Age sex location
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Age/Sex/Location (commonly A/S/L or ASL?) is an article of Internet slang used on instant messaging programs and on Internet chatrooms. It is used to find out the age, gender, and location of the person one is talking to.
When the Internet was first introduced to the public, IRC, or chatting online, is considered a huge phenomenom as people were then suddenly given access to communicate with complete strangers from international soil at real time. The excitement of sending one line of conversation to the computer and receiving a response from someone (who may or may not in fact be a computer) possibly quite a number of miles away prompted many to be curious about these people who respond, and often just hide under a moniker such as Ace81NoFatChix or MegaHAL.
Thus, the most basic thing one would like to know about a complete stranger, other than his/her name or appearance, would be their age, gender, and location, as the Internet (with its chatting function) has then served the purpose of being a rather large and international dating service network. Typing "How old are you?", "Where do you come from?" and "Are you (really) a girl????" proves to be a cumbersome task for many computer users. Hence, the questions are simplified to a single ASL?, allowing easy communication and understanding, which allows a similarly simple answer such as 18/F/Hawaii :) or I'll send u my webcam :).
The popularity of the statement has cause prolific use on the Internet. In fact, in an instant messaging program, MSN Messenger, the term is implemented as an emoticon when one types (?) into their dialog entry bar. To people not in the habit of seriously using the query, it is most commonly associated with young teenagers and AOL users, as well as IRC networks such as DALnet. This statement is only half accurate. Many in their 20s or 30s use this statement often, especially when they attempt to prey on youthful Internet users, or interact with a very selected group of people their age. This, unfortunately, means the term ASL? can be connected to serious cybercrime.
The usage of ASL? in online forums on serious topics can be seen as rude and against netiquette, which has encouraged many Internet Trolls to use it as a lighthearted attempt to incite interesting discussions and excitement in such stoic, unpleasant arenas of discourse.