[Mahir Cagri] became a [net god] quite suddenly in 1999. His personal [home page] was famous. He was written up by major magazines, and interviewed on TV, all over the [world].

People were charmed by Mahir's bad English and sincere invitation for foreign women to come to his home for some [volleyball], nude photography, and [sex]. His page was like the dumbest sort of [personal ad], written in amateurish HTML. The photos of Mahir in red [guys in speedos|Speedos], and playing the [accordion], were mind-bogglingly [tacky]. Yet the page had a strange beauty, like some kind of [postmodern] [found poem].

The Mahir [fad|craze] sparked a wave of [tourism] to [Turkey], where people actually went to tour Mahir's house. Mahir began to see himself as an [ambassador] of international [goodwill], as the [fan mail] poured in. You can still buy mugs, mouse pads, and t-shirts emblazoned with vintage Mahir photos. The phrase "I kiss you!" has made its way into English slang.

This is what was on his home page: -----------------------------------------------------------

This is my page .......

WELCOME TO MY HOME PAGE !!!!!!!!!

[i kiss you|I KISS YOU] !!!!!

(photo of Mahir in a suit, full length)

I like music , I have many many musicenstrumans my home I can play

I like sport , swiming , basketball ,tenis , volayball , walk .........

(photo of Mahir posing in front of a building)

I like sex

I like travel I go 3-4 country every year

I went , Germany , Nederland , Belgium , Austria , Denmark, Sweden , Hungary

Moldovia , Ukraina , Bulgaria , Romania , Macedonia ,Azerbaijan , Georrgia , Iran .....

(photo of Mahir playing ping-pong, nattily dressed)

My profession jurnalist , music and sport teacher , I makepsycolojy doctora

I like to take foto-camera (amimals , towns , nice nude models andpeoples).....

(photo of Mahir gazing out over a sea wall)

My tall 1.84 cm (6.2 feet) My weight 78 kg.

My eyes green .. I live alone !!!!!!!!!

I have home - car .........

(famous photo of Mahir in red speedo bathing suit, lying on a towel)

(photo of Mahir looking happy, arms outspread)

(photo of Mahir playing the accordion)

(a few more bad snapshots of Mahir)

I like to be friendship from different country ..

I live in [TURKEY] -town [IZMIR] ...( 4 million peoples - near the sea - old history)...

Who is want to come TURKEY I can invitate .....

She can stay my home ........

I speake [turkish] , english , rusian , I want to learn otherlanguage !

[alex] sez: http://www.ikissyou.org/mahir/mahirilk.htm has a copy of the original page

Mahir Cagri (person)