E-Lay is a web site which allows one to reference the sexual history of another while both parties retain relative anonymity. E-Lay can also be used as a portal site for the exchange of e-mail, arranging meetings, etc.

A user submits a photo and requests an E-Lay card. The card is returned with the photo image as the background and an E-Lay number embossed on top.

Prior or subsequent to a sexual encounter, the participants can exchange E-Lay numbers. To a certain extent a person's sexual history unfolds within the matrix of E-Lay numbers.

A typical 'transaction' might go as follows:
Pat and Chris meet, enjoy each other's company and, after writing each other's E-Lay number on napkins, go back to Chris' place. The next morning Pat slips out before Chris wakes up and goes on about those things Pats do.

Chris wakes up later and wants to thank Pat for the night's festivities. Chris logs on to E-Lay and, using Pat's E-Lay number, sends an e-mail to Pat. While online at E-Lay, Chris also adds Pat's E-Lay number to the short list of partner's Chris has on record. Chris also flags Pat's account to be updated with Chris' number.

Pat arrives home and discovers Chris' e-mail at E-Lay. Pat has no interest in getting together with Chris again, so Pat puts an e-mail block on Chris' E-Lay number. Pat also notices Chris' number added to Pat's own list of partners and removes it, wanting to be discreet about that particular encounter. Pat also notices Chris' choice to add Pat's number to Chris' list, but decides to leave that entry alone.

That turns out to be a good choice as it turns out. It turns out Dana, a person Chris had a relationship with for some time but only broke up with a month ago, has come down with gonorrhea. Since Dana was cheating on Chris, Dana isn't sure whether or not Chris was exposed, but informs Chris via Chris' E-Lay account. Chris, in turn, can immediately pass the message on right away to anyone in Chris' list or get examined first to determine what Chris' partner's exposure might be. Since Pat is still in Chris' list, Pat can easily be notified if a doctor's visit is in order. Since Chris is no longer in Pat's list, Pat will have to rely on a good memory to provide the same courtesy.

* I don't know what the profit model is here. Some nominal fee for the card and banner ads, I guess. Also, there's potential for abuse, but the bugs can be worked out...
-- phoenix, Mar 19 2003

Sexchart (Wired Magazine) http://www.wired.co...,1284,48997,00.html
Sorta baked, but without the anonymity and other frills you describe. [krelnik, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

(?) E-mails used to alert of STD exposure http://www.cnn.com/...l.std.ap/index.html
Feb 22 2004: Los Angeles is experimenting with something similar. [krelnik, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

(?) TheExBook.com http://theexbook.com/
kinda the same idea [jaksplat, May 07 2007]

Shouldn't the STD warning be automated? - if you have gonorrhea for example, you would enter (as it were) that information into E-Lay. Someone you've never met would then receive email saying "An E-Layer 3 E-Lays removed from you has gonorrhea. Get yourself checked out".
The subtitle to this idea aalso teasingly hints at its use as a reccomendations service ("You may wish to try E-Lay member 123456").
-- hippo, Mar 19 2003


I like the Amazon.com reference in the summary and the delicate way you avoided gender identifying names and pronouns. But this seems creepy - call me naive, but who wants his/her sexual history on display like this?

Correction?: you said "Pat has no interest in getting together with Pat again."
-- snarfyguy, Mar 19 2003


I am not sure I like this [phoenix] - well the first two paragraphs were OK and then I went right off it.
-- po, Mar 19 2003


Among certain computer-hacker / geek circles there circulates something called the "sex chart" which plots who has been with whom in a giant connect-the-dots style. See linked article for details, history, etc.
-- krelnik, Mar 19 2003


Hey look, it's Kevin Bacon!
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 19 2003


Argh no, it'd only be a matter of time before you got lays-reunited.com. And where would that leave us?
-- -alx, Mar 21 2003


It's creepily like real life.
-- grecosartre, Mar 21 2003


Build it into a brand and then sell other products, like "Oil of E-Lay."
-- bristolz, Mar 21 2003


Needs a sponsor.....say, Frito Lay?
-- flerper, Apr 13 2003


I just damn near hurt myself looking at the sexchart. I'm now tempted to track down one of those people and boff them just to get on it.
-- stilgar, May 07 2007


Reading the sex chart told me one thing: User shitagau is more popular than me.
-- shapu, May 07 2007



random, halfbakery