Online Dating

eHarmony is having a free communication event this Easter long weekend. It starts Thursday March 29^th and runs to end of day on Monday April 2^nd for eHarmony members in the United States.

This event is for existing and new eHarmony members. Creating a profile is free and no credit card is required. During the holidays dating services usually are extra busy as members log in and look to communicate with matches. This means it is an ideal time to try out eHarmony as it allows you to create a profile (and fill in the personality questionnaire), receive matches, and communicate with those matches at no cost to you. The whole process only requires about 30 minutes to complete. After you will receive your first batch of quality matches from eHarmony in witch you can send messages too (and receive messages from). You also receive new matches every day which are determined by eHarmony's matchmaking algorithm. eHarmony not only takes your requests about the type of person you like into account but determines matches based on 29 dimensions of compatibility.

Please note free communication events do not include profile photos. To view those you must be a subscriber to eHarmony. For more about this online dating service with automated matches, please read our eHarmony review. The eHarmony dating service can be accessed via their website along with phone apps which are available at the Apple App Store and Google Play.

There’s no love lost between dating app rivals Tinder and Bumble. Shortly after it was revealed that Tinder will enable a Bumble-style ladies-first messaging feature in a future update, news has broken that Tinder is suing Bumble for patent infringement.

Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg divulged Tinder’s patent acquisition in a Q4 earnings call last month.

“On the product front, Tinder has been on the cutting edge of innovation since its inception in 2012, inventing the swipe gesture, which has since become this cultural phenomenon of 'swipe right' and 'swipe left' and that is often imitated on mobile products,” she said.

It’s the end of an era for denizens of the internet’s seedier side: Craigslist has axed its personal ads in the United States.

The popular classifieds website made the move after the passage of the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) on Wednesday, March 21. The act makes it easier for prosecutors and victims of sex trafficking to sue websites that fail to keep exploitative content posted by traffickers off their websites.

In a brief statement posted to Craigslist, the company said:

Blockchain technology has become a buzzword these days, thanks to the soaring popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Now, new dating app companies are incorporating the same blockchain technology into their matching and verification processes to compete with big-name brands like Tinder.

There is a growing need for dating apps to address a persistent problem in online dating: lying and misrepresentation in dating profiles. Most dating apps use social media accounts as a way of verifying profiles, but this hasn’t curbed the proliferation of fake accounts and scammers. Blockchain technology is based in a democratic oversight of users, by users, to improve the overall experience.

Tinder changed the game for online dating, creating a mainstream acceptance of looking for love by swiping over a phone. A large part of the app’s success was gameifying the online dating process – look at a picture, and swipe left or right depending on whether or not you were interested. It was possible to go through dozens of profiles in seconds, making the swiping process more fun than pouring over dating profiles.

Positive Singles earlier this month announced over 10 new features for their dating service which matches people with STDs together. PositiveSingles.com has been online since 2001 and now has over 1.3 million registered users. You can access the service via the website and dating apps which is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

On the dating service side of things Positive Singles has added a feature called "Let's Meet". This feature is like an instant match maker. It shows you another member who matches your set of matching criteria and STD status. You can then choose to like the member and then check out their detailed profile. If you decide to ignore the member you will be shown a new profile.

You can also now find on PositiveSingles.com more than 2,000 Success Stories which you can read. Members can log in and submit their own story including pictures and videos.

In the wake of the Parkland school shooting, Bumble is joining the growing number of companies that are taking a stand against gun violence. Starting this month, the dating app has banned profile photos featuring guns and other deadly weapons, and has established a team of 5000 moderators to remove any images that do not comply.

Bumble announced the ban in a statement posted to Instagram.

“We were founded with safety, respect and kindness in mind. As mass shootings continue to devastate communities across the country, it’s time to state unequivocally that gun violence is not in line with our values, nor do these weapons belong on Bumble,” reads the caption.