STD Friends Review

STD Friends was redesigned even before we first reviewed it and has kept with its Web 2.0 design. Even if personally I find it a bit heavy on the white background, I know that it’s supposed to make the text easier to read. It also gives you added features integrated into the interface, like below your profile pic is a section of stats showing everything offered on the site, which helps streamline navigation. For example, you can see who’s online in the blink of an eye.

The signup process requires you to complete quite a few fields. Nowadays, it is more correct to say “sexually transmitted infections” or STIs. The term STDs is slightly outdated, so STDFriends is a bit behind the times with its name. At any rate, you can choose several fields, such as Herpes (HSV I and II) or HIV from a dropdown menu. You can also simply select a nonspecific “other” category.

“There are several forms of community interaction on STD Friends, from group chat rooms to members’ forums to personal blogs.”

The site makes an effort to give you direct info about health issues. It also has links to other websites covering the different STIs mentioned. There are several forms of community interaction on STD Friends, from group chat rooms to members’ forums to personal blogs. The chat is restricted to paying subscribers, but other services are open for everyone who is a member.

For a limited time and in an effort to encourage participation, they offered a free month’s full membership to those contributing posts. It seems that this offer has ended, because I can’t find any mention of it now. I think it must have had limited success, but it did generate some worthwhile postings.

Although STDFriends.com offers localized searches to all members and you can view as many full-length profiles as you want, these options used to have daily limits placed on them. However, when those restrictions were removed, others were added. For example, you can no longer send free winks and replying to messages isn’t free either. One thing that hasn’t changed though is the lack of last login info.

This site has attracted limited visitors to its pages. Its traffic really hasn’t increased at all since our initial visit. A lower-than-average price doesn’t even seem to help. I guess it has something to do with the sensitive nature of its target market.

Many folks probably feel too shy about sharing their situation with strangers, which is too bad, because they don’t know what they’re missing. I think it would be harder to discuss these things on a standard dating site. Many members have attested to the fact that the open atmosphere of STD Friends is very liberating.