I was scared too, but I finally decided:

"what if I meet someone I know!"

For me, this is VERY likely. I have already met people I know now in this context, or at least know of / have met before.

As discussed in my original post, this is one of the things I was nervous about but... I decided that, well, if they're going to these things then, well, they're clearly ok with it!

"different preferences"

Yeah, pretty much everyone I talk to has different preferences to me and bdsm is super broad. But... I've found a lot of people in bdsm are super accepting of people's different preferences, even if they're not something they're into themselves.

Seriously, people can have some VERY oddly specific kinks.

In a twist, I've often been afraid of being seen as 'too vanilla' actually which is why I've shied away from bdsm-related things. But... I think people are ok with people liking different things in different ways at different levels.