Male Order

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Aleks Krotoski investigates sperm donors and the unofficial online fertility market.

Aleks Krotoski investigates sperm donors and why people put themselves and their future children at risk by going online to find them.

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Male Order: 8. The Tools We Use

8. The Tools We Use

BBC Radio 4 - Male Order, 8. The Tools We Use

She created a community, and social networking took it away.

The Known Donor Registry was the solution to a problem. It was a community for sperm donors. But when the chat function broke, things turned sour.

Beth Gardiner knew what the problem was with the online sperm donor marketplace - there was no community. People looking for sperm connected with people offering it on personals ads or email groups. There was no information - about fertility, about cycles, about problematic donors. 

And so, when she started the Known Donor Registry in 2010 as a hub of information for people who wanted a known donor, she included two technological features of great online communities - a forum and a real-time chat. And for a while, it worked wonderfully.

But Beth’s online passion project was interrupted by a technological glitch. And at the same time, a Goliath of the social networking world was tempting everyone away.

Presenter: Aleks Krotoski

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8. The Tools We Use

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