An Observation Of TMF Activity

[P50]

Tonight I clicked on the "view new posts" section on the front page of the TMF.

I couldn't help but notice something.

There were 68 new posts.

Of those, 10 were in this forum, and 58 were in others.

A little math shows the numbers to be something like this...


14% Tickling discussion
86% Other topics

Another way to look at that is that 6 out of 7 topics posted are from a different forum discussion.

Or, conversely, of the new posts, one in seven is directly focused on the topic of tickling.

I know that my numbers are skewed and imperfect; and I state it publicly here: <I> THIS IS NOT PURE SCIENCE </I>

It is, however something that I did not ignore tonight.

Neat stuff; in a way. I wonder if it's bad, good, or just an event without a values bias.

Conversely, after, oh, 12-to-18 months, I think I have about a 99% chance of having already read some previous thread which covers the consensus thinking of any topic raised in any new thread in the tickling discussion, so I wonder if a 14% figure on new messages is really "low" at all.

So why are we here ? Why am I here ? Why are you here ? Why is the TMF here ? Why is this post here ? Why are my fingers pressing these keys ? Why are your eyes reading these words ? Why does the sun burn yellow ? Why did Al Gore invent the internet ?

MTP Jeff for president of the USA

 

[f/f]

people talk about whatever they want, thats why theres general discussion. this forums purpouse is for tickling but sometimes its good to take a break and discuss polotics movies etc etc..

 

[milagros317]

Many short new posts are in the Humor Forum. 😛

How many of the 58 "other" posts were in the Humor Forum? How many in the (new) Politics and Religion Forum?

I would be interested in the statistics with those two forums removed.

 

[the_Baron]

i have noticed and thought about that disproportionate posting phenomenom as well.

i guess after a while, there is just so much you can say about tickling that hasn't already been discussed.

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

Interesting. Just some thoughts in response...

While there are a load of topics that can and have come up related to tickling itself, there are other things that folks enjoy discussing. That's why the general discussion forum was added. Many of us get to know one another more there than anywhere else. Let's face it, there's only so much we can say about tickling. We'll say it repeatedly as new members join us and want to discuss a specific aspect. We'll tease one another about the same things many times. But, it's still limitted. In General Discussion, there is an unlimitted number of topics that can come up concerning our other interests.

As for your statistical survey, I'd be interested in a breakdown of what other discussion areas your figures covered. Remember, TD isn't the only tickle-related section on the TMF. If you're going to be the resident statistician, let's get all the details. 😛

In fact, I'll give you a start. Here's a listing of the tickle-related sections on the TMF. How many were in each of these sections? (overall post count as of this moment in parenthesis after section)...
- Tickling Discussion (71,598)
- International Members (820)
- Internet Community (158)
- MTP Members Area (377)
- MTP Cinema (21)
- TC Video (107)
- Tickle Town Discussion (997)
- Links/Page Updates (5,834)
- Images (16,338)
- Video/Audio Clips (14,608)
- Anime Media (4,960)
- Original Artwork (11,665)
- Post Stories (21,938)
- Max's Story Archive (365)
- TMF Story Archive (910)
- Mainstream Lists (7,720)
- Ticklish Celebrities (6,476)
- General Gatherings (2,268)
- Personals (4,127)
- Pen Pals (499)
- Model Interviews (163)
- Video Reviews (3,237)
- Tickling Pay Site Reviews (295)
- TMF Suggestions and Feedback (375)
- Polls (mainly tickle-related) (6,864)
- TMF Member Pics (282)
- Requests (4,762)
- Golden Feather Awards (190)

Now, here's a listing of the non-tickle-related sections. How many were in each of these?...
- General Discussion (81,212)
- Humor (122,408)
- Politics and Religion (2,111)
- Technical Assistance (1,746)

I'm sure you'll notice that the highgest number of posts is in Humor, because half the posts are a single word or phrase and it's more game-playing than actual discussion. But, just because it's not in the main TD section doesn't mean that it's not tickle-related. In fact (esp. considering the fact that TD discusses one topic and GD discusses many), there isn't really THAT drastic a difference in the post counts between GD and TD...if you want to compare just those two. In either case, it takes more than one topic of discussion to build community, which is one of the reasons for having this forum. 😉

Ann

 

[P50]

From my original post...

-------------------------
<I> I know that my numbers are skewed and imperfect; and I state it publicly here: <U> THIS IS NOT PURE SCIENCE </U> </I>
-------------------------

After reading Ann's post, I proclaim an original error; specifically, this one...

<I>Or, conversely, of the new posts, one in seven is directly focused on the topic of tickling. </I>

I'll make a stab at a correction here...

On the specific day in question, about one in seven posts appeared on my screen in the <I>Tickling Discussion </I> topic.


So, Ann has proposed a (quite viable) item to add to the least of reasons "why"; i.e., One reason we are here: to build community.

I can't help but notice that in my mind, that is approximately 50x more important than retrieving a video of some 20-something bikini babe giggling her head off while the 'Ler is feverishly maneuvering to keep her exhausted (Video producers; please ignore the words in this paragraph and keep on making tickling vids of sleek smooth lean bikini babes giggling into insanity)

I find myself looking for (and making) "friends" more than I find myself looking for any tickling experience at any cost; indeed I actually rejected an offer to visit a 'Lee who was ready for me to tie her to the bed and tickle her feet as much as I wanted. (No, don't worry; I'm not totally stupid; there were other issues and other people involved; I welcome any invitation from a 'Lee who likes bondage and tickling)

I find myself assigning labels and vague "scores" to individuals based on their stated values, their participation, their attitudes toward myself and others, and whether or not they are just generally nice decent folk,,,

Just like I do the people at the grocery store, the bank, the restaurant, the doctor's office, the cops, the schools, the church, the whatever; some are good folks, and some are folks to be avoided. In this respect, the TMF is an almost perfect mirror of the physical and logistical world which comprises the rest of my real life.


So again; why are we here ? So that Jeff can become wealthy beyond Bill Gates and the Arabian royal families ? So that all of these sleek lean ticklish babes (which comprise 48% of our membership here) can connect with all of us tall handsome media hunks (which comprises approximately 51% of the members) who will keep them in extended tickling sessions every night for the rest of their lives ? (In intensely romantic, fabulously erotic, perfectly arranged domestic environments, and of course, financial excellence)

I'm just wondering; and wondering publicly; to invite other ideas.

(I can see it now: a tickling march on Washington, DC.)

 

[milagros317]

I think that is a fair question, why are we here?

As a lurker, I was here during the second half of 2001 to read stories, period. I just came here every week to read all of the new stories.

I noticed that some were excellent, and others not so great. I discovered that I could sort alphabetically by thread starter (author) and read all of the old stories of any author that I liked. I thought that my own fantasies could be accepted here.

In January 2002 I registered, and came here to share my darkest F/m fantasies with the world, by posting my first story, a fictional one. Some positive feedback enoucouraged me to write more. Mistress Zara gave me permission to post nonfiction accounts of some of our sessions, and soon I posted my first nonfiction story.

Also, I discovered that reading other Forums was interesting, and soon I was reading all over the site.

In January 2003 I went to my first gathering. From that point on, I became more of a prolific (maniac?) poster, because I felt that I was among friends here, people that I had met in person. When the Humor Forum was created, that only stimulated me to play here more.

Order of importance of why I come here now:

1. To share my stories with you all, and to read your stories.

2. To keep track of what my TMF friends are doing, including those I've met at gatherings, and those who post with me in the Humor Forum*.

3. To read all of the forums here.

*Yes, the much maligned Humor Forum gives us a chance to chat in slow motion, not necessarily on line at the same time.

 

[tommytikl]

From my original post...

So again; why are we here ?

Well, I think what draws us all here is our love of tickling first(obviously)...but that is simply a part of each one of us...and depending on who we are that part can be big or small. But from there we want other things that connect us, maybe that doesn't make us feel like we are completely odd or alone in our fetish err interest.

I think we finally find TMF a group of people that love tickling first..OMG others love tickling...then we find out there are real people under thier ticklish skin.
And then we find out that these people have OTHER common interests or backgrounds or hobbies and that makes an even deeper bond with those people we know in the TMF.

I have been here on TMF since its start AND even before that back in the newsgroup days. And all the way back in 1994/5 I remember the same kind of converstations happening...
There is always a rise and fall of interest within the tickling community...those that find another person that they bond with, they both love tickling and no longer need a group to fulfill their tickling "needs", those who had their fill of tickling and then the rise is the new people that come into tickling, those that buy a computer and type in tickling and find us out here on the internet or those that turn 18 and waited until now to find out about tickling(wink wink) and suddenly the tide of tickling rises...
I think we will always see people come and go from this tickling interest but what keeps us HERE at TMF is the "other" bonds, the "other" common interests we have.

I have made many friends on TMF and mostly they are not even "tickling" friends but true friends in the true sense of the word.

Anyway...my 2 cents...geez...you get alot for 2 cents these days LOL

 

[tklgal226]

well, personally, this is like my homepage- not just for the tickling stuff. I mean, it's that stuff that brought me here, but i've made friends (who i chat w/ in the humor forum) and this is seriousually my #1 news source- i never watch the news, and don't have time in the morning to read the paper, so this is more like my online home, i guess. just my personal 2 cents!

~clair