Informed Consent (website)

Informed Consent or IC is a prominent UK-based website aimed at the BDSM and Fetish scenes in the UK, located at www.informedconsent.co.uk

IC was started by Tanos at the end of 1997 , originally as UKBDSM and then changing its name to Informed Consent in the spring of 1998. During 1998, IC's main content was the events list which Tanos maintained for the uk.people.bdsm newsgroup, and a directory of UK BDSM websites and shops. In late 1999, IC moved to a portal format, with free memberships which allowed users to maintain entries in the listings and display a profile and personal ad.

IC experimented with various mailing lists and web board formats during 1998-2000, but during 2001-2005, the main place for members' writing was a weblogs system, supplemented by mailing lists.

At the start of 2005, IC relaunched with a new page design, and a total rewrite of the underlying software. The new 'IC.2' system included web boards, an option to have discussions following weblog posts, and the ability to search the personal ads and listings via UK postcode and distance. A social networking feature was also added, which allowed members to list people they know, and this provided a quick way of assessing someone's area of involvement in the scene, and to discover mutual friends that might be able to vouch for the member. At the end of 2005, instant messages and chat rooms were added, using an AJAX-based system developed specifically for IC.

By mid-2007, the site had reached over 105,000 members.