A Tickling "Community"

[Spenser]

Do you think there is such a thing as a tickling "community" or is it more like we are sort of all out seeking our individual 'paths' of tickling?

Spenser

 

[method11236]

I prefer to think of it as a Tickling Market. The community is secondary to the media producers. If the oligarchy of tickle-media producers disappeared, so would the "community".

 

[Spenser]

Interesting... but.... I was 'tickling' before the media (video, dvd, etc., etc.) were around. Dunno if they're really connected, but you've got an 'interesting' pov. Maybe only those who look at videos will 'go away' ?

Spenser

 

[cloudgazer2k]

i see it as a community because of the exchange of ideas, thoughts and emotions that goes on in here. maybe some people would vanish if the tickling producers up and left, but i think there would still be people here that would continue with the stories, or the pics, or their own home-made videos. and then there's all the non-tickling interaction here as well. people have made friends, met future spouses, and have had many adventures. we have cried on each other's shoulders, cheered with the birth of someone's child, celebrated birthdays and mourned losses.
if that don't say "community"...i don't know what does.

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

I think it's many different thigns to many different people.

Personally, I come here to share thoughts with community. When there is little community spirit, I tend to not hang around as much. I don't tend to post requesting stuff. I don't tend to post sharing experiences very often. Actually, I don't post in TD very often. I mainly post in GD, where we get to find out a bit of who the other people are. That's my interest.

But, I fully recognize and can appreciate that there are a variety of other views towards joining in places like this forum. There are those who are looking for someone to play/be friends with. There are those who are here for stories, images and/or clips. There are those looking for specific tidbits that they haven't seen in a while. The list likely could go on for a long time.

A look at the number of registered members as opposed to those who actually post suggests that many aren't interested in community. I used to get all worked up over that. But, no more. Everyone has to follow what they themselves are after. As long as they aren't here to create problems for others, it's no biggie. To each their own.

 

[drew70]

Do you think there is such a thing as a tickling "community" or is it more like we are sort of all out seeking our individual 'paths' of tickling?

Spenser

I used to smirk at references to us as a "community" but I no longer do so. I think there is definitely a community here and not because of the marketers. In my opinion, they are here because we are here, not vice versa.

Spenser, I think that everybody follows and seeks out their individual paths of tickling, but there's enough overlap and likemindedness that bring many of us together.

 

[BellaRisa]

Yes Virginia, there *is* a tickling community 🙂

I see this quite differently. If the media producers disappeared, the people who are here soley (har! 😀 ) for tk material would certainly go with them; the actual community is what you'd have left. There are plenty of people here-not the majority by any means but definitely plenty-who could give a mouse's patoot about most vids and clips, and instead come here primarily to chat up and mingle with other tickling folk. They're the ones who participate in lots of thread topics, including ones that have little or nothing to do with tickling, attend gatherings like NEST...that kind of thing. They're friends outside this forum, hang out with each other and would be there in a minute if that friend needed help...there's most definitely a community, one to which lots of us are proud to belong

Bella

 

[steph]

Right. No disrespect to the vid producers here~bless you for getting to earn a living doing what we love, but I spend relatively little time watching, I'm a doer🙂 I come here for the lers and lees who IRL have won over my (read: if there were no vids, you'd still be stuck w/my megawatt smile and crazy-ass f'up sense of humor making all the noise possible round here...) 😛
Rocking it live at TMF since '03!
XOXO

 

[Spenser]

Thank you all!
--Exactly-- as I had suspected, those of you/us who have regularly given and received and shared in the real life participation of these wonderfully gratifying acts are indeed the ones who view this whole delightful bunch as "community".

'Ere you go. Maybe not a real high 'percentage' of the whole, but certainly the very ones who truly do --count-the-Most--.

Spenser

 

[spareme]

I haven't been here very long so maybe I don't have the right to say, but I never thought for one minute that this wasn't a community. There is such an amazing amount of diversity, and understanding between members, that I don't know what else you'd call it. I have never seen a group of people that got along so well and yet were so different. There are different needs, longings, and hopes, for each little subgroup of Tickling in this forum. Yet every member has the patience to learn from, or comment on, anything that comes up. I for one am happy to have stumbled on to a forum of people who are so understanding and forthcoming with new ideas.
Carry on, new ideas or old

 

[huskys]

I'd certainly like to think of us as a community. I know I'm certainly greatful for my TMF friends, who have all made me feel very welcome considering I'm in the other half of the world.
I would certainly like to get to know more of you in the New Year as well.

So I guess I'll get in early..........

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY

From Down Under

 

[Ticklemmmeeeeee]

Hello Spencer🙂 I find your thread really interesting...years ago, when I first ventured out into the www to see what I could find on tickling I felt like a weirdo, an outsider.

Initially, what sparked my interest in searching the net was not so much about researching tickling (I arrogantly didn't think I had all that much to learn in that department and I was still naive at that point in my lack of knowledge that there would be actual photos or heaven help me video clips of people getting tickled ,lol)...what I was searching for was other people who could share their experiences and who would understand the feelings I had. I remember I struggled and vacillated between self loathing and euphoric celebration for the bond it created between me and my first real love as well as the problems that it caused me.

I made so many really good friends here that I still love dearly. Though I do not get to talk to or see many of you anymore I do think of us as a community. Here is what the dictionary has to say about community....

com·mu·ni·ty /kəˈmyunɪti/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuh-myoo-ni-tee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun, plural -ties.
1. a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
2. a locality inhabited by such a group.
3. a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually prec. by the): the business community; the community of scholars.
4. a group of associated nations sharing common interests or a common heritage: the community of Western Europe.
5. Ecclesiastical. a group of men or women leading a common life according to a rule.
6. Ecology. an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area.
7. joint possession, enjoyment, liability, etc.: community of property.
8. similar character; agreement; identity: community of interests.
9. the community, the public; society: the needs of the community.



Cool stuff huh? 🙂 I am so thankful that this site, that I love so much, has not only survived but thrived so well and is still here. I love the consistency it offers me as I waver in my confidence about my foot and tickling fetishes and how I know I can always count on the exceptional friends I have made here to still be here when I take time off to try and deal with yet some new effect this blessing / curse has on my life. Thanks for a thought provoking post 🙂

~tm

 

[drew70]

I'd say definition number 3 covers it pretty well.