I recently signed up to a site called BDSM-date (thir finally persuaded me that I need to find some play toys while she's so ill.) It's a long time since I've had to do with the contacts scene, and I was interested to see if it's changed.

The first new thing that struck me was a large number of supposed femsub wanabe slaves whose adverts ring very false. Not only are they way too good to be true, literally ticking all the boxes for what they're into, but their texts, as well as being seriously illiterate, keep coming up with the same boilerplate phrases. All of them claim to be looking for a full time r/l Master.

I would love to believe that the world is suddenly full of nubile masochistic slavegirls begging to be owned, just as I'd love to believe that someone in Nigeria wants to pay me a fortune or that I've won a lottery I never entered; but what I'm trying to guess is, what's the scam? BDSMdate has a box on the profile called "sponsored," which I assume is a euphemism for "professional," but none of these characters tick that box; so if they're going to ask for money they'll have to do it later when they've got someone hooked. Or are they playing a longer game and looking for a sugar daddy? Most of them, according to their profile pictures, are African or Caribbean, the majority give their location as London but they're all over the place. Is someone coaching them in these incoherent scripts cut and pasted from cheap BDSM porn, and if so, what's in it for them? An enquiring mind would like to know.