General News

Mixing politics and dating isn’t always the best idea, but one thing’s for sure: politicians want to encourage young people to vote and be politically active. So what better way to connect with them than on their own turf?

At least, this is the thinking behind UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s latest move. He joined Tinder last month, not to date, but to connect with millennials, who are a target voting market. He met with leading tech companies earlier to try a new approach that would engage young voters.

Reports claim he has joined Tinder to encourage young people to vote in the EU referendum, amid fears many aren’t registered. The plan with Tinder is that Cameron will place advertisements that resemble dating profiles as part of the electoral registration drive.

Does this seem deceptive to people on Tinder who are looking to meet dates, not to engage in politics? Perhaps, but this isn’t the first time dating apps have gotten political.

Earlier this year, Swipe The Vote asked Tinder users 10 questions designed to assess their political preferences for issues like same-sex marriage, immigration and fracking. And when Bernie Sanders supporters on Facebook noticed a trend of Bernie fans looking to meet each other, a new dating site called Bernie Singles was born. Now, there’s even a dating app for Trump opponents called Maple Dating, which offers eligible Canadian matches to Americans who want to leave the country.

So what does all this mean? Are dating apps getting more political? Should dating and politics mix? It’s murky ground, but one thing is for sure. Politicians wanting to capture the attention of young voters have to think outside of normal ad campaigns. And if setting up a dating profile on Tinder works to engage your audience, then why not meet them where they are?

Bumble has gotten in on the political action, too. It now allows its users to declare which Presidential candidate they support, and to filter those who disagree accordingly. JSwipe also has features that let you filter according to political persuasion. And while most daters are willing to date across party lines, they have their limits. The polarization of American politics is getting more personal, where people who are staunch supporters of particular polarizing candidates – like Trump – or specific issues, like those that deal with LGBTQ laws – do not want to date those who disagree with them.

So where does that leave us? Dating culture reflects our shifting values and politics, so it’s only natural that in a controversial Presidential election season, we become more engaged in political discussion. But hopefully after November, you can date a little easier.

For more on this dating app you can read our Tinder review

Fresh off the news that BeautifulPeople.com had been hacked comes another tale of privacy violation. This time, Fling.com is the victim of the breach.

International Business Times reports that tens of millions of credentials were stolen from the adult dating website and put up for sale on the dark web. The information allegedly includes usernames, plain text passwords, email addresses, IP addresses, gender, sexual preferences, and date of birth records. It appears that some of the accounts belong to Fling administrators.

According to the hacker responsible for the breach - who goes by the pseudonym ‘peace_of_mind’ - the data dump contains more than 40 million Fling.com records. It’s currently on sale for 0.8874 bitcoins, which is worth approximately $411 at the time of writing.

Vice Motherboard obtained a sample of the data from the hacker. The individual to whom the Fling.com domain is registered then confirmed its legitimacy.

“We take internet security very seriously,” he wrote in an email to Motherboard. “Our site is free to join and we do not store any credit card information. We've investigated the sample data and it is from a breach that happened in 2011.”

Motherboard also shared the sample data with security researcher Troy Hunt, proprietor of the breach notification website “Have I Been Pwned?” Using HIBP, Hunt discovered and contacted two victims of the Fling breach. One confirmed their full password in the sample. The second claimed they had no recollection of joining the site, but said the beginning of the password was something they have used in the past.

On the bright side, some of the email addresses in the sample did not appear to belong to any Fling accounts. Motherboard tested 101 addresses and found that only 61 were already in use.

Additionally, some of the accounts included in the data may have been disabled prior to the breach. “Accounts in the sample were also flagged with settings such as ‘admin_disabled,’ ‘user_disabled,’ or “active,’” writes Motherboard. “However, these flags seemed to have no bearing on whether an email address was already in use or not on Fling.”

Continued investigation provided further reason to believe that not all the accounts for sale are valid. Motherboard found that accounts can be created on Fling without clicking a verification link sent to an email address. They also found that Fling passwords are required to include numbers, though many passwords in the sample data only contained letters.

To be on the safe side, anyone who has used Fling.com should change their password - particularly if it has been used for more valuable services, like an email account or bank account.

Being sensitive may make you a good partner, but it doesn’t make you a good dater. A new study found that sensitive and less emotionally intelligent people are more likely to be vulnerable to online dating scams.

The research, conducted by Dr Martin Graff of the University of South Wales, was presented at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference in Nottingham. Graff said:

"Perpetrators of dating scams simply set up false profiles on dating websites with the sole purpose of extracting money from their victims. The scammer first grooms a victim by expressing love for them before outlining their desperate circumstances. They then attempt to request money from the victim. Our study focused on why some individuals are more likely to become the victims of these scams than others."

Over 90 victims of dating scams took part in questionnaires relating to their personality, how they relate to other people, self-esteem, and emotional intelligence. Age and gender were also taken into consideration.

After analyzing the results, Graff discovered that victims had used dating sites for less than four weeks, but in that short time, they parted with amounts ranging from £50 to £63,000 (over $90,000). No small loss.

Participants in the study demonstrated consistent clusters of personality traits. One one hand, they had a tendency to be efficient, organized, and disciplined - but on the other, they were more likely to be emotionally expressive and display a preoccupied attachment style.

Without the science jargon, that means online dating scam victims are often overly dependent on the person to whom they are attached, which leads to approval-seeking behavior like giving money.

Graff warns that with the rising popularity of online dating, more and more people are likely to fall victim, and scammers may get increasingly sophisticated about their tactics. He hopes the study can help curb the trend.

"These findings will be beneficial to dating sites and law enforcement agencies in attempting to protect the vulnerable from being scammed,” he said in a statement. “Further research should include interviews with a larger sample of people who have been the dating scam victims."

It’s not all bad news for online daters. Another recent study found that psychopaths have difficulty manipulating people online. While their charming facades are compelling in person, once the visual element is removed, they find it much more difficult to charm, manipulate, intimidate, or exploit others.

“The results of this study are pretty clear,” said lead author Michael Woodworth, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. “Once you remove non-verbal cues such as body language from the equation, the ability to smoke out narcissists and psychopaths becomes easier.”

Since its debut, The League has earned a somewhat elitist reputation. True to its name, the dating app screens all of its applicants according to their career and education, making it a place for singles of a certain stature to find each other online.

Recently, the company launched a new version of its dating app in Los Angeles following a soft launch in New York and San Francisco, and is now focusing on events. Potential members are still required to apply before being able to use the app (the company claims more than 100,000 are on its waiting list). But once you’ve been approved as a member, you can join or create new events based on your interests.

TechCrunch interviewed CEO Amanda Bradford about the app’s new focus, and she emphasized its potential. “The overall goal,” Bradford told the news website, is to turn The League into a “members-only club,” with “a killer singles scene.”

Business Insider was a little more skeptical about the relaunch, calling it a “do or die moment” for the company, since they need to make some cash soon. According to Business Insider, The League spent most of the last year rebuilding its app from the ground up because it wouldn’t scale properly – hence the focus on events. The company needed to see if people were just curious about the app because of the media buzz, or if it was a viable platform where its members would truly engage. Although the app is still free, Bradford did say that the plan is to offer a freemium service and start charging a tiered membership fee, similar to a members-only club. “Ads aren’t feasible for us,” Bradford told the website.

The newest version of The League is meant to encourage friendships and networking among the site’s members, and not necessarily limit connections to dating. For instance, a female user can create a “women’s wine circle” or a running group. The focus is more on the activity, event or interest, and less on meeting potential dates, which makes these events more organic and fun compared to a singles party. The League has done its own events for members, but these are limited in comparison to members taking charge and creating events themselves.

So while the company says it’s not moving away from the dating space, it seems to be focusing more on the app’s potential to create connections – whether it’s friendships, business contacts, or potential dates.  The bigger question is how soon the app will be able to grow its membership, stickiness, and eventually its revenue stream.

To our knowledge Christian Café currently are not offering any coupon codes. This is not a real issue though, since one great perk at Christian Café is all new members automatically get a 10 day free trial. This allows you to try out all aspects of the dating service including sending and receiving emails. They have been offering this deal for over 20 years now, and no other site that we know of does without requiring a credit card.

ChristianCafe.com Current and Upcoming Coupons and Sales

We have not been notified of any new sales or coupons for the award winning dating service Christian Cafe. The best place to find out about any deals is the Christian Cafe subscription upgrade page when you create your free account.

We will update this page when Christian Cafe lets us know of any new sales or discounts. To find out more about this popular Christian online dating site, you can take a look at our Christian Café review.

This Wednesday, June 8th, 2016 at 7pm EST (4pm PST) the dating service OurTime will be hosting a 1 hour live chat session with Dr. Terri Orbuch who is know as "The Love Doctor". She will be answering as many questions she can about relationships and love in the online dating world. If you want to join in on the conversation be sure to ask your question using the hashtag #OurTimeChat on OurTime's Facebook page.

Dr. Terri is a professor at Oakland University, a therapist, and an author of 6 relationship books. She has been featured in many national publications including USA Today, Time magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. She also has appeared on CNN, The Today Show, and many other well known TV shows. She is also currently the relationship expert for the dating site OurTime.