General News

We have had a number or requests over the last year for our recommendation on the best online service to use to perform background checks. These requests come from people who have met someone on a dating site and are just looking for that extra bit of security to ensure the person they are dating is who they say they are.

There are a number of companies out there that offer this type of service. Over the next few months we will review a number of them and add the ones we feel offer the best service to our new Background Checks category.

Most background check services allow you to find information on an individual including contact and address information, military records, criminal records, and other court documents like marriage records. Remember though no service can offer 100% accuracy. Please read our Background Checks page for more information on this.

The first service we have added to the new category is a review for PeopleFinders.com.

eHarmony is having a free communication event this weekend which starts Friday, December 30th and ends on Monday January 2nd at 11:59pm. It has been a while since their last event so those of you interested in giving eHarmony a try, now is the time to do so. With the recent holidays and the New Year being celebrated on Sunday you can expect dating services like eHarmony to be extra busy; which means more singles to meet online.

For those of you who have not heard of eHarmony's free communication weekends (FCW), they allow new and existing members to communicate for free. Remember it is also free to create a profile as well so there is no cost or credit card required to enjoy this event. The only features not included during this promotion are photos, Secure Call (a phone service) and skipping to email in the guided communication process.

The last FCW happened during Labour Day in September (see Story). From our count this will be eHarmony's 36th free communication event.

To find out more about this online dating site you can take a look at our eHarmony review.

So how many people visit Plenty of Fish (or POF as now the dating service likes to be called) in a month? Unfortunately they did not release that number but they did share some other related statistics which may help us figure it out. In November of this year the dating site had 6 billion page views and over 32 billion images served. According to Alexa, in the last 3 months the average page view per user was about 30. So this would mean that Plenty of Fish had about 200 million visits in the month of November (6 billion / 30) (this includes repeat visitors). Now Alexa.com statistics are not always exact but at least this gives you a rough idea.

We also found out that instant messaging on POF produced almost 30 billion page views. All of this traffic (including the actual dating site) is run off of just 11 web servers in which it is estimated 6 are only needed. So, what is the total cost to run the web services for POF? Well, according to the Plenty of fish blog it is just shy of $70 thousand Canadian a month.

To find out information about the dating site please read our review of Plenty of Fish

Are cash-strapped single girls dating for free dinners?

According to a recent article in Business Insider, at least a few girls have.

Introducing 23-year-old Manhattan-dweller Jessica Sporty, a girl who says that her $45,000 a year salary couldn't cover her rent, credit card bills, and food expenses.

What did she do to cure her financial troubles? Did she ask for a raise, find a second job, or look for a cheaper living arrangement? Nope, those options were far too mainstream. This enterprising young lady logged onto a popular dating site and starting scoring free dinners by going on dates with clueless men.

Yep, you read that right. Sporty started eating out five nights a week using a rotation of different men that she met online. To avoid confusion and emotional attachment, she limited herself to no more than five dates with the same guy, and never allowed them to see where she lives. She chose her suitors based on their financial profiles, targeting the investment banker types who could treat her to dinners at the city's most expensive eateries.

And her strategy worked - she went from spending at least $500 a month on dinners to having someone else pick up the tab for her meals. At an average of $60+ per night, the savings started adding up quickly. She also stopped eating lunch and choose light breakfasts to save even more. Although her dating site has a $50 monthly subscription fee, she says that her dates more than made up for the expense. "I mean, a guy buys me three drinks at $15 a pop and that right there made up for my fee," she explained to Business Insider. One man, she claims, even dropped $200 for a bottle of champagne during a date.

Seeing her success, Sporty's roommates got in on the action too. The creative trio made spreadsheets about each man that detailed important data like their names, photos, and info from their dating site accounts. They let each other know where they were going each night and who they were going with, and always met their dates in public locations.

But, as they say, all good things must come to an end. Sporty began running into people she recognized from the site as online dating became increasingly popular in NYC. Eventually she tired of the scene, citing exhaustion and a weariness of "playing the game." She now has a steady boyfriend, and it seems as though she may have retired for good.

Was her strategy smart? Was it ethical? Was it gold digging, or simply a smart financial arrangement?

I've had a soft spot for men's style since I was a child. I grew up idolizing the dandies of Victorian England and came to love all things elegant and bespoke.

You can imagine my excitement, then, when I discovered Blackbook365, online dating's attempt to go bespoke.

If it looks like a hybrid of The Sartorialist and a dating site, well, that's because it kind of is. Blackbook365 calls itself "The lifestyle destination for men and women that curates, connects & matches exceptional singles, while presenting trends & personalities in luxury, fashion, beauty, food and travel." It's a bit of a mouthful, but it's a concept that's catching a lot of eyes.

The site was founded by an anonymous fashion entrepreneur inspired by the stylish young professional set in New York City. Although she's already spoken for, she wanted to create a niche destination that catered to like-minded NYC singles who have similar aspirations for their careers, lifestyles, and, of course, love lives. The unique concept - bespoke dating meets personal matchmaking - is presented as a glossy online magazine that feels luxurious and exclusive, like a highbrow fashion editorial. In addition to the featured man (and soon woman) of the day, Blackbook365 also posts regular editorials on style, trends, food, fashion and travel.

Like a daily deal site, Blackbook365 features a daily profile of a classic New York catch - successful, well-dressed, good-looking, commitment-oriented. Anyone can join the site and add a profile (which consists of two photos and a little basic information) for free, though only the profile of the current featured member appears on any given day. Other members send "calling cards" to that day's catch, then the Blackbook365 team evaluates the interested members and chooses the 20 they believe are the best potential matches for the featured member.

Price will vary by location (the site has only launched in New York so far, but has plans to come to many more cities in the near future), but for now it costs about $340 to be featured for one day. In addition to being the featured member for a day, the fee covers a professional photo shoot and an hour spent with the Blackbook365 team to discuss what you're looking for in a partner. After finding a match, the Blackbook365 team then uses their impressive connections to set up a date by securing exclusive reservations at one of NYC's many trendy hot spots.

Blackbook365 also has plans to bring their unusual fashion-meets-matchmaking sensibility from cyberspace intto the real world, by hosting monthly cocktail parties and dinners made up of 4 single men and 4 single women.

With only two weeks up and running, it's too early to know if Blackbook365 will really produce matches, but so far 60 men are lined up to be featured on the site and 40 calling cards are sent in daily. Blackbook365 just may have a bright, and well-dressed, future.

The Department of Justice announced in November that it has no plans to prosecute individuals who lie about themselves on dating sites. Now BeautifulPeople.com has looked into online lies further, surveying 1,000 single adults living in the US and UK about their propensities for prevarication.

The survey found that, when it comes to online lies, there is a gender gap. Men are most likely to stretch the truth about their job, their height, their weight, their physique, and money. Other top topics for men's fibs were:

• Holding a more senior position at work

• Having a more interesting profession

• Knowing celebrities

• Having a personal assistant

• Working in the film industry

Women most commonly lie about their weight, their age, their figure, their height, and, like men, money. They are also prone to lying about:

• Their bust size

• Having a glamorous profession

• Knowing celebrities

• Having a personal assistant

• Working in entertainment

The BeautifulPeople.com survey then broke things down further, looking into the most lied about professions for men and women. The professions men are most likely to say they work in when they really don't are: healthcare, finance, the film industry, travel, entertainment, music, marketing, the public sector, engineering, and the leisure industry. Women also love to lie about working in entertainment, marketing, finance, the film and leisure industries, and travel, but sales, law, media, and HR are also commonly lied about professions for female singles online.

Though both personal and professional lies run rampant regardless of gender, the gender gap can be seen again when it comes to what kind of lies are most popular with daters. Nearly one in five women surveyed admitted to using old photos on their profiles to make them look younger showing that, for better or worse, appearance is still a big concern for many women. Men, on the other hand, have money matters on the mind. More than 40% admitted to pretending they earn more than they really do, or lying to make their jobs sound more interesting. In comparison, fewer women (33%) admitted to the same thing.

In addition to gender, the survey found that there is a difference between countries. More than 53% of Americans copped to lying about their appearance, contrasted with only 44% of British daters. On both sides of the Atlantic however, older singles are more likely to be truthful about their appearance and income, an indication that mature daters have very different priorities from their younger counterparts and want to be accepted for who they really are

All lies aside, singles still seem optimistic about online dating: although the majority believes that others lie in their profiles, they are still most likely to believe that what they're reading is true.