Common Protocols

This question came up on a Fetlife group about power exchange. It addresses one of my pet peeves within the community.

One nice thing the Goreans have going for them is the common slave positions. There is a single set of slave position protocols.

What are the common ties of power exchange in general?

I don't know that there are common protocols so much as there is a common etiquette in the public places where we gather. Protocol is intensely personal and individualized for each relationship. Even those with a written protocol for one relationship may find it necessary to change those protocols for other relationships.

Instead many M/s relationships operate with similar public models of behavior...executed in the individual modes of their protocol.

Being faced with a community overflowing with "50 Shaders" has reminded me of how annoying it is when new folks demand to know the universal leather or kink protocol. The truth is, there isn't one. There is an almost universal standard of etiquette, but even that varies based on geographical location and within age groups.