Here’s a segment of something I almost put into a post on a BDSM mailing list. I ran it buy the friend who passes for my manner checker and it seems a bit harsh especially as it may be misinterpreted as an attack on anyone specific. Ah well. Here is is for posterity.
(on the topic of titles being considered important)
“I do too. In fact I consider them so important I generally only give them credence when someone has earned it, from me, specifically. Seniority, being around when the dinosaurs roamed, building dungeons with ones own urine for mortar and so on don’t count.
Hell, every year at some event I didn’t go to someone gets crowned “mr/miss/leather/butt boy/perfect sub” – they get a sash and everything. They rarely meet my criteria for paddle rack.
That a bunch of people I don’t share criteria with all got together and gave them a title won’t ever mean a damn thing to me. And that’s true for all titles.”