Objective: To gather information about the demographic characteristics of participants whose only outlets for talking about infertility are internet medical and support forums and to compare them with persons having other outlets. Design: A 134 item survey was posted on the INCIID website in the Spring of 1998. Items included demographics, medical history, social interaction, website activity, experienced stress and depression. One item asked whether the internet is “my only outlet for talking about infertility.” People for whom the internet was their only outlet for talking about infertility (OO) were compared with people having additional outlets (AO). Materials/Methods: The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess depression. Means, medians, frequencies, and t-tests were calculated for survey items. Results: 589 surveys were received, almost exclusively from women, from people in 47 states and 17 foreign countries: 212 from OOs, 286 from AOs, and 91 from persons not responding to this item. OOs and AOs spent the same number of hours per week using the internet, but OOs devoted more of those hours to infertility (1.6 vs. 1.3 hrs, p = .01) Compared to AOs, OOs have lower median incomes (p = .006), less formal education (p < .001), and poorer insurance coverage (p < .001). Both groups have comparable distributions of diagnoses for infertility except that a greater proportion of patients with PCO are OOs (p = .003). Both groups have undergone comparable treatments and diagnostic procedures, are comparable in age, in the proportion who have been pregnant, given birth, or adopted, and they have spent similar amounts of money on diagnosis and treatment. Fewer OOs have miscarried (p < .001). OOs feel less educated about infertility (p = .028), are less able to identify their feelings about infertility (p = .03), less able to change their negative thinking about infertility(p = .02), less able to work as a team with their spouse (p < .001), less able to be a partner in treatment with their physician (p < .05), and more likely to give up after a failed pregnancy attempt (p < .05). OOs are significantly more depressed (p < .001) and rate infertility as more stressful than AOs (p < .05). They worry more about their relationships with their partner (p < .001), their friends (p = .03), spend less time with their partner (p < .05), and are less happy (p < .001). The most important things OOs report getting from their participation is: “knowing I am not alone” (experienced by 89% of OOs), feeling more educated when dealing with the doctor (77%), learning their feelings are “normal” (75%), having a place to share treatment news (65%), finding a safe place to ask questions (62%), and having an opportunity to help others (59%). Conclusions: Caution is needed in drawing conclusions because the sample was not random nor were subjects assigned randomly to OO or AO conditions. Results suggest that the internet has great potential to help people facing infertility by educating, empowering, and diminishing their feelings of isolation. On the other hand, its value may be diminished if people use it to withdraw from real world interactions, getting all their information and support only from internet forums. So in addition to interacting on-line, infertile people should also interact in face-to-face infertility forums. Supported By: Rutgers University Center for Mathematics, Science and Computer Education.