Service Helps You Tell a Partner They Might Have an STD

[Victoria]

Have you guys heard of InSpot?

It's a service where you can anonymously tell a partner about your STD diagnosis and encourage them to get tested or treated. Individuals receiving the notification emails are even guided to clinics.

I think, on balance, this is a good thing but man, how about getting an email that says "you might have an STD!" What if it goes to your spam folders or you just delete it thinking it's something commercial? Still probably better to actually see or call someone to let them know, but this is better than nothing.

http://www.inspot.org/Home.aspx?regionid=5&sitelvl=1

I think I'll send myself a card to see how it works!

[getSTDtested Administrator]

I have seen this site and I think it's a pretty great idea. It would obviously be best to call someone so you could talk to them, but I'm sure there are A LOT of people out there who may be too embarrassed to tell a previous partner about an STD (especially if it was a one night stand or fling or something that didn't end well). This site allows you to do the right thing, which is notify anyone who may be at risk or need to get tested, but also allows to you stay anonymous if you would otherwise be too embarrassed or scared to tell them. Dealing with an STD can be pretty difficult and overwhelming, so anything that can help make the situation a bit easier to handle is a good effort in my book

[getSTDtested Administrator]

Here's another little blurb i saw about the e-card notification...

E-mail and STDs

“And you thought spam mail was bad!” said Linda Diproperzio in Examiner.com. An Internet-based company—www.InSpot.org—is offering a new service to people who have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease—electronic greeting cards to notify sexual partners. Recipients can click for information on treatments and nearby clinics.

It’s a good idea, said Andrew McKinnon in Switch, but some of the cards are unnecessarily “cheeky”—one says: “It’s not what you brought to the party. It’s what you left with.” It would be nice if “they’d use a little more tact,” although maybe there’s no nice way to say, “You’ve got an STD.”

Anything that makes breaking the news easier will be helpful, said Eliza Strickland in Discover magazine online. For many people diagnosed with STDs, "notifying past sexual partners of their health risk is a task that's just too humiliating to face." If e-cards can make breaking the news easier, more people will get to the doctor in time.


SOURCE: http://www.theweek.com/article/index...Email_and_STDs