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Asexual Needs


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AVEN is doing a fantastic job of being visible according to a recent poll, especially online.

If you haven't already, check out the How did you find AVEN? post and cast your vote.

When you are done voting, take a look at the results, specifically for these two areas :

physical world organization

referred by friends/family

Both of these are examples of asexuals learning about each other in the real world, through the real world. Unfortunately, this figure seems to be fairly low compared to those individuals spending countless time roaming the web to find their answers. I don't know about how you feel, but I would really like to see other asexuals in the real world and to attend organized events within reach.

There is a section on the forum that handles some of these needs, but they seem limited by the forum setup. My proposal is a website that is dedicated to these real world needs, after we discover ourselves. Not to be confused with the ace-book; This design is to remain more open and adaptable, so that we get as much visibility as possible, while addressing all of our asexy real world needs.

Is this need for real world asexual contact one that you feel as well?

What need would you want addressed by the site?

What other needs do you think we should focus on?

Specifically, what needs do you feel are unmet?

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Lord Happy Toast

One of my biggest questions/points of confusion about the site is that you have it set up as a dating site, but are largely proposing it as a means to better organize meet-ups. What sorts of functionality are options for makeing it specifically well suited for organizing meetups?

Also, you may be slightly mis-reading the results of the linked poll. It is about how people found AVEN, rather than how they found out about asexuality. For instance, I first heard about asexuality from a psychologist at my university that I was going to to try to make sense of my sexuality. He asked if I'd considered asexuality. I later googled the term and found AVEN. So I first heard of asexuality in real life, but found AVEN through a search engine. Still, there certainly is real need for more real-life stuff.

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Sorry for the confusion. The ultimate intention is having a site that acts as a medium geared towards handling the asexual social scene. This encompassing dating, meet-ups, events, clubs, parties, etc. As knowing how many asexuals in any given area are available for live interaction, a browseable database of geographically placed individuals in the community is a stepping stone towards developing other magnitutes of social interest. After all, it is difficult to host an asexual party or start an asexual club if you do not bump into many asexuals around your area, or if you simply do not know what the situation is where you are located.

The dating aspect is meant to help individuals come into contact with one another on a personal level while increasing overall visibility within the community. Think of it like this : Before the gay/lesbian movements got rolling, those individuals would be interested in meeting one another, or going to hang out together at clubs, but had difficult access to that information. Limited websites and direct person to person contact being the primary source of information. A single forum type post about this type of access would just need to coincide with their relative location, and trying to host an event or meet somebody in the area to date would also be more difficult if the poster had vague ideas about the concentration of asexuals within his real world community. With us, there are generally less concentrations available to deal with, and posting your geographical location or one of an event produces a one shot hope that others happen to be browsing and are in the position to meet-up in real life.

Now, if we take the community, and give everybody a browseable geography, along with dating type bios, we can see with indexing and rankings, what type of events we can host for what kind of people and where. Those that are unfortunate enough to be outside of concentrated areas, then still have access to dating or other small scale meet-ups because they can still browse and see others and their interests within their area.

Pretty much we can feature eventual community sponsored events or clubs on the homepage and get some of us some cool hang outs, but first we need to help people who are interested in meeting each other, in any format, some basis for browsing their options.

I set it up as a dating site, because there is not enough information to start sponsoring organized meet-ups and dating falls into the category of human contact. Anything to assist us by connecting more asexuals in real life.

Anyone who already knows of social events involving asexuals is welcome to email me, so that I can feature them on the homepage. Those who are less inclined to social events then at the same time have a browseable index of nearby asexuals that they can in turn meet on their own time.

I think this pretty sums up where I am going with this. -_- Thoughts? ^_^

Maybe I mistook the poll a little. I do think that AVEN is a leading educator on asexuality, and that many people truely learn about asexuality through AVEN. I wish someone in real life had mentioned asexuality and referenced me to AVEN.. So, I may be making to much of a direct link there. :blush:

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Aven is the best known 101 site for learning about asexuality..I doubt if it will ever be the best site for long term asexuals

it does however give those that are confused, seeking, unsure.. some basic pointers for those on the starting path of self discovery..certianly on that they are to be appreciated :cake:

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The dating aspect is meant to help individuals come into contact with one another on a personal level while increasing overall visibility within the community.

Not all asexuals want to "date". Dating has a particular connotation in US society, and probably in others as well. Not only do some asexuals not want to date, they also are in the age range where they're not necessarily interested in going to clubs. Being asexual isn't any more of a social-scene type thing than being heterosexual is. Asexuals are individuals and your set-up will only reach a (probably small) section of asexuals.

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Correct me if I'm wrong but AVEN already has a highly successful meet-up section where people who frequent the boards and those that don't seem to meet on a regular basis. Aside from that, if you want to join an asexy dating site, I've heard stories of quite a few people meeting through acebook, thus I would assume they have a decent-sized clientele already.

Anyway, I don't really see the use in setting up another external site when there are already ones that work in place. I wouldn't join such a site because I'm in a relationship and I don't really see how friendships need to be based around sex or the lack thereof.

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zoids has a good point

Whilst not a dating site ..we still have a good few members who have connected..met and have had/continue to have a relatonship

given the larger user base of 16-24..personally I feel it would be dangerous to have a dating site section within aven

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Aven is the best known 101 site for learning about asexuality..I doubt if it will ever be the best site for long term asexuals

it does however give those that are confused, seeking, unsure.. some basic pointers for those on the starting path of self discovery..certianly on that they are to be appreciated :cake:

I agree. :cake:

Not all asexuals want to "date".

True. Not everyone wants to date. However, there are those that do. Those that do not want to date, but might be interested in some form of social interaction, may benefit from other featured events.

Being asexual isn't any more of a social-scene type thing than being heterosexual is.

Hanging out with heterosexuals, I would have to say there is a very active social scene available. A slue of heterosexuals are into dating, bars, clubs, raves, and organized sex. Some of which are fairly different from, say, homosexual social scenes with similar interests.

Asexuals are individuals and your set-up will only reach a (probably small) section of asexuals.

Asexuals are a (probably small) section of society, but having that option available can be very meaningful to those that need it.

... AVEN already has a highly successful meet-up section ... Aside from that... I've heard stories of quite a few people meeting through acebook, thus I would assume they have a decent-sized clientele already.

AVEN and acebook function in different ways, because they focus on different areas. I would say that both do a good job of it and agree that they do have a fair amount of users that enjoy these services.

Anyway, I don't really see the use in setting up another external site when there are already ones that work in place.

This would imply that the site functions the same as the others. Just as AVEN displays information in a certain way, and has specific goals, another website targets something that could be improved upon and displays that information in a different way. None of these sites detract from one another, they enhance needs within the collective community.

I wouldn't join such a site because I'm in a relationship and I don't really see how friendships need to be based around sex or the lack thereof.

You are not required to join such a site, but friendships can be based around common interests. Those interests can be used as a starting point for further friendships. Like making friends at a book club, which you happened to be a member of, because you were interested in books at that time.

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sinisterporpoise

I've been unimpressed with the Asexual dating sites, but it would be a good idea to have a website to organize activities and start groups outside of AVEN.

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