alt.torture is a Usenet group which was originally set up to discuss non-consensual torture and oppressive governments, but was hijacked by another group entirely when it went quiet.

Aimed at the more extreme BDSM audience, the group features fiction as well as discussion of ideas nearer to the edge of acceptibility than usual.

An unofficial motto of the group is:

"Fuck safe and sane, just keep it consensual"

One of the tenets of the worldwide BDSM community is "Safe, Sane and Consensual". These are the three characteristics of play which should always be present.

Examples of safe practise are avoiding unsafe sex, or any disease-spreading activity; making sure to check circulation during bondage, and testing the safe working load of any suspension devices (particulary as the submissive may be struggling).

Sane play involves not being under the influence of mind-altering substances, and not having any known psychoses.

Consent is required by both (or all) parties before play occurs, and usually the submissive partner has a safeword which will stop the scene. The concept of consent should really be extended to "informed consent" since everyone involved should not only agree to the activity, but should know exactly what it will involve, including any risks. It is through this mechanism (and common sense), for example, that minors are excluded from BDSM, since they cannot give informed consent.

As mentioned, alt.torture aims itself at "edge-players". These people perform acts which even the BDSM scene may find disturbing. Amongst the activities are play-drowning, knife-play, breath control, and heavy psychological scenes such as interrogation.

A smaller group still are on the edge of this group, and it is to those that the motto applies. They don't care how extreme a scene may become as long as any parties involved have consented to the activity.

It is debatable whether this is morally acceptible, since they are not soliciting the consent of the emergency services who may be called upon to pick up the pieces if something goes awry.