I empathize with those who feel they are alone and bereft of tickle satisfaction in the world being a gray hair who remembers a time before TMF, before alt.* and before the proliferation of the Internet and you felt isolated and wondered if you were the only one with such urges and feelings. And you looked for any small mention of tickling, feeling like an article on tickling in an issue of the Forum variations was the mother lode. Which is why today TMF and the other sites fill the void, provide a meeting place and gives a sense of community. And sites like youtube provide a constant source of videos to feed the fetish.
Yet still there are people in Real Life who feel trapped and alone with their passion for tickling or feet or both. So often I see a post that laments the apparent total lack of Anyone into tickling in - just fill in the city or state or country. And many struggle with handling any social interaction or developing relationships which the addition of a tickle fetish can seem to complicate things beyond any hope of ever meeting others, let alone that singular special someone, who will share, or at least tolerate, the fetish.
Through my 60+ years I've never lacked for tickle partners, have experienced just about all my tickle related desires, and even now am married to a woman who understands and shares this singular delight (yes for those inquiring minds, she is quite ticklish everywhere including her feet but likes to give as well as receive). I have been in many places and situations and am average in every sense. Experience has shown me that there is no need to live without sharing and enjoying a full life that includes tickling. Yet I have not been able to figure out how to pass that on to those many who feel alone and adrift and without hope of ever fulfilling even a moment of ticklish satisfaction. And so for some, every image, every mention of the word tickle or it's many derivations, or even the possible hint of a movie scene or TV moment or news article or blog or tweet or anything else in this information age becomes another brief life preserver to those feeling lost in an ocean without a good tickle or a smooth, sexy bare foot in sight.