Lol i hope so

BUT raising awareness of safe sex practices is a good thing! And a ‘viral’ campaign is in order.

Here is how it could work:

People could earn and then display a “safe sex – get tested” trustmark logo on their myspace or facebook page. This would get serious media attention, promote a worthy cause, and prevent much suffering.

One could ‘earn’ the logo by viewing a short FUN safe sex video and answering 3 questions. They could also be directed to the nearest FREE std clinic mashed up on a google map. The site might even turn a small profit with ads from Trojan or Durex.

The animated logo would hopefully go viral… inviting others to get the logo for themselves.

This type of service is sorely needed for the myspace generation.

[SPAM FLAG #11] “Katie S” looks like CheckTonight spam… shady practices = shady company.

Overall its a great service and $3 per text message isn’t very costly compared to the consequences of getting std’s or sti’s. If you can’t afford $3 to get laid safely you must not want it that badly. What would you prefer? sex or a happy meal? nuff said.

I could go get “certified” STD-Free tonight, go party with a crack-whore, get herpes and give herpes to people for the next six months before i lose my “certification”.

AM I missing something?

Even worse, people who are not medically cleared to be deemed “safe” by CheckTonight can deny knowing the service exists since the results back would say something to the affect of “Unknown” as opposed to “You’ll regret this in a couple weeks”.

So, the only way it works is if two people who are aware of the site come to the consensus that it’s a trustworthy way to screen each other. That’s going to be a hard community to build.

I guess I’d have to see how they did the text messaging, but I think I would. The text messages I get from Verizon and my bank come from some weird 12 digit number, not a regular phone number.

I understand Albert’s point that the results aren’t guaranteed, but it’s better than nothing. And at least it’s an indication that they HAVE been tested. So few people are, even though they claim to be.

I would however, guarantee that most members to their website are going to be much better than most. People do lie about this all the time, because they know there’s no easy way to check to see if your partner was actually tested. You would need a court subpoena to access their medical records and by then it would be too late anyway. Getting tested and making sure your partner is tested is essential. So I say, since it will encourage people to be tested more often and wake them up to the fact that STDs can be serious, then it’s a great thing. If this is another preventative tool in the box in addition to the condom, then great!

Just for fun, I tried a couple of not uncommon symptom searches related to actual problems people I know have experienced recently. For example, one person I know experienced chronic tendonitis in reaction to being treated with Cipro. Unfortunately there were no results in Symptom Search that relate these to subjects.

I also had a recent experience with someone who experienced sudden hearing loss as the result of an ear infection however the system was not correlate the two and didn’t serve any relevant information.

This is a very technically challenging problem and one I believe requires a search metaphor and deep technology to address in a way that is meaningfull to the consumer. (Follow link at the top to my Lightpseed blog post about Vertical Search as a way to better address these types of research oriented searches).

Also, try the following two searches on the Kosmix Health Search portal (full disclosure, Lightpseed is an investor).

http://www.kosm...ro_tendonitis-s

http://www.kosm...ar_infection-s?

I typed in simple search requests such as “Sudden Hearing Loss” and “Cipro Tendonitis” and got back a wealth of topics and articles that linked these symptoms to their underlying cuases and also to potential treatments and doctors.

Health Vertical Search is a challenging problem but one, if well solved, that could yield substantial consumer benefits as well as create a company of significant value.

I didn’t have the option of 25 dollars a year for this and now I’m spending twice that a month for Valtrex! Yes, genital herpes. My bf in college told me he was fine and that he had been tested and for a time, we always used condoms anyway. When we were committed, we let them slide once in a while. Then I got a horrible outbreak from what I learned to be genital herpes. Now I will have it for the rest of my life. I could go on here about how everyone in school found out about it, but I don’t care to re-live it or make you suffer through it.

The reality is that guys don’t care about STDs, especially genital herpes. Their symptoms are usually fewer and they just don’t want to know. I know my bf wasn’t tested and he lied about it. This at least holds people accountable for getting tested, because that is what’s required.

And 3 dollars? Come on, that’s less than a half a drink in NYC. I’ll gladly pay it. By the way, I work for a major bank in NYC and we are offering text messaging service soon for access to account info and many do already in the UK. SMS is actually pretty hard to crack.

In fact it will encourage lying by allowing one to have a healthy status report on line but if they get a ‘bug’ they become aware of, (some ‘bugs ‘ have no symptoms) they can easilly go to some urgent care clinic and get a few antibiotic tablets…all totally unknown to the system …meanwhile there is no reason to cancle that evening out at the picl up bar.

$3/ text message does sounds steep, however, how frequently do you plan on using the service that it would actually become a financial burden? Better yet; what value do you place on your sexual health?

So long as the service is reputable with the medical professionals providing test results, and maintaining the privacy of the individuals using the service, I will support CheckTonight.com to keep me busy at night.

Yeah, but you’re a guy. It isn’t the same for girls. Guys will say anything when they’re trying to get in your pants. It would be nice to be able to make sure their promises of health aren’t just the usual blather.

And I’d rather pay for a $3 text than for Valtrex for the rest of my life.

Next up will be the jokey STD-Check services where you get a boilerplate email from Paris Hilton, Linsday Lohan, or Screech.

Actually not a bad idea. Sexual studs and stud-ettes could get ex-partners to register and vote at a celebrity ‘ho site to vouch for your virility and ability in the sack.

Call it Kissr.

They can attract more users by some good scheme or something.I would still like to go to a real dr going this way will need more things to make me think