Dating Services

It's the gift that keeps on giving. Worse than an unwanted present from grandma, chances are that if you have an STD it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Is your romantic life over? Only if you choose to let it be over.

Join a site for other singles with STDs

There are plenty of dating sites out there that cater to singles with STDs. Everyone is positive for something, and usually they list what it is on their profile. Why not look for someone who understands what it's like to walk in your shoes? There's transparency from the start, so you don't have to have that awkward talk before things get serious. Everything's on the table.

The Times Online UK took a look at what they called Quickie Dating Websites recently. When I think of a quickie I assumed they were referring to an adult dating site where people go looking for casual sex. I was only partly right. They were talking about Affair / Infidelity dating sites for married people. On this side of the Atlantic, the most popular dating site for people looking to have an affair is Ashley Madison, where it is even guaranteed. In the Times article they took a look at Forget Dinner (ForgetDinner.co.uk) which is very popular in London. It is not advertised really as an affair dating site but most people on the service seem to be married. Profiles tend to be straight to the point and a lot of the photos contain nudity. There appears to be about 10 men for every 1 woman on the dating site.

Here are some infidelity related figures for the UK. In 2008, there was 115,200 divorces granted and 29 percent of these divorces were the result of adulterous behavior. According to a Grant Thornton UK Survey (2009), 9 percent of women would cheat on their partner as long as there was no way to be found out. In comparison, 24 percent of men said they would cheat. In the same survey 20 percent of men admitted to having an actual affair where only 10 percent of women did.

In the United Kingdom every month 7 million people visit online dating sites. This is a 27 percent increase over last year, whereas the percentage of the UK population that used the internet only grew by 4 percent.

For more on this story, and to get a couple of men's and one woman's experience on Forget Dinner read Times Online.

The chief executive officer of eHarmony Inc, Gregory Waldorf, talks with Bloomberg's Pimm Fox about the dating service.

Note: Unfortunately the source to the video and/or image which once was displayed here has since been removed by the authors for an unknown reason.

Gregory mainly gives a brief overview of how eHarmony works and how members need to be honest with themselves so that the matching algorithms will work and give them highly compatible matches. He also talks a bit about the current recession and the boost of members eHarmony has seen. Over the last few years, eHarmony has seen a yearly increase in members of about 20 percent. Waldorf also further discuss what the company is most proud of, being responsible for about 2 percent of marriages in the United States each year. This works out to about 236 eHarmony members a day.

Most of the information we have heard before, but one interesting point Gregory Waldorf said is, what their researchers found really important is starting with a pool of compatible matches. With the matches given to members, eHarmony research indicates that these singles give that particular member the best chance of having a long term relationship. From there members can figure out if they live in the right place or have a job that interests them and that they have that " right amount of special click" (his words not mine).

If this online dating service interests you, read our full eHarmony review for more information.

California Superior Court Judge Ann Jones rejected eHarmony's attempt to dismiss a class action which deals with discrimination against gays. The jury trial is set to start February 1, 2010 and will take place in the Superior Court in Los Angeles. The Judge found that eHarmony had not presented any law that allowed the company to refuse to serve gays and lesbians at their main eHarmony dating site. The lead plaintiff in the class action is graduate student Nate Cardin. He attempted to use eHarmony in 2006 and when he could not and asked why, he received a form letter explaining that eHarmony is only for heterosexual relationships. Nate filed a class action in 2007 and is represented by the civil rights law firm of Schneider Wallace Cottrell Brayton Konecky LLP and the Law Offices of Jeremy Pasternak.

eHarmony did recently disclose that they had received over 3,000 email complaints from people who had visited eHarmony to find a relationship with someone of the same sex but was denied service. Previously eHarmony had made a deal with the New Jersey Attorney General and had opened up the dating site Compatible Partners to serve gay singles (see Story). This class action argues that eHarmony does not give "equal treatment of patrons in all aspects of the business".

The social dating site Zoosk, with its widely popular Facebook application has reached a member base of over 40 million people. Last month the Zoosk dating website combined with its Facebook application had 12 million unique visitors.

Zoosk was launched back in 2007 and has grown strong recently on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Hi5 and BeBo. With Zoosk creating a dating profile is much easier than other dating sites as it will pull information from any of the social networks you are using. Zoosk's target audience is 25 to 35 year olds who are looking more for a short term casual relationships. Zoosk offers a premium subscription for $25 a month. The site also has a virtual currency called "Zoosk coins" which allows members to buy virtual gifts and other subscription upgrades.

Zoosk expects to end out the year with $18 to $20 million in revenue and it is currently experiencing a $30 million run rate.

For the full story, read TechCrunch. We also expect to have our in-depth Zoosk review up soon for both the dating site and the Facebook Application.

In March, Chicago Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart sued Craigslist for allowing pimps and prostitutes to use their classifieds service (see Story). Since then Craigslist has faced mounting bad press about their Erotic Services category and the famous "Craigslist Killers" which used their site to stalk their victims. With the mounting legal troubles Craigslist has changed the requirements to post an ad in their Erotic Services category. Users must now pay a fee with a credit card and provide a working phone number.

Last week Craigslist caught a break, U.S. District Judge John F. Grady dismissed Tom Dart's request to force the web site to eliminate its erotic services category. The federal judge stated that Sheriff Dart cannot sue Craigslist for the conduct of its users.

For more on the story, read NBC Chicago and to find out more about this classifieds website, read our review of Craigslist.