General News

I am not sure what the woman from Australia was thinking, who was mentioned in this article about her being scammed from someone she met on a dating site? Let's go over the facts:

• Her husband died 11 years ago
• She has 2 teenage kids
• She never met the guy in person
• He promised her marriage and $28 million
• She sold her home and investment property for $600,000 and sent him the money to "invest"

At the moment she is warning women to avoid dating sites because of her experience. First of all, this could have happened to her with a person she met in real life, I do not see how it is the fault of online dating. She should be warning women about not sending men they just met online, money. In her story there are huge warning flags and I think the women choose to ignore them just because she was being greedy, especially when she thought she was getting $28 million out of it. I think the real victims here are her two children, she should have been thinking about them. Now I don't think anyone deserves to be scammed, she just should have thought things through.

Whether you’ve recently broken up or have been in the dating market for a while, being single can be disheartening and frustrating to say the least. But there are ways to get beyond these feelings and embrace your life where it is now without putting pressure on yourself or “waiting” for Mr. Right.

1. Get out of the house. Just because you’re single doesn’t mean that you can’t go out to dinner, see a movie, or go for a walk in the park by yourself. Spending time alone doing things you enjoy helps you feel more centered, and also sets you free to try new things on your own, like a cooking class or traveling.

2. Pick up a new hobby. Get to know yourself anew by trying new things…if you thought about sailing, take a lesson. If you wanted to try mountain biking, join a group via Meetup.com to find others to go with you. Discovering a new passion is exciting, and opens you up to possibilities.

3. Plan that trip. If you wanted to honeymoon in Italy, why not book a wine tasting tour in Tuscany for yourself? Don’t wait for your life circumstances to change before pursuing something that you’ve always wanted. Now is the time to enjoy doing exactly what you want, without input from a significant other.

4. Get rid of the clutter. Many of us like to hang onto mementos of happier times…old pictures or love letters from our exes. However, this doesn’t help us to move forward in our lives. Instead of holding on to the past, do a spring cleaning of your house, closet, etc. Move furniture or pictures to give your place a fresh look. Cleaning our living space helps us shift mentally, and lifts us out of our funk.

5. Don’t hang around man-hating friends. Many singles have at least a few single friends who are constantly complaining about their dating lives (or lack thereof). Instead of getting together to wallow in collective self-pity, start hanging around friends who lift your spirits. It makes a huge difference in your outlook and attitude.

It looks like PlentyofFish.com has a new payment option that enables members to purchase credits to use on gifts and other features of the dating site. To buy these Goldfish Credits (they are also called PlentyOfFish Credits or POF Credits on the site) you will need to try sending a Gift, Ice Breaker or attempt to view the Sent Message Status. From any of these pages you will be shown your Goldfish Credit status and have the option to visit a page to buy some.

POF updated their site a few days ago with this new credit system. There was no official word as far as I could find on the topic so I am sure it caught a few members off guard. I think members will probably complain most about requiring credits for the View Sent Message Status. Since, this means free members of POF will now not be able to tell if a member has read or deleted their message anymore unless they pay for the privilege first.

The cost of Goldfish credits vary on the amount you buy. The costs listed are in USD:

• 100 credits for $9.95 (10 cents a credit)
• 215 credits for $18.95 (9 cents a credit)
• 500 credits for $37.95 (8 cents a credit)

Now don't confuse Goldfish credits with POF points. Points still do exist and are earned by doing certain activities on the site like creating an account, and every time you login.

On a related note, the first time POF wasn't 100% free happened in March 2009 when they first offered the Serious Member Profile Upgrade (see Story).

For more information on this story you can visit Bonny's Dating Blog who got the scoop first. To find out more about this popular dating site, you can read our PlentyOfFish review.

Lavalife has a gift for singles this holiday season. It is a coupon code that gives members 20 percent off on a subscription to Lavalife during the month of December, 2010.

Save 20% on Lavalife (coupon code: XMAS20)

If you are interested in finding out more about this popular online dating site you can read our review of Lavalife.

It looks like Barry Diller will be turning over his CEO job at InteractiveCorp (IAC) soon to Match.com's Greg Blatt. Barry Diller will still remain IAC's chairman and their biggest shareholder. Greg Blatt has been in charge at Match.com since the beginning of 2009. There is no word yet who will take over at Match.com.

For more on the story, read the WSJ and to find out more about some of the dating sites IAC owns, read our Match.com review and our Chemistry.com review.

eHarmony has launched dating sites in the United Kingdom (2008), Brazil (2010) and now it looks like one will be launched in Japan soon. Currently the eHarmony's Japan website (eHarmony.jp) has a welcome message explaining what Japanese singles can expect if they join the dating site plus a short message at the top saying that they will launch soon.

If the launching of the last two country specific eHarmony dating sites is any indication, eHarmony will probably offer three month memberships for free, for the first three months to help populate the member database. We will update our blog when the new site goes live so stay tuned.

To find out more about this popular international dating service, read our eHarmony review.