Originally Posted by finhub

Recently, ASMALLWORLD has been the subject of controversy for failing to provide the goods and services promised, engaging in gender discrimination and eliminating members without good cause.

Originally Posted by jchock1

I belonged to ASMALLWORLD about 10 years ago. Then, it was invitation only, no fee, and was made up of young-ish (20's and 30's) supposedly "in the know" people from all over the world, with a large concentration in NYC. We were invited by a NYC promoter friend of ours. And since it was invitation only, everyone was a friend of a friend of a friend. IIRC, they limited who you could connect with so that you wouldn't get random messages from people outside your circle of friends of friends of friends.

It connected you to other like-minded people around the globe, many of whom enjoyed parties and traveling. So you could find a connection who had an apartment in Paris that you could stay in when they weren't there, or see who might be headed to Rio for Carnival and meet up with them, find out the latest hot spot in Mozambique or see who's trying to open a bar/lounge in Dhaka. Sort of like a less formal linkedin for the party set.

This was mostly before Facebook became so popular, before airbnb, etc. We used the site for a while and it was worthwhile and you did get the inside scoop on a lot of things, but haven't in the last 5+ years, and not sure of the value/exclusivity if Etihad is now sending out email invitations.