Bob Blaylock
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #1
Any of you familiar with the show Riverdale? I'm a bit surprised that there was apparently never a thread started on this forum, about this show, which takes a much darker use of the classic “Archie” set of comic book/cartoon characters. A bit late,now, top start a general thread about this show, since it is now most of the way through what has been announced to be its final season.
So, are there any of you reading this, who were ever active on the old Usenet groups on the Internet? If so, perhaps you'll soon know where I am going, before you read to the part where I get there.
A very recent plot development, in the last few episodes, involves a guy named Terry, who has drawn some of the male characters into a business of producing videos of them being tickled. In the most recent episode, these characters have decided to cut ties with Terry, and strike out on their own in the tickling-video business. This prompted Terry to retaliate with violence and threats of greater violence unless they cut him in generously on their profits.
So, any of you who were ever on Usenet know where this is going? Any of you remember “Terri DiSisto”? I think it was during the mid to late 1990s, when a person going by that name, claiming to be a wealthy, twenty-something-year-old female college student with a lot of money and a strong fetish for guys being tickled, drew a lot of ire by spamming various Usenet forums advertising for handsome young men to sell her videos of themselves being tickled. Abundant rumors existed, of men who did so finding themselves being blackmailed, or subject to other criminal acts. Supposedly, at least one victim was driven to suicide. I suppose that there's nearly as much myth and legend surrounding this, as reality.
Of course, the Usenet community as a whole, didn't take this lightly, and driven by a large number of above-average minds, “Terri DiSisto” was ultimately exposed, and revealed as being a middle-aged man, named David D'Amato, who was, at the time, the vice-principle of a high school. He ended up being prosecuted and convicted of several assorted crimes in connection with his activities as “Terri DiSisto”, and spent time in prison. Googling about him these days produces amazingly sparse information, but apparently, he died in 2017, at the age of 55. I couldn't find any indication of how he died. Oddly, my wife was heavily involved, at the time it was happening, in the efforts to investigate, expose, and take down “Terri DiSisto”, but now, she barely remembers any of it. I paid a lot less attention to it, as it was happening, and I still remember fairly clearly what of it ever came to my notice.
Anyway, although the methods being depicted in Riverdale are very different than those used in real life by Mr. D'Amato, I was struck instantly by a memory of all of the “Terri Disisto” drama from all those years ago, when a shady character by the name of “Terry” showed up on Riverdale with a similar interest in producing videos of young men being tickled.
So, are there any of you reading this, who were ever active on the old Usenet groups on the Internet? If so, perhaps you'll soon know where I am going, before you read to the part where I get there.
A very recent plot development, in the last few episodes, involves a guy named Terry, who has drawn some of the male characters into a business of producing videos of them being tickled. In the most recent episode, these characters have decided to cut ties with Terry, and strike out on their own in the tickling-video business. This prompted Terry to retaliate with violence and threats of greater violence unless they cut him in generously on their profits.
So, any of you who were ever on Usenet know where this is going? Any of you remember “Terri DiSisto”? I think it was during the mid to late 1990s, when a person going by that name, claiming to be a wealthy, twenty-something-year-old female college student with a lot of money and a strong fetish for guys being tickled, drew a lot of ire by spamming various Usenet forums advertising for handsome young men to sell her videos of themselves being tickled. Abundant rumors existed, of men who did so finding themselves being blackmailed, or subject to other criminal acts. Supposedly, at least one victim was driven to suicide. I suppose that there's nearly as much myth and legend surrounding this, as reality.
Of course, the Usenet community as a whole, didn't take this lightly, and driven by a large number of above-average minds, “Terri DiSisto” was ultimately exposed, and revealed as being a middle-aged man, named David D'Amato, who was, at the time, the vice-principle of a high school. He ended up being prosecuted and convicted of several assorted crimes in connection with his activities as “Terri DiSisto”, and spent time in prison. Googling about him these days produces amazingly sparse information, but apparently, he died in 2017, at the age of 55. I couldn't find any indication of how he died. Oddly, my wife was heavily involved, at the time it was happening, in the efforts to investigate, expose, and take down “Terri DiSisto”, but now, she barely remembers any of it. I paid a lot less attention to it, as it was happening, and I still remember fairly clearly what of it ever came to my notice.
Anyway, although the methods being depicted in Riverdale are very different than those used in real life by Mr. D'Amato, I was struck instantly by a memory of all of the “Terri Disisto” drama from all those years ago, when a shady character by the name of “Terry” showed up on Riverdale with a similar interest in producing videos of young men being tickled.
