already been done and I just missed it? If not, would anyone like to collaborate?
Sees huge group effort on the horizon...

Seems like you got yourself a http://www.h2g2.com/university project there!

My advice would be to start small - write a small entry on just one of those topics (or one part of one of those topics) - and move on to greater things once you've done that. But hey - you wanna aim high - you go girl! (or boy! )

You could also read this recently edited entry: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A545159 - and/or comment on this thread in Peer Review: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F48874?thread=119823 I'm sure there are others - but those two spring to mind... :)

Girl, I think.
I envisaged it as something that could be added to whenever I, or anyone interested, thought of something new. Good to see there's a market for it.

Gosh, I believe that was my first simulpost!
I may have to go for a nice lie-down.

Well, currently it's a lot easier to add new entries than update old ones. Irritating but true.

Hmmm...
I've never seen anyone with a dog. I did once watch someone (wearing a fetching gas mask) trying to reach a bowl of chips across a table whilst wearing wrist cuffs. I'm afraid I did laugh, but I was at a safe distance.

I'd like to get more input from other users before writing anything for definate.

I'm always keen to help with this sort of thing.

Gives the term "research" a whole new meaning...

Oh, I can trust you. I trust anyone who's replied to at least 2 of my postings.
Any ideas for starting this magnum opus?

Hmm, yes, A very good idea. I'm going offline to do some research.
Where to start? I'd start with the legal issues about SM. Maybe.

And the attitudes of those who are non-involved and/or know nothing about the topic. I wasn't aware that people were so hostile until recently- the overwhelming misconception seems to be that it's men who want to rape and lord it over women.
How wrong they are... (sigh)

I tend to keep my lifestyle quiet apart from my closest friends, (and h2g2 of course).
You're right, there are more submissive men than there are dominant men it sometimes seems, but I like dominant men. Then we have to keep that quiet a bit, as I don't want people thinking my bloke is a woman beater, when he's not.

We have to keep it all extremely high-secret, since neither of us is living independently (of family). This can sometimes get very farcical, such as when I'm posting to threads like this on our home computer. It's not as if you can 'come out' as a BDSM type.

We have to keep it all extremely high-secret, since neither of us is living independently (of family). This can sometimes get very farcical, such as when I'm posting to threads like this on our home computer. It's not as if you can 'come out' as a BDSM type.

That does sound awkward. I told my brothers, and one of them was delighted, he seemed very pleased. "My sister's kinky" he kept saying with a big grin on his face. Another one even got off the phone to hear more when I told him. Now he's been spreading it around that I'm a 'dyke', the stupid boy.
I think my parents would start disliking my partner if they knew what we did, as they wouldn't understand. And they've only just accepted him.

At first, I thought it was something that everyone did, to some extent. Now I know better (I feel rather special).
The few friends who I've told think it's a great laugh. Once I showed them all our 'hardware', piece by piece, and gave a mini-demonstration of the joys of Flexisex bondage tape. (Hence the phrase 'You can't see the join!' has become widely used among us.) However, this does mean there's a danger they'll forget themselves and make an awkward remark in the wrong company- it's bad enough being followed around by people making lash-type noises.

heh - went out and got friends mentioned that a certain pub in Leicester - responded - "Ooh, does it have a torture chamber too?".

Oops...

Leicester! Are you local? If so, have you been to the Birmingham Bizarre Bazaar?

should be: "mentioned that a certain pub in Leicester *had a dungeon*"

Nope - I'm actually Cambridge based, right at the moment - though that may change. I hope so!