litaTshai
Posts: 31
Joined: 1/19/2004 Status: offline
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greetings to the Masters, Mistresses and slaves here. i post with Mistress's permission and thank All for the opportunity. first off i wish to leave a greeting and a big hug to Master Iron Bear of House Iron Bear, Whom i haven't seen in ages! *blowing sweet slave kisses, two-fingered Gorean style*. i'd like to send a hug for Neets as well, and greetings to Both of You from my Mistress. secondly, i wish to address this topic from the vantage point of years of experience as a legal secretary and related fields. which has, i grant you, made me cynical. in addition to the dozen or so perfectly valid reasons posted on this thread for not displaying pictures on their profiles, there is another one. a big one, and one that has been totally ignored here. unfortunately, in this day and age, predators in all flavors abound. they appear to abound even more so on the internet, which tends to offer them a certain degree of anonymity not available in real life. these predators go to the various web sites and look at pictures and profiles that ring the chimes of their particular preferences in victims, and make contact. not having pictures, and having cautious, general profiles, with not too specific information, helps make a person less likely to be selected for torture and/or death. for example, i spoke with a girlfriend last week who monitors her young son's e-mails and internet activity. she discovered a message from the daughter of a friend of hers, to her son. so to check, she created a fake name and contacted the girl on whatever IM it was they were using. she pretended to be a boy in the girl's age range, and got a picture, a phone number, and so on in 5 minutes. she asked the girl if they could meet and hang out in a nearby park. the girl asked if "she" were "one of those rapists", and when assured not, was willing to meet any time. this occurred during the week when a 13 year old girl on this very street in this tiny town had run away and the papers were full of the story, and the fears that the worst had happened. my friend of course contacted her friend and appraised her of her daughter's need for more safety cautioning. now you may think, "well, these are just kid who are too young to understand or know any better". however, the facts are that many adults are hardly less discriminating. and yes i'm revealing my age as i grew up in a time when discriminating was a good word and folks were taught to be discriminating and careful of whom they met and what they said and did. as for myself, it was years after i acquired a computer before i was able to have and operate a digital camera. nor did i have anyone else close to me who had one or the skills to oeprate it either. in my own case, yes, i do use a picture in my profile. however that is because i am old, and that picture drives off a large portion of the would-be predators all by itself. and yes there are kinds of predators who seek out the elderly. however let's just say i have other ways to discourage those. so, i am also very cautious and slow in getting to know people. i don't reveal myself quickly. i figure taking time pays off in the long run, as time allows any problem areas in a friendship or relationship to surface. it would tak a long time of relating to someone on-line before i would agree to meet face to face, and the precautions required might be daunting to some. i refuse to apologize for that, as having practiced that, i am still alive and unmaimed. now, if you feel that the fact that i don't lay out a photo gallery and lay bare my very soul before i even meet you or have any idea who you are makes me not worth your time, then so be it. you probably aren't worth mine either. respectfully submitted, lita {Tshai} Tshai's First Girl
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