When online dating site PlentyofFish.com first launched (now just pof.com), it quickly gained attention. Free dating sites were not as popular (or as common) as the standard ones like Match.com and eHarmony. Over the first seven years, the site grew to over ten million users.

Within the last few years however, the site has gained a reputation for being a hook-up site, with its "Intimate Encounters" option a prime example of how many male subscribers were using it. Unfortunately, as founder Markus Frind admitted, many of the female profiles were actually men posing as women. On top of that, the male users were harassing the female users. So Frind has decided to scrap Intimate Encounters option and refocus the brand back to its original intention - connecting people for relationships, not for hookups.

While this might seem like a daunting task, Frind has outlined some of the ways he's trying to prevent people from misusing the site. He claims that the rise in mobile dating has created a kind of urgency to meeting people that pushes hook-ups, but there is also the issue of the fake female profiles.

Some of his changes include:

"Any first contact between users that contains sexual references will not be sent. Anyone who tries to get around this rule will be deleted without warning.

You can only contact people +/- 14 years of your age. The majority of messages sent outside those age ranges are all about hookups. Anyone who tries to get around this rule will get deleted.

Intimate Encounters will go away in the next few months. There are 3.3 Million people who use the site every day, of those there are only 6,041 single women looking for Intimate Encounters. Of those 6,041 women, the ones with hot pictures are mostly men pretending to be women. Intimate Encounters on POF can be summed up as a bunch of horny men talking to a bunch of horny men pretending to be women."

I appreciate his honesty and his attempt to reign in the users of the site and gain more trust. But it's easy to see how this happened, since the members don't pay for their membership and there is no financial repercussion when they abuse their privileges. There is less at risk, which means that more people will join and use the site to their advantage.

While online dating sites have little control over which users join, how they represent themselves, and how they behave on the site, there are certain steps that sites can take to ensure greater safety. Plenty of Fish has started this process, and I'm curious to see its effect, and how other sites may follow.

To find out more about this service you can read our Plenty of Fish dating site review.

Don't you wish online dating came with an instruction manual?

Oh wait - it does!

Well, sorta. If what you're looking for is "a complete step by step guide on how someone would seduce you," then yes...online dating comes with an instruction manual. It's called the Seduction Style Guide, and you can find it (where else?) on POF.com.

Get those grains of salt ready, and let's dive in...

The first section of the test is called "Flirting." Choose up to three of the listed flirting styles that appeal most to you, and up to three that don't interest you. Do you prefer your dates "Playful," "Confident," "Coy," "Charming," or "Prim and Proper?" Then answer a question about your communication preferences. How would you like a date to ask you out? By phone? By email? In person at a dating event?

Section three delves deeper into your personality. Read each statement and indicate the degree to which it describes you: "Strongly agree," "Disagree," "Agree," or "Strongly agree." Statements to rate cover topics like humor and spontaneity:

• I enjoy trying different kinds of ethnic foods
• I brood for a long time in an attempt to solve some fundamental problem
• There is humor to be seen in just about everything

Of course, it wouldn't be a Seduction Style test without questions about seduction! The next sections ask questions about your first date habits and your sexuality. Again, you must rate the accuracy of words used describe your sexuality. Are you the "Sultry" type? Or maybe you're better described as "Adorable?"

The test wraps up with a free response section and the most salacious section of all. The free response questions inquire about what you most and least enjoy while on a date, and your turn ons/offs. Answer each with three responses, all in your own words.

The final section...well...let's just say it's a pretty intimate look at your favorite kinks, fetishes, and fantasies.

Put it all together and you get POF's take on how best to woo you. Got that salt ready?

The results page is surprisingly detailed. First, there's The Big Picture. Apparently people like me "tend to love life with zeal, often living in the moment and trying not to let experiences pass them by." (All true, as far as I'm concerned...perhaps POF knows me better than I would like to admit.)

Then there's the three step seduction plan: Approach Me, How To Date Me, and How To Sexually Seduce Me. Much to my surprise, POF also manages to sneak in some genuinely useful information amongst all the silly stuff. The report includes info on favorite dating conversation topics, online dating safety, preferred dating activities, and do's and don'ts.

To show others your results, send the link included at the bottom of the results page (and consider sending some salt with it).

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

The online dating industry is booming, but there's a dark cloud lurking on the horizon. For users, a successful stint of online dating ends in meeting a match and no longer needing a dating site. But for the dating sites themselves, business success means retaining customers and keeping them coming back for more. Clearly, there's a conflict of interest. Houston, we have a problem.

eHarmony may have the answer. While some dating sites are developing products for couples in order to remain relevant in users' lives, eHarmony is taking a very different approach.

With 565,000 marriages under its belt so far, eHarmony now plans to expand from the marriage market to the job market. eHarmony vice president Grant Langston says the company will launch a service to match employers with job seekers in the U.S. in June, followed shortly afterwards by a launch in Canada.

"We've seen indicators that 60 to 65 per cent of people are unhappy with their jobs, whether or not they are actively searching for new ones," Langston says. Expanding into the job market is a natural progression for eHarmony, he believes, given the company's extensive research into habits, desires, and personality types.

The typical hiring process is driven by employers, who ask a series of questions and evaluate potential employees' skills to assess suitability for the position. eHarmony's approach to hiring will look a little different: employers and employees will complete extensive questionnaires focused on culture to determine whether they're a good match for each other.

"When employers post a job on eHarmony, job seekers in the database will be matched to that job and both parties will be notified," TheStar.com reports. "They can review each others' profile and communicate online before meeting face-to-face."

Research agrees that the eHarmony approach to job hunting might be more effective. In December of last year, an issue of the American Sociological Review reported on a study of the recruiting practices of over a hundred professional service firms that found that applicants and employers with similarities in experiences, hobbies, and personal appearance made the best matches.

Langston is confident that the idea has a future, but acknowledges that there may be a few bumps along the way. eHarmony plans to allow for a year to iron out the kinks in the new service, and hasn't ruled out purchasing an online job board that can be combined with existing matching services. To date, there is no word on who will pay for the service or how much it will cost.

eHarmony's free communication weekend in May is happening right now for the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It is running from today, Thursday May 23rd to the end of day on Monday May 27th (Happy Memorial Day!!! 😊).

During this free event eHarmony allows users not only to use the guided communication process for free but to send and receive email messages as well. This makes it an ideal time to try out this dating service to see if it is the right fit for you. All you need to do is become an eHarmony member by creating an account and answering the profile questions. This process will take you about 30 to 45 minutes to complete. Remember to answer the questions truthfully since eHarmony uses their complex matching algorithm to send you matches based on your answers. There is no cost to become a member of eHarmony or communicate during this FCW event. Features not included are photos, secure call (calling members through the site from your phone) and skipping the guided communication process to go to straight to mail.

To find out more about this dating site and to read user comments about the service you can take a look at our in-depth review of eHarmony. There last free communication weekend happened in April (see Story).

For singles in the UK (who also have a Holiday weekend) you can read our eHarmony.co.uk review to find out more information, as the site is a bit different from its North American cousin.

A friend is about to embark on a journey to a brave new world. After years of serial monogamy, she is determined to enjoy singlehood. She's got a lot to look forward to...flirting in the park, first dates in coffee shops, late nights spent with good-looking strangers in bars...but she's nervous.

It's been a long time since she had a first date, and she isn't sure what she's in for. Match.com, on the other hand, knows exactly what she's in for. The site's latest infographic takes a look at first dates across America, checking in on what makes singles tick during that all-important first meeting.

Who went on the most first dates in 2012? That depends on how you're counting:

• By city, singles in Denver, CO (47%) came in first place.
• By gadget, singles with iPhones and tablets (45%) went on the most dates in 2012.
• By occupation, single journalists got their date on more than singles in any other profession (45%).

You might think most people are meeting at bars and nightclubs, but the reality is that few are finding their mates during nights on the town.

• Most people (22%) meet their dates through friends.
• A close second - 20% - find dates through online dating sites.
• Only 7% meet first dates at bars and clubs.

Singles are getting bolder these days. The Three Day Rule is becoming a thing of the past. 75% of single men and 50% of single women say they follow up with a date within 3 days. The bravest singles reside in Chicago and New York - 52% of singles in those cities say they initiated their last first date. Los Angeles came in second, with a close 51%.

Unsurprisingly, first dates in the 21st century are different than the first dates of yore. Now, 48% of women say they research a man before their first date and 47% expect to know his employment status by the time the first date is done. Ideas of what is and isn't appropriate on a first date have also evolved over time:

• 86% of singles find it appropriate to hold hands on the first date.
• 73% of singles find it appropriate to kiss on the first date.
• 66% of singles find it appropriate to cuddle on the first date.
• 22% of singles find it appropriate to have sex on the first date.

After the date, the majority of singles prefer to communicate over the phone (61%). Other popular methods of post-date communication are "In person" (15%) and "Text" (14%). Social networking sites may be all the rage right now, but only 1% think they're a good way to communicate after a date.

See the full size infographic here.

The 21st century is all about simplicity. The easier and more automated we can make an experience, the more we seem to love it. And the shorter, the better. Does anyone even blog anymore? Now it's all about 140 character Tweets, Tumblr-style microblogging, and 6 second Vine videos.

It was only a matter of time before our short attention spans took their toll on online dating. More and more singles are turning to mobile dating instead, which offers an even more simplified experience than online dating sites. New dating apps are launching all the time, causing some to worry: Is online dating becoming too easy?

First there was Grindr, the uber-popular dating app for gay men that currently claims over six million users worldwide. The premise behind Grindr isn't complicated: Why spend waste time at bars or filling out dating profiles when you can quickly and conveniently browse the pictures of singles nearby?

Then came Blendr, a similar app that attempted to recreate the Grindr experience (but with more of a focus on friendship and shared interests) for hetero couples. Blendr merged with Badoo, but still failed to achieve the success of its predecessor. Grindr works - Blendr doesn't quite.

In the wake of Blendr came Tinder, one of the newest additions to the mobile market. Tinder picked up where previous mobile apps left off, requiring members to sign in using their Facebook accounts to reduce instances of fake profiles and catfishing. Tinder users are then sent profile pics to respond to (swipe left if you're interested, swipe right if you're not), and are only allowed to contact each other if both members mutually indicate interest.

Those three apps are far from alone in the mobile dating world. There is the scandalous and infamous Bang With Friends. There's TrintMe, which claims to reveal your friends true intentions. There's also WouldLove2 and EmbarrassNot, the latter of which breaks all your acquaintances down into one of four basic categories:

• I'd like to go on a date with this person
• I'd like an Advanced relationship with this person
• I'd like to start a family with this person
• I'd like to break up with this person

Sure, it's all convenient. But is it too convenient? Transparency online doesn't seem to correlate to equal transparency and courage in in-person interactions. Through the filter of technology, we often present ourselves in ways we wouldn't offline. We feel safe - safe from rejection, safe to say cruel things we wouldn't otherwise, safe to act in ways we wouldn't dare act in person.

Studies have shown that people value things less when they're too easy. Other studies have shown that being presented with too many choices overwhelms us, making us choose nothing at all. If mobile dating gives us too many options too easily, we may be just as single after the app as we were before it.