At least two people have asked me to introduce myself in the forum, so here we go. 
I became a citizen of C.D.S. about one week ago when I bought a piece of land in Alpine Meadow after looking for a place with consistent cross-sim theme and a strong community. Democratic decision making together with shared ownership impressed me and so I started to look for a land here. I wish I had found this place much earlier but of course you can value a system more when you see the contrast between the old and the new. It must be said that it wasn't so easy to find this place.
There are pros and cons in both democracy and monarchy. My opinion is that most of SL sims are monarchies. If you have a good monarch it's very pleasant to live in his kingdom but the downside is that the monarchs don't rule forever and nobody knows how his successor continues. Democracy is kind to mainstream but sometimes tend to ignore minorities. I hope democracy in C.D.S. is able to understand minorities too because most of us belong to a minority in certain issues.
I have never seen an alpine style sim in SL and it was wonderful that one was found here. Maybe german/alpine style sims could be "the unique product" of C.D.S. (in addition to democracy). 
Of course the roman areas are well-made and good-looking too. Anyway I liked AM very much because of its theme and green nature look. After walking around a while a kind lady asked if I would like to buy land and offered to sell her second lot for me.
I have some experience in land business and building. In RL I live in Finland and hence English is not my native language that is probably evident if you have read this far.
The people here are very kind. C.D.S. seems to be a wonderful place to live for me.
