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I'm actually glad you didn't start a thread on the process. Nine times out of ten, those tend to be nothing more than opportunities for people to complain about the way others handle their affairs. My usual response to that is that I have no need for other folks to dictate how I handle My own writing style. LOL.

My purpose in using it has actually grown over the years. The primary idea behind it is, in a dynamic, it can help some achieve a better submissive mindset. It does take something of a shift in thinking to change those capitals around and it can be a very effective tool in doing that. In My opinion, that should always be one of the underlying purposes of having rituals and protocols in the first place. It helps to keep the roles very clear.

One of the first things that I'll ask people who come around with the issue that their relationship has seemed to slip more to a vanilla pairing than a D/s dynamic, is what kind of rituals and protocols that they have in place. In almost every case, the response is that there aren't any. There's no affirmation of roles. This is where some folks drift from the mindset of spark or inspiration. Complacency sets in and they drift away from the power structure. That's probably a bit more than you're asking, so I'll move along.

Very specifically in My dynamic with clip, I never want there to be a doubt that I own his submission. Having him write in a specific style helps with that. It allows him to get in touch with that part of himself no matter what he is doing. It's one of the easiest training tools to work with something that doesn't come easily, but is just a little reminder of his place with Me.

The question that I usually get asked at this point is, even if that makes sense on clip's end, why do I do the same? The answer for that is common sense to Me. If I tell him that something is important in the dynamic, doesn't it have to be important to Me as well? The truth of the matter is no protocol or ritual can have the same effect if only one person participates. There should always be a response. Think of it the same you would if you had a relationship where you would always tell the woman you loved how you felt about her, but she did nothing in return. Not even a smile to acknowledge how you felt. Most people wouldn't have a very good feeling about that and eventually, it would have a negative effect.

So, that answers the part about within the dynamic. Why do I do it with others? One of the reasons is that, in certain cases, in can have the same positive effects. It helps them to change their thinking habits and feel more in touch with their submission inside of them. That can help them stay in tune with who they are even if they don't have someone to serve just now. It can be a good feeling for them and I like being a part of that.

What will drive Me nuts is when people will get on the boards and start complaining about how incorrect caps or third person speech bothers them in some way. We're here on this site because we have a difference in us that most of the world can't accept us in the way we express ourselves. Are we really going to sit here and say even amongst our own, it's not acceptable? I don't want to see that happening. The fact that there is a few of us on the boards who are willing to say that people can bitch about it all they want and we're going to do it anyway helps those who feel they are being shut down by the capitals police.

Of course, there's always the standard fall back reason. I'm the one in charge around here and it's done because I say so. While I may have other contributing factors, that really is the only one that I ever need.

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ORIGINAL: LadyPact

I almost kind of laugh when this topic comes up anymore.  Everybody familiar with Me on these boards knows I'm one of the biggest offenders on the cap thing.  I sit back and read the posts from folks who say they skip over those of us in the minority who do the protocol capping, and even worse <gasp> instruct our submissives to do it.  That proper English horse gets pretty high as some (not all) look down their noses at us protocol cappers.

Yet, darn near every time the subject comes up, I go back and look at those who say they skip over posts where Dominants cap themselves, and nine times out of ten it's someone who has said on the boards or written a private message to say they respected or admired something I wrote.  This leads Me to believe that the whole big deal about that huge capital "M" issue, isn't really that big of a deal at all.  Like undergroundsea said, it's more about the content than the capitalization. 

As to the OP, the answer is simple.  Do what your Dominant has instructed you to do.  Lacking that instruction, express yourself in the way that best fits you.  If that's proper English caps, protocol caps for the D and lowercase for you, third person speak, or any other way you want to write that conveys the message that's inside of you.  At the end of the day, that's usually more important than what other people think anyway.

From the desk of the imperfect, protocol capping Lady Pact.

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ORIGINAL: lovingpet

As far as it reflecting poorly on people's grasp of the language, I have many other ways of evaluating that. I can overlook what is clearly protocol based. What I can't do, is use superficial means to determine the intellect, character, or worth of another. I have taught far too many gifted students with serious disabilities such as dyslexia to ever believe that spelling, grammar, and punctuation were the hallmarks of great mental ability. In fact, closer study reveals many great minds possessed absolutely none of these much prized skills. I do not accept laziness in writing and can tell the difference, but I do not fault a person for having a mind too full of ideas to have room for the formalities.

Good topic!

lovingpet

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I've always been one to pick writing in grammatically proper sentences over specific protocols which are common in terms of capitalization and such in the context of the internet BDSM scene. I probably qualify as a "grammar nazi."

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ORIGINAL: NihilusZero
I'm not sure where the problem is with capitalization being non-grammatical. Words and titles are capitalized normally as an honorific display or to differentiate terms from where they would be used in different contexts.

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ORIGINAL: DesFIP

The slashy speak stuff annoys me no end. It's also difficult to read.