Dating Services

I am not sure if this is the right type of publicity a company wants but the Gay dating app called Grindr is being blamed for the rise of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The Christchurch Sexual Health Clinic in New Zealand has been quoted as saying that these type of apps which allow Gay men to find others nearby have been associated with a 50 percent increase in cases of Syphilis in 2012.

Globally Syphilis has been making a comeback in recent years. It is recommended that you always use protection. In fact Grindr has a policy which bans its members from looking for unprotected intimate encounters. If a member violates this regulation their profile will be removed.

For more on this story you can read The New Age.

In a not too surprising move IAC announced last Friday that it has acquired the free dating site DateHookup.com. No financial terms of the agreement have been disclosed. IAC already owns such popular dating sites as Match.com, Chemistry.com and OkCupid. Datehookup.com was founded by Dustin Weirich in 2002 and has grown over the years to become the 6th most visited dating site on the internet. Every month DateHookup.com receives over 1 million unique visitors.

Over the past few years IAC has acquired a number of dating sites. Here are their most recent purchases:

• 2011 – OkCupid for $50 million (see Story)
• 2010 – Singlesnet (see Story)
• 2009 – People Media for $80 million (see Story)

Every year since 2009 IAC has bought a dating site. If the pattern holds true I wonder who they plan to purchase in 2013? I heard rumors a while ago that they may be interested in Cupid PLC since they are performing well in the European market. I have my doubts it will happen though, since Cupid PLC does operate some adult oriented dating services.

For more on the story you can read the IAC press release. To find out more about the dating sites involved you can read our Match.com review and DateHookup.com review.

Here are the Canadian eHarmony coupon codes for two of their more popular promotions. Both of these coupon codes expire on December 31, 2012.

eHarmony Coupon #1

eHarmony Coupon #2

These coupon codes listed above are valid on eHarmony in Canada (eHarmony.ca).

For US singles, go here for our eHarmony USA (eHarmony.com) coupons.

Read our review of eHarmony for more information about this online matchmaking service.

Our updated OkCupid review is now online. The last major overhaul for this review was back in September of 2010. Since then a few things has change with OkCupid. Let’s find out what:

• The price of being an A-List member has gone from $9.95 to $14.95 per month
• Account changes for A-List users now last forever. They use to only last as long as the user pays a subscription fee
• Sending of Woos is now gone (similar to Winks or Interests)
• Statistics and Member Journals have been removed
• Member reviews have been removed but you still can rate members up to 5 starts and write notes about the member (rating and notes are private)
• Match questions have been added
• Members who viewed your profile use to be called Stalkers, they now are called Visitors
• Some changes to profile questions and searching

To find out more about this popular free dating site and the changes please read our updated OkCupid.com review now.

Heads up, Internet privacy advocates: a new report released in June warns the 7+ million members of OkCupid that the site is "a privacy heartbreak waiting to happen."

Since being acquired by Match.com last year, OkCupid's service terms allow the site to share user data with more than 50 websites owned by Match's parent company, IAC/InterActive Corp., and with IAC partners. The site may even archive data after users have closed their accounts or deleted information from their profiles.

Sarah Downey gives a detailed rundown of OkCupid's privacy weaknesses in the report:

• OkCupid does not support HTTPS, a standard web encryption that ensures secure browsing by sending and receiving information in an encrypted form. Without HTTPS, information appears as plain text. With HTTPS, information looks like random characters. The lack of HTTPS on OkCupid means that anyone on your wireless network could potentially read things like emails, profile info, and the answers to your hidden questions on the site.
• OkCupid uses nine different tracking companies and ad networks to obtain information about its visitors. None are part of OkCupid - all are independent third parties mining user data, like pages visited and time spent viewing a specific profile. The FTC requires dating sites to inform members about how their data will be used, but that information is often hidden deep within confusing terms of use or privacy policies.
• OkCupid can keep your data forever. The site's privacy policy states that it collects OkCupid users' "personal interests, gender, age, education, occupation and certain relationship preferences. . . name, email and photo," along with their browser and IP address. It also says that OkCupid "may keep such information archived indefinitely." But on the bright side, you can email OkCupid at privacy@okcupid.com to request that your information not be shared with others.
• Match's takeover of OkCupid means even more data sharing. Match's parent company owns sites like CitySearch.com, CollegeHumor.com, and Vimeo.com, and IAC's privacy policy allows it to share information freely between the companies it owns. "In other words," Downey writes, "your OkCupid data can be shared freely among the 6th largest online network in the world. Not very private."

So what can you do to protect your data online? "Think twice before posting any content on OkCupid or any other dating website," Downey says. "Even if you delete it later, it may be archived permanently." Use a browser add-on to block trackers and ad networks. Use an alias and an anonymous email addresses. And only provide information that is absolutely necessary - if it's optional, don't fill it in.

For more information on this dating site you can check out our OkCupid review.

We just updated our Chemistry.com dating site review and it is now available online. It has been almost 2 and half years (very bad on our part) since the last major update to the review. We usually try to do a major update to the reviews at least once a year and then do minor updates as we come across any new information about the dating site (i.e. price changes, new features, etc.).

So what has Chemistry updated with their service since the last time we did a review? Here is a quick list of the major changes:

• The look and feel of the site has been updated with a more modern look
• The new Stream feature has been added that allows you to see what your matches are up to
• The personality test questions has been modified
• Membership costs have decreased across all subscription levels

To find out more about this matchmaking site and the changes please read our updated Chemistry.com review now.