General News

eHarmony Australia is offering a free communication weekend that starts in the morning on Friday November 2nd and ends Monday November 5th at the end of the day.

If you are an Australian single and wish to try a dating site which performs the matching for you, then eHarmony.com.au is a service that offers the features you are looking for. To try it out just create a free members account this weekend and fill out the profile questionnaire. This process will take you about 30 minutes or so and is important because the questions you answer are used to determine what other members will make a quality match for you. Once you have finished with your profile you will receive a number of matches right away. From here you can look at their profiles and pick the ones you feel a connection with. Communication is free with any of your eHarmony matches and no credit card is required.

For more about how this Australian matchmaking site in helps singles, please read our eHarmony review.

We have added a new review to the free dating sites category for the popular Latin site Amor en Linea. This dating site is available in English and Spanish and seems to have at least 12,000 members logged in at any one time.

This dating site is extremely easy to use. While this is a benefit for those of you new to online dating, the service does sacrifice functionality because of this. Still, it has all the basics needed by Latin singles who want to find, communicate and meet up with other singles online. One of the main reasons why this site is so popular in its niche is because it is completely free. Unlike other “free dating sites” there are no paid upgrades since everything the site offers is included in the membership.

To find out more about this popular free Latin dating site please read our new Amor en Linea review now.

IAC which owns Match.com, Chemistry, Meetic and People Media acquired OKCupid.com in February of 2011 for $50 million (see Story). The CEO and co-founder of OkCupid, Sam Yagan continued to run OKCupid after the acquisition. Last week IAC announced management changes. It looks like the IAC board liked how Sam continued to operate OKCupid since they have now put him in charge of IAC’s Match segment. This comprises all of IAC's online dating and related operations, internationally and domestically.

Other changes included making Mandy Ginsberg CEO of their core dating site, Match.com and moving Josh Meyers from People Media to focus on creating new businesses at IAC.

You can find out more about the changes at IAC by reading the press release. To find out more about IAC’s core dating site you can check out our Match.com review.

If first-date nerves make you come across as a totally different person than you'd like, then maybe it's time to try something different. Instead of making awkward small-talk and trying not to trip over yourself, would having a couple of friends around put you more at ease?

New York-based social site Grouper seems to think so. Now they've expanded their service to other cities, and have expanded their friendship-finding capabilities to the dating arena.

It works like this: when you go the the Grouper website, it links you back to your Facebook page to pull information about you - what your interests are, your photos, etc. (Don't worry, your Facebook friends won't find out you joined - that information is kept private unless you want to share.) At this point, you choose two friends to be your wingmen (or wingwomen). Then you are asked some basic questions, to rate on a silding scale. For example, would you rather go to a dive bar or a fancy club or some place between those two? Would you rather talk about "Jersey Shore" or philosophy or something in the middle?

Then comes the interesting part: Grouper uses its technology to match you, but you have to wait a couple of weeks because they also say their staff personally oversees matches as well. And they do the heavy-lifting to coordinate the meeting between all six of you. They throw out a few dates and times, pick a central location to meet, and voila - the group date is set. (I like that Grouper tells you where to meet because it takes the pressure off of planning the first date.)

Michael Waxman, the site's founder, claims Grouper is more effective because "when you're with your friends, you're going to behave more comfortably and naturally. There aren't any labels or expectations."

Group dates are an interesting concept. In my experience, it's an indication that one or both parties want to keep things casual, with no expectations. It's less about dating and more about hanging out, no strings attached. But for people who are new to dating, haven't done it in a while, or just get too nervous to act comfortably one-on-one with a date, this provides an interesting alternative, and one that could work out very well. (Besides, your friends could vouch for you, too.)

If you've been looking for something different, or if you want to work up to trying online dating, this might be a good way to begin. After all, your friends are there to help you, even with your love life.

Sometimes it feels like you've set impossible standards for your dates to reach. Your date has to have the right job, live in the right location, enjoy the right hobbies, have the right physical features...no one could live up to all that, could they?

If anyone can, it's probably this guy: Superman. In fact, not only can he do that, he can do it while saving the world and looking smashing in spandex. Talk about going above and beyond the call of dating duty...

Wondering if you're compatible with the Man of Steel? Match.com has you covered.

DC Comics and Match named Superman the most kissable superhero, after a poll put him in the top spot. 72.6% of Match's single ladies said Superman is the superhero they'd most like to lock lips with, ideally while flying through the air. How romantic!

Match.com also had a surprise in store: in honor of Superman's budding relationship with Wonder Woman in the comics, both superheroes received their very own Match.com profiles!

Are they actually as dateable as they seem on the surface?

After a thorough review, I'm going to have to say...no.

Superman looks hot in tights, but not so hot on paper. He says he has "a pretty sweet man cave." Sure, the Fortress of Solitude is great...but why such a bro, Superman? I expected someone from another planet to be much more cultured! He also explains his exercise habits like this: "I don't really need to exercise. I also eat and eat and never gain a pound! Ha ha! Hate me yet?" Yeah, I kind of do. And I definitely didn't expect Superman to be into emoticons.

Wonder Woman doesn't fare much better. Her idea of a great date is "fight[ing] our way through a hoard of harpies over the Elysian Fields." I think I'll have to pass on that one. And it's misspelled, which every online dater knows is a major no-no. (It's horde, Wonder Woman!) She also says she's into cats, romance novels about vampires, and being treated like a princess...which sounds awfully high maintenance for my tastes.

So I guess they're not perfect for me, but Dr. Helen Fisher says they're perfect for each other. They are "a very high testosterone male and a very high estrogen female," and they have "many cultural and biological traits that will fuel their romance."

See what else she had to say about their romantic potential here, and read the profiles here.

Would you date Superman or Wonder Woman?

To find out more about this dating site you can read our Match.com review.

In August ChristianMingle.com announced the creation of an Advisory Board for the years 2012 and 2013. It is a 6 member panel that is made up of 3 Pastors, a Church director, a Clinical Psychologist, and the author of the book “Seeker Small Groups” who is also the key evangelism leader at a community Church.

The goals of this Advisory Board is to offer guidance and to help create a deeper connection between the Christian community and Christian Mingle. These goals will be met by the board offering input on the content provided by Christian Mingle as well as the features available and any products offered. They will also be part of any strategic initiatives that Spark Networks has for the dating service.

With this Christian Advisory Board in place Spark Networks hopes to continue to grow the 7 million strong member base that Christian Mingle offers. In the last 12 months alone Christian Mingle has grown by more than 2 million members. To find out more about this dating site you can read our review of Christian Mingle.