have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . september 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message fitfinder founded london uk headquarters university college london london area served united kingdom founder s rich martell website www.thefitfinder.co.uk type of site social network service advertising banner ads referral marketing registration not required available in english launched 23 april 2010 current status inactive as of 28 may 2010 fitfinder was a social networking website primarily based in the united kingdom . fitfinder is described by its creator rich martell as localised anonymous microblogging . 1 fitfinder is based on the concept of anonymously posting both a location and description of an attractive person whom one has spotted ; this post is then immediately placed on the fitfeed where it can be viewed by anyone . 2 contents 1 background 2 coverage 3 controversy 4 floxx 5 see also 6 references 7 sources 8 external links background edit the concept of the fitfinder website was conceived by rich martell a computer science undergraduate studying at university college london ucl . the website launched in april 2010 was originally a joke between martell and his rugby friends who would text each other when they spotted an attractive girl . 3 the website immediately spread and became instantly viral . in the first few hours the site had over 2 000 users and had to be taken down . once the site was back online again its popularity grew to nearly 20 000 visitors in the first weekend . the initial success was met with huge demand for the expansion of fitfinder to more universities across the uk . 4 by the time the site was taken down the site was reported to have had over 250 000 users over several countries with more than 5 million page views . coverage edit the fitfinder network covered 52 uk universities including oxbridge durham university ucl manchester university leeds warwick bath lse kcl imperial college london and most red brick universities . prior to its closure martell had said that fitfinder was going to be expanded outside of universities in the near future possibly covering sporting events and music festivals . 3 controversy edit because of the nature of the user generated content on fitfinder many commentators accused it of being offensive and inappropriate . less than one week after the site went live the london school of economics emailed all their students warning them about the site . a number of complaints about the site prompted janet the uk network provider that serves universities to block the site . 5 the ban itself sparked more complaints which led to its own reversal . 3 in addition ucl fined martell for refusing to take the site down . 3 on 28 may 2010 the fitfinder website was taken down because of increasing pressure from universities and the maximum fine ucl imposed on martell for bringing the university into disrepute . 6 floxx edit main article floxx in january 2011 martell launched a new social network this time called floxx . 7 floxx is designed to be more of a location platform which encourages location based sharing . see also edit list of social networking websites list of defunct social networking websites references edit the times revolutionising library studies the launch of fitfinder metro fitfinder twitter meets personal ads to locate your uni crush a b c d the times fitfinder website helps undergraduates find love in the stacks the guardian spotted someone you fancy in the library confess your crush on fitfinder the metro fitfinder blocked mobile internet revolution mooted the tab exclusive fitfinder offline after found is fined techcrunch on fitfinder s relaunch as floxx sources edit pc pro student forced to shut down fitfinder site the chronicle matchmaking site brings romance to british university libraries external links edit fitfinder floxx retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title fitfinder & oldid 737863095 categories geosocial networkingsocial networking servicesdefunct online companieshidden categories wikipedia articles with possible conflicts of interest from september 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 5 september 2016 at 13 19 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view