OUTeverywhere
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
OUTeverywhere (also known simply as OUT and formerly OUTintheUK) is a website providing an online lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, chiefly in the UK, although it has members worldwide. The site provides member profiles with picture galleries, private messages, discussion boards and online chat. The community also organises offline events, such as coffee or cocktail outings, sporting events and day trips.
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[edit] Founding and growth
The website was created in 1995 when the founder, Jason Finch, wanted a way of keeping in touch with his friends, prior to instant messaging. The membership then increased due to word of mouth in conjunction with a small amount of advertising and PR.
Initially the site was for gay men only. In 2003 OUTforWomen was launched. At first the two sites were run separately. Eventually the sites started to integrate. Initially integration was limited, but eventually a decision was made to allow full integration between the two sites.
In May 2005 the site was relaunched under the OUTeverywhere name. The relaunch involved a major redesign of the website, as well as full integration between male and female members. The relaunch also indicated a change of ethos moving the website from an online community to a real life organisation operating both online and offline.
Before the relaunch of the site, it was claimed on the front page that as many as 30,000 members had signed up over the period in which it had been in existence, though exact current member numbers are confidential and therefore subject to speculation. Members are often internally known as "OUTers". The "online" counter shown on logon displays up to 700 users online (measured against a 4 hour time-out) at peak times, and the welcome screen on the website reports that members organised over 5,000 different social meets through the website last year, which range from large-scale formally organised events, to casual one on one drinks-with-friends in local pubs. There are three or four "official" events each year, usually taking place in London as this is where the majority of OUTers seem to live.
OUT also provides staff time and helps co-ordinate various in-house LGBT projects, such as Silence Is Not Golden (SING),[1] providing homophobic and hate-crimes advice in conjunction with UK police websites, as well as offering information, via an SMS service, on how to report hate crimes via those websites. Since its launch, the SING project has seen publicity from both the police as well as other charitable organisations, such as Schools Out, The Rainbow Network, Bully Online, Pink News and the BBC.
In late November 2006 the management of the site posted a set of "house rules" governing members' behaviour.
[edit] Distinctiveness
OUT differs in a number of ways from some other mainstream gay profile and dating websites. When the site was first launched, it made a big point of its non-exploitative, non-commercial nature, functioning as a member-supported community. This was partly abandoned in May 2005, when OUTeverywhere relaunched as a more commercial organisation, reducing usability for non-subscribers. Revenue comes from membership fees (currently £45 per year excluding concessions/discounts). Secondly, the site consciously steers away from an emphasis on sex by not allowing nude profile photos and stopping members openly soliciting for sex.
Third, offline group events are a core feature of the community, making it feel like more of a community than many internet sites. The most important distinctive feature of OUT is its discussion forums, which cover a vast range of topics from TV, music and film to politics and current affairs. Members can become famous (or infamous) on the website if their postings are memorable enough; many find the forums a good way of making friends as it is easy to find those who share ones views through such discussions.
[edit] Publicity
OUTeverywhere (then called OutInTheUK) achieved publicity (including the Sun, the Times, BBC news online) when two of its members decided to organise an event to throw sausages at magician David Blaine, whilst he was suspended without food in a perspex box by Tower Bridge.
More recently, OUT produced a "newsletter" called "ThisIsGay" using postings from its forums to represent the idea that it covered a whole spectrum of interests.
