Issue # 5 :

"A Blast From the Past:  Hotel Tickle"

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Recently, in response to a thread I posted about another site that I remembered from years gone by, I got a note from daddy...AKA Daddylonghair...host of the old Hotel Tickle web site.  Many of those who were just getting their start online back in the late 90's remember Hotel Tickle as one of the first tickle sites they found when they got online.  After PMing back and forth with daddy, we decided that it would be great to be able to bring back the Hotel...even if only temporarily.  But, before we share the old site, we wanted to introduce you to daddy himself.

The following is a written interview that I sent along and he simply filled in the blanks for us.  If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting daddy yet, it will give you some insight into the man behind one of the early tickle sites of our community.  We'll also be doing a live interview on Venray & Raya's Making Friends Online show on TMF Radio on Tuesday, May 19th at 11pm EST.  Folks will be able to call in and ask questions or make comments once they've had a chance to check out the site a bit.  Be sure to join in if you're around. (link to be posted soon)

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TK-411:  First off, thank-you for agreeing to do this interview with us.  I was excited to hear from you and especially to hear your offer to give us the ability to resurrect the old site for a bit.

DADDY:  You are more than welcome Ann! When I first saw your thread about "Blast From The Past" I had to check it out. The "Way Back Machine" seemed like a very cool way to give the community a taste of the past...some history if you will. As I clicked through alot of the old links, I soon found that only parts of the old sites might show up and in some occasions none of it at all! So, I thought to myself that since I have the whole site of the old HotelTickle on a zip drive disk why don't I just unzip that badboy and give it to Ann so that she can present the whole site in it's entirety and help kickstart this new section! That way people can experience the site as it was meant to be with no broken internal links or images. Also it will help re-introduce me to the community which has grown so fast over the last few years.

TK-411:  Can you tell us a bit about yourself in relation to tickling...when and how you first got into tickling, what outlets you had for your tickling interests before the internet days, what other kinks you might enjoy, etc.?

DADDY:  Well as with most folk, it started out at an early age. I imagine I was around five or so. I noticed that whenever I saw a cartoon with tickling in it that it caught my attention. Soon after I started finding ways to tickle all the neighborhood girls by either capturing them in my tree forts or playing games in which the penalty was tickling. I just always found the sound of a female laughing uncontrolably so exciting and to this day it is hard to explain. I think the roots were planted by my grandmother though because she always tickled me while I was growing up. I even have a photo of her getting me good! As I got into my teens the huge wall went up. I thought I was the only one with these tickling thoughts and that kind of thing was not talked about then. Finally, when I was around 22-23, I opened up to a woman I was dating about my little kink and all was well. She accepted it fine and ever since then I have always been upfront with every woman I have dated to date. Tickling has never destroyed any of my relationships just for the record.

Induldging in my tickling interests at the time were not that hard since I always had girlfriends who were ticklish and accepted my interest. Since I worked in a nightclub for most of my adult years, finding others to participate was not that hard. A little after hours cocktails always had it's possibilities and did on many occasion. That is when the concept of "tickling as a couple" tickling started to take shape with me. I completley dug watching my girlfriend tickle other people! Then when we did it together at the same time it was a complete rush to the brain and else where!

As for other kinks I am pretty open-minded. I like power-exchange so to speak in which a couple can exercise different dominant roles over the other person at any given time. When it is tickling I like to be the ler, but in other areas I don't mind being submissive. It's all fun to me and really not to be taken to seriously since it is only one aspect of my life. I think that alot of people go astray by letting a fetish dominate their everyday lives and that kinda ruins it for them. Being obsessive can not be good sometimes.

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TK-411:  I know that you are a musician.  Is that still an avenue that you follow ?  Or have you moved on to other pursuits?  

DADDY:  I am still a musician and play my guitar everyday as well as give online guitar lessons. As for my real job, I am a CNC programmer which is a person who programs large machines that cut, route and shape wood into pieces that will be built into cabinets, counters, store displays, etc...I love my job! I also do web-design on the side to earn my play money and I do sit in with bands once in a while if a guitar player wants a night off and such.

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TK-411:  The handle "daddy" that you currently use is shortened from the original of Daddylonghair.  Can you share with us how you came to use that handle and why it was later shortened?

DADDY:  Back when I first started playing in bands we would have to learn songs for rehearsal. I would always come prepared, but some of the other band mates would not or they would learn their part wrong. Once when that happened, I blurrted out "No, this is how it goes...listen to your daddy!'" After that my band mates started calling me "daddy" all the time and it stuck. So, when I came online back in 1998 I needed to pick a screen name so I used the daddy nickname plus longhair because I simply had longhair! LOL I shortened it after a while just for simplicity sake.

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TK-411:  What was your reason for developing the Hotel Tickle site back in the day?  

DADDY:  Well, I got a webtv unit I ordered from a J.C. Penny's catalog in the summer of 1998 and this was the first time this boy even came close to going online. I had never even touched a computer at that point! So, I hooked it up and started surfing the internet for the very first time. It was killer because it was on my big 32 inch color TV! It didn't take long until I figured out what a search engine was and I typed in the magic word "tickling" to see what would happen. To tell you the truth I thought it would pop up with zero results. Well, as all of you are well aware it got results! I think Tickle Gal's site was the first one to come up and my first visit and I was in heaven. Her site didn't have alot of content but for me it was plenty at that moment. I think the biggest finds for me at that time after TG's was CampTickle and Tom's Adult Tickling Site. Those sites were like hitting the jackpot and I was hooked. It wasn't long after until I started thinking "hey, I can do this to and make a website the way I would want to see it!" Basically, all the other sites were cool but something was missing. So I went into intense studying of HTML and set out to create a tickling site the way I wanted it...based around a couple...based around Sexi and I, having fun together with it. We made it for us!

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TK-411:  I recall that you had one or two partners in crime working on things with you when the site was originally up.  Who exactly was involved in developing the site? 

DADDY:  Yes. Obviously Sexi who was my girlfriend at the time, and along the way we became friends with this great story writer who's name was Suzette. She wrote fanastic stories and most of them were non-fiction. She was full of life and thought she would be a very nice addition to the Hotel staff. So basically it was just us three and we did get a chance to finally meet Suzette when she flew out from Florida to California to visit us as well as some tk friends from the community. It was really nice getting to meet her after all the e-mails and phone calls.

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TK-411:  I had my original site up around the same time you opened the Hotel.  So, I'm well aware that things weren't always easy to come by or share back then.  Can you tell us a bit about what you had to do to get/keep things up and running? 

DADDY:  Get original content and pay the bill! When we first set up the site, we hand picked all the images we could off of public domain or through permission. We picked the images we thought were the most "realistic" so to speak. We were not looking for quantity but quality. After a while we started doing our own photo shoots and we had contributors of original material exclusive to us which was way cool. Venray made us some animations and others contributed personal photos, so that helped keep things fresh for a while. We also had plenty of original audio clips to keep peoples imaginations happy! But, we did however get plenty of e-mails from others who were always dis-satisfied no matter what we did. We couldn't update fast enough for them and they treated us like we were obligated to just them. That part of it still amazes me and disappoints me at the same time.

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TK-411:  You managed to get a great balance of different types of material on the site.  Did development progress as you had anticipated?  Did you end up doing things with it that you hadn't originally planned on...or not doing things that you had originally planned to do?

DADDY:  Myself, I was very satisfied with the way the site was headed. We definatley covered as much of a spectrum of the tickling world as we could from stories to chat rooms and a personal photo page for guests. I remember psycho4048 (the originator of the TMF) e-mailing me and asking me if he could have all my guests and their photos!!! I politley told him no because that was not my choice...it was the guests choice. Guess he thought I was onto something maybe? After a while we even started hosting a few clips and we built our own little HotelTickle theater to feature new videos from the companies producing them at the time. I think the only thing we really never did was produce our own videos which was a long term plan at a certain point. We have material we shot, but it just is not meant to be. Bad timing I would say cause it was towards the end. I think one of my best ideas that never made it was interactive tickling stories in which you would choose the direction of the story at a certain point during the reading. And then after that point you would have more choices so you might not end up with the same ending. I got the idea from watching the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks in which he pitched a childrens book with the same features. That still would be very cool especially if it was made with macromedia flash. That is something I might still do if I ever re-create a new HotelTickle site :-)

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TK-411:  I noticed that the Brittish TV show "Yanky Panky" did a piece about your site.  How did that come to pass?

DADDY:  I got an e-mail from them oneday out of the blue. they told me they were interested in doing a piece on the site and they wanted to call and talk to me about it. Needless to say we were very excited that in this short amount of time, the Hotel was becoming somewhat popular around the globe! To just think others were getting excited over what we loved was like a huge rush. Anyhow, they called and we talked about what they were going to do and they wanted us to send them some film which we didn't have at the time, so I asked Kathy from FemFeet if we could use clips from "Bound By Laughter" and she said cool so I sent them that video to use clips from. Overall, I really liked the piece considering most stuff like this is "tongue-in-cheek" so to speak. I think it covered the site rather well and the purpose and that's all that mattered to us.

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TK-411:  When exactly did you close the site and why?  

DADDY:  I think we closed in mid 2001...summer I think or close to. Basically, Sexi-Mexi and I ceased as a couple anymore and it did not seem right to continue on with the site the way it was. It was built around us as a couple so you can kinda see my reasoning. It was as simple as that.

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TK-411:  What effect do you think having this site had on your life and your involvement in the online community?  

DADDY:  Well, on my life it had it's mixed results. With every positive there always seems to be negatives which was the case with the Hotel. What I soon learned was that alot of people who were pretending to be my friends really had their sites set on other things...mainly my girlfriend Sexi. All they cared about was how they could get to her and tickle her or be with her sexually. Things would happen behind my back and I would find out and it caused me alot of grief at times. Unfortuantley part of the reason Sexi and I dismantled was because of this. She would allow herself to get caught up in the "gift" recieving and "favors" part of the game and the popularity. After it started I couldn't stop it, so I had to move on.

On the other hand I have met many life long friends who are good people and for that I am grateful. Also the experience brought me closer to a world that I had once only dreamed of and how can one shake a stick at that? It also made me a stronger person in who I am and what I want out of a partner. I haven't been too much involved over the last few years because of the above mentioned, but I try to stay in touch with the group and I try to make new friends whenever someone really impresses me with their presence. People like Crystal and Steph are examples of people who say and ask interesting things...they seem like they truly want to learn and enjoy the community. That is what I like. I also think newcomers like mammers adds some fire into the group with their upbeat attitudes. And of course you and Drew for your commitement to the heritage and education and also Venray for his vast dedication to making it all a better community. It can be a wonderful place at times.

Overall, I hope that having the HotelTickle website touched many peoples lives and that it helped in discovering themselves and what makes them tick(le). Nothing more I enjoy then when someone say's to me "Hey, yours was the first site I ever found and I visited it every day...and thank you for it." That makes me smile :-)

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TK-411:  Has no longer having the site had an effect as well?  If so, can you share with us about what effect that might be? 

DADDY:  Yes...it has. Nobody knows who I am anymore which is partly my fault, so therefore my online communication with the group has deteriorated. What I mean by all this is when they see my screenname "daddy" most think I am some weird pervert because of the name.l I remember one night I went into the chatroom and got tore apart just because of my screenname. I almost never came back because of that night...they were calling me like a child pervert and such!

On the other hand I really didn't like bringing up that I was the once owner of a tickling website for two reasons. 1) Most people are so new around these parts they would have never heard of it anyhow and 2) I don't like bragging to get attention...it's just not my style and not the reason I ever helped make the website. So, as ya see I am in a rock in a hard place. There are a few I have really tried to become friends with over the last 2-3 years and it just didn't work and for what ever reasons I couldn't tell ya?

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TK-411:  I know part of the answer to this from our notes back and forth.  But, for our readers, what did it take for you to get things ready to re-introduce the site?  Is everything still there that was there originally?

DADDY:  I had it all backed up on a zip drive for years, so I basically had to install zip drive software on my computer, hook up the zip drive and load her on in. Then came the hardest part. When I originally coded the Hotel I had made almost all the links absolute. Well, as youi can imagine that took some time to make them all relative to just directory's and get the whole thing working again. I lost some graphics too that were GeoCities specific, so I went out and found either the exact ones or replacement graphics and filled in those blanks as well. I wanted the whole site working just like it did back in the day so the community could get the full experience. I did however remove a ton of the irratating midis that were throughout the site. The only ones I left in were the "room" specific ones. Everything that was once there still is and I even added a few extra goodies here and there. I was going to build a new flash gallery...well it is built, but I thought I would wait and see how long this will be up or whether it will be up as a permamnet part of the "blast-from-the-past." As for the "outside the site" links, some may work and some may not.

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TK-411:  There are likely things I haven't asked about that you might like the chance to share.  So, here's your chance.  Is there anything else you'd like to share with the community?  

DADDY:  I think you pretty well covered it all Ann! I am just glad I got to meet some really good people over the years and I am also happy that because of your project that I am able to re-introduce the Hotel to the newer crowd and that they will know that at one time I did share and contribute to the community. I am also glad I have got to known you better as well :-)

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TK-411:  One final question that I'm sure many will be wondering about.  What are your plans for the future of Hotel Tickle?  Have you considered the possibility of updating things and bringing it back on a more permanant basis?

DADDY:  Well, at one time around 2003-2004 I had plans to re-open a new HotelTickle. Even got the domain name secured and payed for some real estate on the web. I had met a beautiful, adorable woman name Majestic who was ready to participate from the ground up and start it fresh. As a matter of fact she was part of the forum for a very long time. But life, work and other things always seemed to get in our way so it never materialized. Sadly to report, that relationship ended just last year. So as for the future, who knows? The one thing I do know is this. With the TMF being such a vast collection of infromation and goodies already that if I do make a new Hotel, it will all be done in Flash, interactive and blow peoples minds!!! It will be different from anything anybody has ever done, that is for sure. We shall see...gotta round me up a new partner first!!! LOL

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TK-411: Thank-you once again for agreeing to do this interview.  Any parting comments? 

DADDY:  Thank you Ann for giving me this opportunity to share "A Blast From The Past.!" Happy tickling wherever you may be.

peace out,

daddy (longhair)

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Now that you've had a chance to learn a bit about the old Hotel Tickle website, we encourage you to go take a look for yourself.  You'll be glad you did!  Also, check in with TMF Radio on Tuesday night, May 19th, for a live interview with daddy!  Here's the link to listen to the show if you missed us live...  Venray & Raya's Making Friends Online - with Special Guest Daddylonghair of Hotel Tickle

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