General News

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.

Remember that class action lawsuit brought against Match.com? It's back. But before I get into the details, here's a little refresher course, for those whose memories could use a jog:

• Dissatisfied Match members sued the company in December 2010 for failing to meet its obligations to its users.
• The members felt that Match had misled them into believing that the site had millions of subscribers, when in fact more than half of the profiles were fake, scammers, or inactive.
• A class action lawsuit was filed in U.S. District court in Dallas, Texas, claiming that Match.com is guilty of breach of contract.
• A second part of the lawsuit says that Match uses "deceptive trade practices" as described under Texas law.
• The complaint alleges that Match encourages members to renew their subscriptions by sending them messages expressing interest from inactive or fake profiles.
• Full accusations include breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and negligent misrepresentation.
• The plaintiffs sought unspecified damages and repayment of subscription fees

Match.com is not the first dating site to face such a fate. Yahoo found themselves battling a similar lawsuit in 2007, accused of allowing users who had no interest in dating to maintain profiles. Yahoo agreed to pay $4 million to settle the suit. Match has also been the subject of previous lawsuits, one in 2005 when the company was sued in California over allegations that it hires employees to create fake profiles and another in 2009. Both cases were dropped.

The latest update on the Match.com lawsuit came earlier this month, when a federal judge dismissed a major part of the suit. U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay ruled that Match is not in violation of its user agreements, and that the agreements do not require Match to remove profiles that are dormant or inaccurate. Judge Lindsay wrote that the Match.com agreement "in no way requires Match.com to police, vet, update the website content," or verify the accuracy of user profiles.

Regarding the other part of the lawsuit, alleging that Match is guilty of deceptive trade practices, Judge Lindsay has given the plaintiffs until August 27 to prove that this part of the lawsuit should not be dismissed as well.

A spokesman for Match.com announced that the company is pleased with the ruling, adding that Match has always considered the allegations "unfounded." Jeffrey Norton, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, says his team is currently reviewing the decision and considering the options for proceeding.

Looks like these Match members are finding no love online or at the courthouse.

Everyone's either tried it or seen it on TV:

The date's not going the way you'd planned, so you quickly send a sneaky text to a friend begging them to rescue you. A few minutes later they ring your phone, you pretend it's an emergency that requires immediate attention, and you dash off before your disappointing date can register any objections.

It's a good plan, but what if you can't reach a friend in time to rescue you from certain dating disaster? Thanks to eHarmony, there's now an app for that. With the free iPhone app, aptly named "Bad Date Rescue," you can arrange for downhill dates to be interrupted by phone calls from fictional characters. You can even program the app to make it appear as though any of the contacts in your phone, accompanied by their photo, is calling you.

Bad Date Rescue will call at a pre-scheduled time or via an emergency prompt from you, then, using a pre-recorded message, pretends to be your mom, your boss, or a neighbor who needs your assistance asap. Your mother, who has a thick Dakota accent, needs a little help figuring out one of her more complicated technological gadgets. Your boss needs a hand in the office right away. Your British neighbor is calling to inform you that something catastrophic has happened to the plumbing in your house, and "it's running down my walls!"

If interacting with the pre-recorded message sounds like a stretch of your acting skills, eHarmony offers an alternative "Repeat after me" option. In case it wasn't clear by the name, the app tells you what to say and how to say it (e.g. "frantically"), then praises your expert delivery of the line (I guess that after school improv class back in high school really paid off!).

And just when you think the Bad Date Rescue app has become a kind, generous, and helpful new friend, the recording scolds you for making poor dating choices, lecturing you about how - if you'd used eHarmony in the first place - "you wouldn't be in this mess." Who do you think you are, Bad Dating App? You don't get to tell me what to do.

"eHarmony developed the Bad Date Rescue App as a fun and engaging way to help people get out of a bad date and into a good date," spokeswoman Whitney Standring-Trueblood said.

"Fun" it certainly is. Just be sure you don't crack up mid-call and totally blow your cover.

For more information on the dating site which brought you this app you can read our review of eHarmony.

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.

If you’re into outdoor activities and a more organic experience when it comes to meeting potential love interests, there’s a new concept that took place at a farm recently in Boise, Idaho called “weed dating.” Before you chuckle and roll your eyes, it’s not what you think. This is a speed dating event that involves doing work on a real farm – not a recreational activity. In fact, the hostess of the event herself claims she’s not an event planner or a matchmaker, but just a farmer.

Weed dating is a form of speed dating, except that instead of taking place in a bar or restaurant at night, it takes place on a farm under a sunny sky in the middle of the day. And instead of sitting across from each of your dates trying to come up with things to talk about, you are doing farm work beside each other – specifically, pulling nasty weeds out of the ground so that vegetable and fruit plants can grow properly. The hostess provides instruction to everyone – from how the rotation of couples works (the women stay put while the men rotate every three minutes) to how to discern the weeds from say, a zucchini or tomato plant.

While this is a pretty strange concept, it does provide a way for like-minded people to meet. Most of the participants have been outdoor enthusiasts, environmentalists, gardeners, and activists. While there are niche online dating sites that cater to these groups specifically, some prefer to meet in a more organic way that through an online dating site, so this provides another option.

As one participant stated in an interview with Associated Press, “What I find is if you go to bars, you don't really know what people's interests are. You can't really walk into a bar and complain about climate change or peak oil without having people look at you weird. That would probably scare off a lot of people.”

This wasn’t the first weed dating event – they’ve also taken place in Vermont, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio. More than 40 participants showed up at the event this year in Boise, compared with only 20 last year.

I don’t expect this to become mainstream like online dating or even regular speed dating, because it’s really geared to certain types of individuals (and ones who live relatively close to farms), but I’m always intrigued by the new ways people develop opportunities to meet others. And if you’re open to trying something new, why not? It gets you outside, allows you to feel like you’ve accomplished or learned something, and there’s always a chance that someone interesting might show up.

To find out more about a popular online speed dating service you can read our SpeedDate review.