If you've ever spent any time on Usenet groups that appeal to young men - newsgroups like rec.music.phish or alt.music.alternative - you may have received an email asking "Are you ticklish?"

Those emails aren't a prank. They're the work of the relentless Terri DiSisto - aka Terri Tickle - a legendary Internet scofflaw who admits to sending out thousands of "spam" emails in pursuit of her tickling fetish. Terri's offer? Cash or computer equipment in exchange for tickling videos, in which cute, shirtless young men, ages 18 - 23, are tied up and relentlessly tickled, with their tortured paroxysms of laughter and thrashing bodies captured on videotape.

She boasts of a collection of over 140 of these videos, for which she's paid tens of thousands of dollars in cash and PC equipment. The videos, she insists, are a private collection, not for sale or trade, although short clips are occasionally posted to tickling-friendly Usenet groups.

Here's the offer Terri has emailed to thousands of unsuspecting web surfers:

Are you a guy between the ages of 18-23 who is HOT, TICKLISH, and IN NEED OF SOME U.S. CASH? If so, read on...I'm very serious about what you'll discover... My name is Terri. I am a female college student in the Boston, Massachusetts area that is a total TICKLING FREAK. As a hobby...one that costs me ALOT of money...I maintain a personal collection of amateur videos featuring guys being tickled (usually for 30 or 60 minutes) by a girlfriend, good girl friend, girl friends, or even guy friends. I am not a business, video trader, or porn solicitor. My interest is in TICKLING. I am actively looking for guys to make videos that I can add to my collection. Guys that interest me are YOUNG (basically, my age...18-23), HOT (swimmer/soccer/runnerbuilt....on the thin side...not too "big-n-buff"....with absolutely no bodyfat whatsoever), and TICKLISH! No sex or nudity are wanted in my videos. I just want to see guys tied up and mercilessly, relentlessly TICKLED.

DiSisto claims that her right to solicit these videos through the use of mass emails - commonly referred to as "spam" - is free speech protected by the First Amendment. Others disagree, including many email service companies such as AOL, Hotmail, and others, who have canceled Terri's accounts and barred her from using their services.

Terri's enemies - and they are many - claim she is a fraud, a liar, and an Internet terrorist who will email-bomb (that is, send enough emails to literally destroy an account or a web page address) to anyone who disagrees with her in public.

Are these outrageous offers of cash and computers for tickling videos for real? Apparently, the answer is yes. Kory made a series of tickling videos to earn some extra cash and a camera. Shortly after clips from one of his videos turned up on the alt.multimedia.tk newsgroup (with his permission), the same Kory appeared as a winner on MTV's "Fanatic" television show! "Brian" is another one one of many college students who have made tickle videos for Terri and been paid cash. "I am definitely satisfied with the terms of my deal," he told us. "Terri is very upfront and comes through on everything she claims. A couple of people have already contacted me about references for a deal. I explain to them that I cannot guarantee they will have the same experience that I did, but I did not have any trouble and highly recommend it to anyone." The actual process of making the video - being tied up, shirtless, and being tickled, in this case by Brian's girlfriend - "seemed harmless at first," Brian said, "but eventually I realized I was in for some torture. I am a VERY ticklish guy and my ribs, abdomen, and shoulders were all sore for two days." And what about the sexual aspects of being the object of someone's fetish? "Emotionally, I didn't feel degraded in any way," Brian said. "It was very flattering to get the offer and I understand the power trip that women get out of tickling guys now. I discussed it a bit with my girlfriend and she really enjoyed the session." In fact, Brian stated, "I would do it again. Everything went so smoothly and it was such a flattering experience, it seems strange I got paid."

After discovering Terri's tickle-video files, we struck up an Internet correspondence with her and found her informative, affable, and quite enthusiastic about her admittedly unusual obsession with watching cute guys being tickled. Still, there are a lot of questions surrounding this story. Where did she come from? Who are these guys making videos for her? And what about all these rumors of Internet sabotage? So we decided to go right to the source and see what we could find out...

1. When did you discover your fascination with watching guys being tickled? Were you actively pursuing this interest before your appearance on the Internet?

Terri: I tied and tickled my first boyfriend in eighth grade. I tape recorded the whole thing, never realizing that it would be the first addition to an audio/video collection featuring over 375 ticklish guys, almost all of whom are/were 18-23 at the time of tickling. My obsession with the "tickling of ticklish guys" developed throughout high school to such a point that my high school yearbook even has a Terri's Tickling Page! During my first two years of college, I have continued to tickle guys, teach girls how to tickle guys in small groups of 2-4 "students," and add to the biggest multimedia collection of its type in the entire world! I appeared on the Internet in March, 1996 as territikle@aol.com. I was initially astounded to find a significant tickling community online, only to find out that its focus was on girls being tickled (a totally foreign concept to me) and, with one exception (my very first online tickling contact, Jamie1862@aol.com, who ultimately made a video for me in exchange for a Compaq computer system), completely lacking in the type of guys that interest me. Before long, I assumed that I could actively recruit guys via posting to Usenet newsgroups frequented by hot young college guys my own age. I was so right. As a result of Usenet multiposts and more recent direct emailing campaigns, I have collected 192 videos featuring 137 ticklish guys! The entire endeavor has been a huge success beyond my wildest expectations.

2. What sort of response did you expect when you first started spamming the Usenet, and how did the actual response differ from your expectations? Do you remember the first person who offered to make a video for you, and what Newsgroup he came from?

Terri: I knew that there was virtually nobody that was a regular on any tickling-related newsgroup that I wanted. I suspected I'd get a handful of takers over time from the mainstream Usenet newsgroup posting, but I never imagined that it would take-off as it did. Entire college frathouses, dorms, and NCAA Division 1 sports teams (not to mention Canadian college and junior hockey teams) have responded to the invitation. I'm very, very selective about who and what I'll accept for a video; even so, the interest has been staggering.

The first tickling video I ever received from an online contact was made by a graduating high school senior, 18, from Norwell Massachusetts. His sole video was the first of my legendary Massboyz series, featuring 5 Boston natives and nearly 25 different videos, many of which feature two guys tied and tickled....side by side...by the same girl! He saw my post on a newsgroup in the alt.2600 hierarchy, while pirating software as a "warez dood."

3. You post to Newsgroups across the entire spectrum - some that appeal to music fans, some that appeal to video game enthusiasts, and so on. It would be interesting to know which Newsgroups have been the most fruitful in providing volunteers? Have you been surprised by any of the responses you get?

Terri: Although any Usenet newsgroup and individual readers are game for a post or a personalized "ticklegram," nearly 80% of all videos I've received have come from the alt.music and rec.music hierarchies. The newsgroups rec.music.phish, alt.music.alternative, and alt.music.nirvana have been the most consistently responsive over time. I am virtually a fixture on them -- like me or not! Nearly half of the videos, in one way or another, fall a little short of my optimal expectations. The rest are indescribably perfect! None are poor.

4. I want to get into the character of the young men who make videos for you. Because of where you target your solicitations, your videos do not feature tickle-fetishists or other fringe-dwellers, but athletes, musicians, and college students, most if not all of them heterosexual, even when (in the videos) they're tickled by other guys. For practically all of them, the videos represent their first experience with bondage and humiliation. Do you think they do it just because they want the money, or is there a psychological profile you can offer of the "typical" tickle victim? Do you think the ticklees find the experience erotic? What sort of feedback do you receive from them about their experiences making the videos?

Terri: Money and /or a desire for a new computer system is the greatest motivator. Most ticklish guys hate to be tickled but love money more. The idea is so outrageous that it becomes instantly credible, particularly as I furnish nearly two-dozen references that will "witness" to their own positive experiences! There is no typical psychological profile; I get extroverted guys and deeply private, introspective ones as well. Many guys come as members of fraternities, sports teams, or college clubs needing a new computer system. Guys from those group-type applicant pools usually make incredible videos! The UAlberta series and my legendary Massboyz series are probably my favorite group efforts! As implied, guys who are enrolled and attending residential colleges make up virtually all of my video tickledudes.
I emphasize tickling as a distinctly non-sexual experience. Few guys report anything erotic about it. When the tickling is effective, sexual arousal should be impossible. Tickling is not sex. In its purest form, it produces continuous hysterical laughter and a massive avoidance response. Guys who misreport the extent of their ticklishness and/or experience unskilled or ineffective tickling occasionally give me erotic feedback. When I get it, I invariably know something has gone wrong. Interestingly enough, the most desperate ticklish response is produced when guys tickle other guys! Most of the m/m tickling in my collection, though, comes from totally heterosexual guys who have freindships which transcend homophobia. As virtually none of my videos, or any parts of them, are ever shared with anybody, there is little fear or inhibition that these guys experience, as well.
Guys who complete good videos complain of exhaustion (which can usually last several days), pseudo-asphyxiation, emotional desperation, occasional muscle strains, and ignorance that "tickling could actually TICKLE so much for so long!" The pleading and begging found in the latter parts of my best videos...accompanied by truly desperate ticklish laughter beyond any possibility of explanation...is incredibly intense.

5. There is one more point I feel we should address. You have been accused of mail-bombing your enemies and other acts of Internet sabotage. How do you respond to these charges?

I have never personally mailbombed anybody. None of my many ISP dialups is ever the sending source of mailbombing activity. It is true that I do not recognize Netiquette, however, as something by which I am bound. Until actual legislation prohibits Usenet multiposting and direct emailing, my recruitment practices online are not likely to change. I don't find the "moral imperatives" advocated by antispam partisans on the net very convincing.

What's it like making a tickling video? Click here for true-life testimonials.

	Email Terri Tickle

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