Well as I mentioned in another post, I followed Jade over here. She posted on her forum that she would be appearing in the Bondage X-Factor, so I waited patiently until Hywel posted the X-Factor shots, then joined, voted for Jade, and enjoyed the images.

The site is enjoyable and the picture and model quality are both top-notch. Several of the models are exceptional, but if one is diligent, one can find exceptional models lots of places on the web.

Bondage theme sites are not as numerous, of course, and I have to admit that bondage models tend to look harder and rougher and less girly than, say, standard adult non-fetish sites. In that respect, the majority of the Restrained Elegance models still look very much, umm, girly (for lack of a better word). Everyone has personal preferences and I tend to enjoy very feminine submissive models in bondage. So I am sticking around primarily to see more Jade but also because Hywel has excellent taste and I like what I see.

Plus, it JUST SO HAPPENED that the membership price dropped right about the time I was deciding and so I got a good deal. And now of course I’m trapped because the price is going up and it sounds like my membership is grandfathered at the lower rate. So if I quit and rejoin there’s a penalty.

And, you know, two updates a day is a VERY GOOD DEAL, even if one is from the archives. Since I’m new, I haven’t seen the archived shoots anyway. It was a treat to see an archived Stacy Burke shoot a day or so ago. And it was a pleasant surprise to find Chanta here. And the occasional video is nice as well. Gee, it sure would be cool to see a video of Jade and Chanta. :;):

Also, I tend to join a site for a month once or twice a year, catch up on posts, then move on. Those sites generally update weekly and seeing new content only four out of every 30 days isn’t as engaging. This is actually the first site I am considering staying with on a regular basis.

And I like reading the forums. And while this forum is not as busy as some, it is almost always interesting. And you get bonus points for having posters who don’t use terms like n00b, teh hotness, pwnage, etc. The occasional LOL doesn’t bother me but my preference is English over Leetspeak.

That’s my story.

I came across RE through google years ago. The first set I saw was Myla in a pink catsuit. Completely caught my imagination, signed up as a member straight away and never looked back!

I’ve looked through other web sites but there’s nothing as stylish as RE. I got fed up with seeing poor quality images with very unimaginative ties, terrible rigging techniques and you get the sense everything was just thrown together. This is why I think RE clearly stands out from other sites and it definitely ticks all my boxes.

Kate – love your thinking here, Hywel making more money to be to be even more mean and evel to Ariel….. Nice… :cheers

I discovered this site looking for pictures of Rosaleen Young, kept returning to check out the previews, and eventually joined to see more girls wearing ball-gags and more Belle. :stiffdrink

My Story is very much like Marius.
I too had come across Jasmine Sinclair and found RE linked to some of her pics. I was smitten by her pics, in the days before she changed her hair colour. Then I followed RE for a while before I even found out about the forum, and well the rest is history.
What kept me here? Well I think its a cross between the quality and effort that is put in to the pictures and the community. Also I think its nice to interact with the Models, Kate and Hywel.

Hi Kate,

I’d come across examples of Hywel’s work at various times on the internet, eg unintended search results on usenet binaries, and been rather taken with quality of them both photgraphically and artistically. Compared to many others which were, well the words that spring to mind are tawdry, exploitative, misogynistic …. with in many cases any feeling of consensuality, enjoyment or fantasy missing, I guess by virtue of the fact you are reading this you know what I mean…..

To get back to the plot it wasn’t until I mistyped aerial in a google search that I came across RE proper, looked at the preview, saw the site was seemingly run by a real person with a real passion not a faceless porn corporation. Did a quick Google on Hywel, decided he was indeed a real person, had a few doubts about how comfortable I would/should be looking at the pictures/videos) and joined for three months …………… coming up for a year ago.

So Kate to your market research, many of the others have comented about the great content, so I won’t repeat it, but rather talk about a couple of things that held me back.
Firstly one of the things that stopped me searching RE out a few years ago was not wanting to hand my credit card details over to some faceless corporation for repetitive billing, with all the grief (and embarrassment) that could follow if it went wrong.
Secondly whilst I had only enjoyed bondage as a participant, if I was going to become a voyeur as it were, I had to be sure the site was … I suppose the word is ethical, especially that the models were taking part freely and, enjoying the experience, even if acting the contry or doing things outside my comfort zone. Not being forced either literally or by force of circumstance to take part.

I guess what I’m saying is in addtion to simply knowing about the site and it’s content, people have to feel comfortable for a myriad of reasons, in joining up.

Frank

Thank you Kate for the questions. I too saw your pictures on Restrained elegance and have been joined many years. You are beautiful. Maybe you model again here?