Since the 1990s special platforms exist on the internet which offer information and communication for people with eating disorder. Their function is consistently and ambivalently discussed. The study analyses the expectations and the perceived benefit of the persons who use self-help internet platforms and identifies moderators. Data of 230 user of a self-help platform were collected. Scales about general motives of internet use were modified and provided a basis. Results: The most important factor for gratifications sought and obtained was social helpfulness in terms of reciprocal social support. Furthermore the will to recovery (gratification sought) and convenient information retrieval (gratification obtained) played an important role. Significant moderators for gratifications sought were psychological strain, the age of the user and the duration of eating disorder. Gratifications obtained were primarily influenced by the degree of utilization of the platform offers and the use of non-medial offers. The results confirm cues to reasons of use from former studies and concretize them by explicit factors of gratifications sought and obtained. The study has been a first effort to create a theoretical model in the context of media psychological research. Thus also moderators with impact on gratifications sought and obtained for user of such internet platforms could be identified.