Fridae

This is to respond to the feedback we've received following our Mar 27, 2012 announcement concerning Fridae's revised photo policy guidelines:

We want to thank everyone for your continuous feedback, whether sent to us privately or posted on the website (although all further comments from now should be directed here). We value your feedback and we would like to further clarify the background to our recent announcement on the photo policy. 

Since Fridae started in 2001, the user agreement has disallowed members from uploading "obscene" and/or "pornographic" images to the website. There has been no change to that policy and recent announcements were a reminder to members of Fridae's ongoing policy. The reasons for this reminder to members are: 

Fridae's goals, direction and product enhancements

Fridae is committed to building a platform that supports its core objective of empowering LGBT Asia and including all members of that community. We want to be respectful of the different sections of that community whilst at the same time developing enhancements to our dating site. One of the key developments that many members have called for is a mobile application and we are very excited about the launch of our Iphone application this quarter. In light of this new mobile app, members who are familiar with other mobile apps already know, mobile apps must comply with the rules set by various platforms (such as the Apple store) for the app to be distributed. We believe our policy is in line with other products having a mobile application. 

Going forward, Fridae expects to work with advertisers and partners, many of whom have guidelines concerning content that contain nudity and sexually explicit content. Images used in other sections of the website including News, Lifestyle, Agenda and Shop, etc are subjected to their respective guidelines as determined by Fridae. We believe that the LGBT community in Asia will benefit from Fridae being able to support community activities and sponsorship of such events.

Respectful environment for all

As Fridae is a LGBT website, we are committed to providing all members – be they lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender – a respectful and comfortable environment. We believe that Fridae is much more than just a dating site and whilst we still want to be the best dating site in Asia, we want to balance this with our community work and providing our members with a high quality news and information service. Additionally, Fridae is accessed by users in over 150 countries and in many of them, it is illegal for nude / sexually explicit /pornographic images to be publicly displayed on a website. 

We believe this to be a step in the right direction to build a premier and respected LGBT platform, and we hope that you will support this endeavour. 

Fridae is pleased to announce that our original domain name Fridae.com, which we had been using for the past 11 years, has been returned to us following a decision of a WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy) Panel, on 2nd April 2012.

Fridae's original domain name, Fridae.com, had been redirecting to our new Fridae.asia site since June 2011 until this was disrupted by Fridae’s former CEO in November 2011. 

Since then Fridae continued with business as usual through its new domain name Fridae.asia. Today, under new management who are totally committed to serving the LGBT community, Fridae.asia remains Asia's pre-eminent social networking and news and information site serving the LGBT community, with more than 500,000 registered members predominantly in Greater China, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Paul Thompson, Chairman of Fridae said: "We are delighted that the WIPO ruling has returned Fridae.com to its rightful owner. As an Asian business, we actually like our new name Fridae.asia which we believe reflects our unique position in the region and our commitment to the LGBT community in Asia.

"As such, we plan to continue to use the name Fridae.asia and users accessing Fridae.com (as well as Fridae.net and Fridae.org which were also returned to the Fridae group) will now be directed to Fridae.asia, our primary domain name. Although Fridae has been running with business as usual, during the recent removal of the fridae.com domain name, the situation had created confusion for our loyal members. So, indeed, we are very happy that this has now been resolved.” 

Fridae, a Hong Kong registered company, will shortly launch a location based mobile application for its social networking site and is planning an LGBT travel and resource guide later in the year. 

Fridae remains committed to developing a suite of services to better serve the LGBT community and supporting the empowerment of LGBT people in Asia. To date, Fridae has raised and disbursed over US$50,000 for projects that directly impact the LGBT community including Indignation (Singapore), Pink Dot (Singapore) and Taipei Pride Parade (Taiwan); and supported LGBT events across Asia including Hong Kong's Pink Season and the Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Indonesia's Q Film Festival, Asian Queer Film Festival (Tokyo, Japan), the International Conference of Asian Queer Studies (Bangkok, Thailand), and the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA)-Asia conferences in Chiangmai (Thailand) and Surabaya (Indonesia).