Closed topic

[Lynchy]

I find it very upsetting to see that the teen tickling was closed. I realise it's a touchy subject, but that's the very reason why it should be discussed. I have views on this subject which I wanted to share, but can't. What's the point in having an open forum if the first source of controversy is blocked from disscussion?

I don't wish to cause trouble or offence to the moderators. It just really got to me.

 

[Speedy_UK]

I feel for you, my ticklish one!

It's all leagal problems, that is it! Not with tickling, but with what can and can't be on this site.

Yours

Speedy

 

[MistressMia]

It's nothing personal to anyone, but I'm tired of playing wetnurse. The TMF cannot and will not support tickling of minors. It's a legal issue. Talk about tickling for crying out loud not age! Once someone mentions an age under 18 years old on a post story or whatever, the Mods have been instructed to take it down! I personally will not let an issue such as this be the demise of the TMF and ruin it for all the other members who are of proper age.

Please stop whinning and find your own site if this does not sit well with you. I am speaking to everyone and anyone and to no ONE in particular, so if the shoe fits, wear the hell out of it. I will personally offer no more explanations for what I do when I do it! I will just delete whatever I see that does not abide by the AGE restriction.

People,
Think of something else to talk about would ya!?

I apologize to those members that do not need to bear witness to this kind of post.

Beware: I will not tollerate any "flaming replies" to this post.

 

[Myriads]

Ok... Here we go.

Lynchy,

As it is under my instructions that the mods are deleting or closing posts. I'll cover the whys for you.

Want to get a post deleted? Say you are under 18 years of age.

Why?

Regardless of what some members of the TMF will hold, tickling is a sexual activity for the majority of the members who come here. Thus the TMF is considered a sexual site by intent, and faces the age restrictions most sexual things carry. Yes the age 18 is arbitrary. But it's the one most of the world agrees upon as being adult. Thus we use it.

We cannot deal with the fallout of an angry parent sicking a law firm on us. It will mean the end of the forum. Not an option.

Want to get a post deleted? Post a request for a personal meeting or e-mail from someone younger then 18.

Why?

If the TMF becomes a place known as a site where adults of majority can meet minors we are one e-mail away from the law coming to visit. Minors, while often able to protect themselves from people thier own age, and even a touch older, often need to be protected from older predatory adults who have years of experience and the power of money and skill on them.

Want to get a post deleted? Post one where you (an adult of majority) talk about tickling a minor.

Why?

As we are in a sexual forum, your post is assumed to be by default in a sexual context. Thus you are effectivly discussing a sexual interaction between a major and a minor. Ummmm. No. Not happening here.

----------------------

Look. I'm not thirilled to exclude minors from what could be a very stabilizing place for them. A place where they could see and experience others who have gone through what they have. To learn they are not alone. To learn how to have a healthy expression of their sexuality as a whole.

But I face loosing the entire site if the wrong series of events takes place involving minors being here, or someone giving this forum the appearence of being a place where adults try to get close to them.

So I made the choice. No minors, or material that reflects adults interacting with minors. Curse me if you need to. That decision rest square on my shoulders alone.

I see little more to be said on the topic. Do you? Can you. without violating the above rules?

This is not a Democracy. This is a Dictatorship. It is not an 'open' forum. AMT is an open forum, see the result. The TMF is a forum with clear rules and limits. Congratulations, you have found one of the few that are here.

Myriads

 

[Lynchy]

Oops!

Sory guys, I missunderstood the original post. I thought that the teen site was intended to be something apart from the TMF, and I can see now why such disscussion here may cause problems.

At least Myriads gave full explaination for his views. I just think that things like this are important subjects that need to be tackled at some point, regardless of rules. Yes, I agree that the TMF is a sexual forum, but tickling outside of it isn't always seen as erotic, and CONSENTING teens may wish to explore their sexuality just as adults would.

I mean, I was on 16 when I got into tickling, and I had to use adult sites to explore my interest. This is because people are scared of what they don't see as the norm, and so sensor it. Hopefully times will change. Music videos get more sexually provocative all the time, and people dare winge at the TMF? What a crazy world we live in...

 

[daddy]

Oh, I how I do so agree with the Mods of this forum...even if it is a very hard thing to do. Let's all face it...think back to when we were 12-17 years old and had the tickling "fever." Geez, mine started at the age of 7 for gods sake!!! LOL Oh how I wished there was computers and online access to the things I dream't about every day...but alas...no. I had to settle for a rare version of "Pillow Talk" or "Leg Show" magazines (with the Elmer Batters stuff) to find ANYTHING about tickling!!! It was an ongoing search mission and I really thought I was the only person on the planet who dug this tickling stuff. If I was a "kid" right now, I would be busting down the walls to get into places like this...but everything has it's time and place. That's why we have driving ages, drinking ages, etc....so a person can enter the state of adulthood with a clearer mind then when we are less educated. If teens (minors) want a tickling forum, then they need to create one especially for them...not a problem...it's that easy! Everyone has to pay their dues in life, and this is just another example...So to the teens...it's not that we want to exclude you...it's just that we must so we all know we are on a level playing field when it comes to an adult forum and it after all is the law of the land and respectful to keep a place like this in tact to the people who work hard at maintaining it! Oneday you will find you feel the same.

daddy

 

[Myriads]

Oh, this and that....

I've unlocked this thread because I do feel there are valid things for forum members to discuss here. And I see no reason to prevent that.

We are all adults. And the discussion of the issues surrounding my ban on minors is not forbidden. I'm not going to hid my decisions behind locked edicts. People are free to discuss and argue with me. That's healthy. So long as we do is as adults and keep on topic. I'll deal the truth. It might not be pretty though.

Allow me to do just that.

Lynchy said:Yes, I agree that the TMF is a sexual forum, but tickling outside of it isn't always seen as erotic, and CONSENTING teens may wish to explore their sexuality just as adults would.

No tickling is not always erotic. But in the context of the forum the discussion of it can be. Thus I ban talk of minors being tickled by adults. Often it is innocent. But I have to cover myself and the forum by removing it, because in context it CAN be seen as anything BUT innocent.

There is no such animal as a CONSENTING teen (minor). By definition a teen CANNOT consent. Their legal standing is null. Regardless of how intelligent or mature, they still cannot consent. Their 'consenting' actions are defacto illegal. Society just winks at that fact when one minor 'consents' with another.

I'll make no bones about why I banned minors. I did not do it to protect them. I did it to protect US. The forum, and those of us who run it from legal action. That's why I can't have teens here talking about tickling other teens. I can't allow the TMF to get the reputation as a place for child predators to go for stroke material. I can't even allow the POSSIBILITY of that. Down that road lies big time badness.

This forum was created for our community, which is a sexual community of adults. Yes there are minors with our fetish. Yes it's wonderful that the TMF might make them feel less alone and not messed up. They want to understand their sexuality. So it's natural that they want to come here and see what's here, and be part of things. These are givens. I'll argue none of them.

I'd like it if all of a sudden the world was enlightened enough to educate it's children into how to have healthy sexual growth and understanding of their varied sexualities. To be unafraid enough to deal with sex issues head on. But I don't live in that world. WE don't live in that world. So I can try and make that wonderful state of enlightenment happen, or I can to bow to the realities of this one.

I have no money to fight legal cases. Running this site is a hobby it's supposed to be fun. I have no time or energy for court. I have no desire to try and tell a reporter why there are minors on my site talking about sexual stuff with adults.

So I exclude teens. I COULD allow them. But I'm not willing to take the gutshot that having them here might cause. I'm not willing to loose the TMF in exchange for them. Cowardly? yup. But I'm not up to fighting that battle.

There is the truth. My choice, Ugly and real. Just like most issues of consequence we face in life. I made it, and I live with it.

Myriads

 

[josie]

I agree...

I agree and understand about your decision to ban any materials dealing with minors as well as banning minors themselves. I also think it was very intelligent to include that link in the disclaimer which helps teenagers with alternative sexuality. Can I ask who made that page? I'd also like to link to that from the disclaimer page on
my site.


ticklishly yours,
Josie

 

[MistressMia]

Thank you Myriads.

You're a bigger person than me for that heartfelt explanation. I just don't have the patience or tollerance level for it.

BTW, I was the culprate who locked the thread. I did it because there was a highly flammable reply to the general thread that I DELETED (as I said I would in my earlier post). I thought that you had done a great job on laying all the cards on the table in your first post to this thread, so I did not want to chance another flamming post. Also, I thought there was nothing else left to discuss.

I just want to get back to talking about fun stuff like tickling.

Anyway, Thank you again Myriads, for your patience and guidance.

 

[Myriads]

This and that

Josie, I first encountered this site as the underage option on Lorelei's Bedroom bondage site . I liked it there, and felt it would work here also. I have no idea who made the site. I don't think they will mind you linking it.

Mia, no problem with your locking the thread. a reasonable choice. And your deletion of flaming material is exactly what you should be doing

Myraids

 

[Strelnikov]

Folks, unlike most of our members, I'm a parent (two daughters.) I'm also a social conservative with no sense of humor when it comes to exploitation. That said, I've seen nothing on the Forum that I would object to the girls seeing as teens. As kinks go, this one's pretty benign. I wish something similar to this Forum had been available 40 years ago, when I was a socially awkward geek who thought I was alone in this kink.

BUT.....

Myriads made the right decision when he banned teens. Most people who visit here are cool, but there will always be a few creeps. If teens come here, pedophiles will come here to troll for them. I've seen a few here and reported them to the moderators, who took appropriate action.

Myriads and the rest of you who run this site, keep up the good work. Anyone who doesen't like the way you run things is welcome to go elsewhere.

Strelnikov

 

[qjakal]

Loaded guns...

Just an FYI to Myriad and the other head honchos...if there SHOULD be trouble at some future date, please post a note to me regarding the nature of the problem. While not a legal officer myself, I have...resources....and would be willing to help defend the forum from any ill conceived challenges regarding its right to exist. The discussion regarding the minors is of course correct from both a legal and moral standpoint. However, I would MUCH rather any minor with this particular fetish hung out within the fringes of this community than almost any other I have seen on the net. Interesting issue.... Q

 

[bandt001]

WOW!

Reading these posts, I have just one observation...

LOOK HOW STRONG WE HAVE BECOME!!

When our friend Psycho left, we worried that it was the beginning of the end. But key individuals with excellent judgment and great people skills stepped up to the plate. We now have a much stronger forum than ever before, mainly due to the larger number of resources (people) keeping it on track. I also see members (like Quakal and Strelnikov) banding together to keep it strong, and that does my heart good.

I am just old enough to remember the pre-Web days when after a year of searcing I found a discussion group called "T-List." Then came the Usenet groups, etc. But this is the most stellar shining accomplishment for all tickle fanatics that has ever been created!

Thank you to our fine moderators who keep it strong and safe.

Bandit

 

[duannewalton]

RE: Closed Topic

Okay. I had to sleep on this issue before I could respond.
I checked out the link you directed the minors to, and it seemed like an okay link. I feel much better about this if we do try to point them in a direction where they can be helped instead of just saying, "Sorry, kid. We don't want you here because we don't want the hassle. Scram!"
Just too many bad memories of when I was their age, I guess.

Duanne Walton

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Wow

Oh, wow.

This is simply, well, amazing.

How a guy like Myriads can keep this place going, even as just a hobby, a side thing going on for him. How he puts so much effort into it.

How so many people have banded together in this forum, helping each other out and looking out for one another.

How this place is practically a country in itself. There are rules, enforcers of the rules, leaders, and how the leaders sometimes change.

Like a second family, a home away from home.

Geez, I get so touchy. Oh well.

 

[Capt. Spalding]

What's this about underground workers being excluded?... Oh, MINORS...

OK, now that we've disposed of the teens amongst us, let's take care of the social conservatives. (Sorry, Strel, I couldn't resist...)

(cough) Let me remove my clown nose for a sec':

I fully recognize that the Mods of this Forum have to perform a delicate tightrope walk between acknowledgement of the First Amendment and forestalling the heavy hand of the increasingly
concentrated ISP. Such an upset over linking "kids" and "sex" shouldn't really surprise when you consider how ambivalent America
(I won't speak for our int'l neighbors.)is towards children (They're
angels! They're monsters! Educate 'em! Test 'em! Let every pregnancy
come to term! Let every unwanted child be jailed!) and sexuality
(It's sacred! It's filthy! It's for procreation only! Use it to sell
everything! Discuss abstinence only in schools! Baywatch at 8!) You
get the idea...

Please I'm not ADVOCATING the sexual exploitation of children. I just
think the 18 good, 17 bad distinction is a wee bit silly. (Just as
I recognize, Myriads, that you have no choice but to enforce it.)

Frankly, I have to agree with the Officer there that I think the teens
are better off here than many other more, ahem, mainstream sites I
can think of. I mean the majority of the posts here are oft so innocent. ("What do you think, feathers or fingers?" "Oh, fingers,
definitely." "I prefer a No. 2 Eberhard pencil eraser." But I digress...)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd better check my story posts and make sure all the characters therein are of voting age. (Not that it'll
do them any good in Florida...)

 

[duannewalton]

RE: Closed Topic

I can't seem to stop thinking about this topic.
I was pretty much on my own when I discovered I was into tickling. The people that I DID confide in weren't very understanding or supportive. My father's idea of telling me anout "The Birds and The Bees" was to force me to watch porno movies. I can still remember when I saw my first issue of "Tied & Tickled." I was like, I wasn't alone after all!
I guess I look at the whole under 18 thing like this: how would I feel if I had found out there was this community out there that was into tickling, people that hopefully would understand what I was going through, and they told me they didn't want me around, whatever the reason. How would that make ME feel? Even the people that are into the same thing that I am don't want to deal with me!

 

[Myriads]

Thoughts

duanne said;

I guess I look at the whole under 18 thing like this: how would I feel if I had found out there was this community out there that was into tickling, people that hopefully would understand what I was going through, and they told me they didn't want me around, whatever the reason. How would that make ME feel? Even the people that are into the same thing that I am don't want to deal with me!


I am in agreement with your thoughts duanne, and wish that I could allow this part of our community to participate here. I did not like the choices I needed to make when dealing with this decision. But I am/was faced with losing the whole mess if I allow(ed) minors, so I acted. I can only hope that those who are excluded come to understand the reasons with time once they can be here.

Myriads

 

[ticklehound]

Generation Gap

I agree, this is truly amazing, coming from someone from way back. The community has grown so well that now, a new generation has spawned itself. I belong to the "old" generation, as do most of us here. We've been around a while, began as individual entities until the World Wide Web connected all of us, and look what we created.

Excuse me for sounding like an old man, but I don't think the newbies know what it was like for the rest of us. We had to go through "lurking" when we were underage (not long ago for me) searching for whatever we could. They see the forum as something almost for granted. But for me, I see it as something awesome in magnitude, something that we now want to guard and protect at all costs.

That being said, to the minors out there, we waited a long time for something like the TMF, and frankly, so can you, just as with any age-restricted institution. Patience is a virtue all of us, especially me, must learn at some point.

OK, now that I've ranted the conservative viewpoint, let me get more personal. For me, I think a good amount of stuff here in the TMF is fairly safe for minors, but not all of it. I have only one problem with letting minors in here -- the law. Like I've said, I for one do not want anything to jeopardize the existence of the TMF, and I'm glad most of us take this stance. The mods have said they would do what they could, but their hands are tied.

All I can say to the minors who desperately want to be represented in here (which I totally understand) is either to wait until you can legally join us, OR take it somewhere else. I'm not saying that minors cannot engage in discussion (or something further) about tickling; I'm just saying not in here. Minors can't drink in a bar until 21 (which BTW is bull$#!%), but who among us is naive to think that minors don't find ways to get around the law.

I hope everyone will understand why things are the way they are. There is no call for anyone to be bitter about not being "let in." People should be able to do whatever they want to do, as long as it doesn't infringe upon anyone else. But for the sake of the rest of us and the good for the community as a whole, take it outside.

Take care, good luck to all.

Hound