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I KISS YOU!!!
Cyber-Cupid or Cyber-Stupid? You decide.
Those of you who haven't visited the site of this Turkish delight may have at least heard about it from friends, read about it in the news or seen it referred to on TV. If not, maybe you just didn't open the e-mail your friend Dave sent you imploring you to "Check this Out!!" among the 300 other e-mails with similar subject headings. Either way, it's definately worth a click-thru.
Perhaps the best example of cyber-cheese, Mahir Cagri's home page embodies the heart and soul of iStuff. Intended to serve as a sort of personal ad, Cagri's site gained notoriety simply by word of mouth, by amused visitors who felt the urge to share the site with friends. Within days of launching the site, it received over half a million hits. Now, there are countless parodies, fan clubs, web rings, and even a musical tribute!
Reportedly hacked, the original content of the site was changed to include the now infamous phrases, "I Kiss You... I like to take foto-camera (amimals , towns , nice nude models, and peoples) ...Who is want to come TURKEY I can invitate... She can stay my home..." The photos, however... well, you decide.
Much to the surprise and bewilderment of it's creator, the site became so popular Cagri is oftern referred to as a cyber-celebrity. Of all the sites I have researched so far, the "I Kiss You" page has the longest list of articles and discussions. So what has he done with his newly-found notoriety? Cagri seems to be taking everything in stride and is using his popularity to promote world peace, address issues of child abuse and poverty, and within his home country, garner support and aid for Turkish Earthquake Relief.
Related Links and such
The Story of My Homepage (How it all got started)
http://members.nbci.com/_XOOM/primall/mahir/ing.htmMahir's Second Home Page:
http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/primall/mahir/new.htm'Most popular homepage ever' denounced as a hoax, by Will Knight
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/1999/44/ns-11317.html
Turkish Delight: Pain, gain and Internet fame by James Norton
http://csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/ cybercoverage/norton/ p-122999pilgrimmahir.htmlMore Mahir mania by Janelle Brown
http://www.salon.com/tech/log/1999/11/08/more_mahir/Mahir Central
http://www.mahircentral.com/Mahir Daily News
http://www.krstdesign.com/liliana/mahir/index.html
Mahir Gets Funky (A Hampster Dance Parody)
http://members.nbci.com/_XOOM/ mahirdance/getdown.htmlThe Strange Case of Mahir Cagri, posted by Hemos
http://slashdot.org/articles/99/11/12 /0844228.shtmlMahir's Fanclub
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/mahirsfanclub
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