Given the nature of the internet it is only natural that abbreviations should be created. Shortenings such as ROFL, lol and ttfn have become common in their usage, allowing the writer to type faster and still be understand by the vast majority of those they attempt to start a conversation with.

Not so with the dreaded phrase ASL.

Whereas many of the other phrases exist for ease, ASL is naturally intrusive. Age, sex and location - three of the very things many people use the internet to conceal. A person is immediately judged upon them or worse still, if the answer is somehow pleasurable to the other user one of the following questions are almost always close behind.

"Married?"

"Got a boyfriend?"

"Want to cyber?"

I am a woman, but it has not stopped me claiming to be a seventy six year old male just to get the wrong person off my back. And guess what? They never sent me a message back. Even when a person uses ASL perfectly innocently, because they see it as a standard opening gambit, many people's backs are already up.

There is more to a person than their age, sex and location. Discover those things. Start a conversation as you would in real life, with a person you have never met before at a party, not like some sleazeball in an internet chat room. It's amazing what friends you can make if you do!