Advice

Army Times took a look at a few online dating sites that cater strictly to singles serving in the Military. Out of the 3 sites mentioned Militarylovelinks.com seems to have the most traffic. It is also the first site I have come across that wanted me to download an ActiveX control called ReputationShield. Reputation Shield I believe is part of a product called Reputation Manager which is designed to prevent online fraud and abusive behavior. The software is created by a company called Iovation, with whom we have talked about before in previous posts. The actual ActiveX control I believe uses fingerprinting technology to uniquely identify a computer by what hardware and software is on it. This way once a spammer is discovered on Militarylovelinks.com, they can block them for good (or at least form using the specific computer again).

Though it says the software is required, you can actually bypass installing the Reputation Shield ActiveX control. Reputation Shield must be a new feature on the dating site as there is no mention anywhere on the site (including the members area) on what it does. They really should add some information because it is actually a major selling point that Military Love Links wants to prevent scammers from joining. As it is right now, with no information present about the control and the reluctance of people to install unknown application on the computer (and rightly so), I bet most people do not install it, thereby making the whole thing pointless. I applaud Militarylovelinks.com taking the initiative in fraud prevention but, implement it completely, not 50 percent.

Digital City asked the question: Are Free Online Dating Sites worth it? It is a short article but it does raise some valid points. There are thousands of free dating sites out there and while this dilutes the pool of potential partners, there are a few dating sites which do stand out. The author made a mistake though, they list Date.com as a free dating site. Date.com is a good dating service and does offer a free trial but their full membership costs money. Read our Date.com review for more information on this service.

For both the pro and con column the author mentions the $0 cost of free dating sites. On one hand, a site may have more members joining because of being free but the problem with this is, the lack of commitment to finding a partner some of these members may have. They could of joined just for the "fun" of it. The other downside is, no cost dating makes if simpler for people to join who potentially may want to scam you.

His final suggestion, which I agree with is, to cast your net wide and join both free and paid dating sites (using a free or guest trial which all have). On the sites you join, do a search and see how many potential matches live in your area. This point, for most people is the most important quality of a dating site. A dating site can have all the bells and whistles but, if there are no members in your specified search area, then what's the point.

For the full article, read Digital City. For a list of free sites, check out our Free Dating Sites category.

A study at the University of California, Irvine, used the online dating site Yahoo Personals to look at the searching habits and match preferences of online daters. Profiles of people ranging in age from 18 to 50 and who lived in either Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York were analyzed for the study. The study used profiles found on Yahoo Personals between the dates September 2004 and May 2005. What researchers concluded from the study was singles using dating sites "tend to observe racial stereotypes".

... white men prefer Asian and Latino women to African American women as dating partners, and white women favor African American and Latino men over Asian men. Asians, African Americans and Latinos were more likely to include white people as possible dates than white people were to include them ...

For the full story and for some insight by experts to why these racial stereotypes persist, read My Desert and for more information on the dating site, read our Yahoo Personals review.

The unofficial eHarmony Blog noticed that eHarmony just launched The Divorced Mom's Guide to Dating. It expands on the popular free eHarmony Advice website to include topics and articles related to experiences and issues divorced Mom's may face when trying to date again. Currently on the site, popular articles include, How to Never Date Another Version of Your Ex and What to Tell Your Kids About Your Dating Life.

I just have one question, what are divorced Dad's suppose to do? Maybe eHarmony should of called the new resource site The Divorced Parent's Guide to Dating. Since, for the most part, the advice on the site is just as applicable if you are a Mom or a Dad.

if you are a single or divorced Mom or Dad visit a Divorced Mom's Guide to Dating (divorcedmoms.eharmony.com). If you are interested in finding out more about the eHarmony dating site, read our eHarmony review.

Earlier this month, on The Today Show in a segment called Today's Relationship, they talked about online dating and the recession. Match.com, eHarmony and OkCupid were all mentioned in regards to how they have since an increase in visitors since September 2008. Sam Yagan of OkCupid even had a short interview where he talked about how OkCupid has seen a change in how members are using their dating site.

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.

Surprisingly, apparently the personal ad has been around for 300 years according to a new book called Classified: The Secret History of the Personal Column. The new book is published by Random House Books and should be available by March 16, 2009. According to the author and history lecturer at the University of Nottingham, H.G. Cocks, matrimonial agencies first appeared in the early 1700s in the United Kingdom and worked byadvertised bachelors looking for a wife through print ads. This was just a few decades after the invention of the modern newspaper. The book explores the social history of the personal ad in Britain from its start in the 1700's, through World War II and lonely soldiers looking for a lady friend, to today where online dating sites and online classifieds have taken over from the newspaper.

Visit Live Science for a bit more information on the subject or Amazon for details on purchasing the book.