General News

I found that missing press release I mentioned in a previous post about the new Spark.com dating site (see Story).

A quick read through doesn't really reveal any additional information. It does confirm what we assumed in the previous post that Spark is made up of the members from AmericanSingles.com and Date.ca. Spark Networks hope that the new clean and easy to navigate interface of Spark.com will give it a more global appeal. The release also mentions the new features of Spark.com (when compared to the old dating sites). These features are the free Color Code Personality Test, the Keyword Search and the "Who's Searching for You?" feature. While these features are new at Spark, they can be found on another Spark Networks brand of dating sites called Mingle Match.

To find out more about this dating site and the new features listed here, you can check out our review of Spark.com.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) court action against Scott Mark Moles and Jobspy Pty Ltd have seen fines totaling $6.5 million AUD over a mobile phone dating scam.

The scam generated more than $2 million in revenues and involved employees of Jobspy Pty Ltd creating fake profiles on legitimate dating site with the purpose of obtaining cell phone number of other members. The scammers would then conduct text message conversation with these members via a so-called "safe divert" service to keep their mobile phone number private. In reality the members who were being scammed, were being charged $5 per text message. They were told by the scammers that the "safe divert" service was part of their dating site membership fees.

For the full news item, read News.com.au.

Television and film actress Ashley Madison Myrick (no she is not a Porn Star, that was a mistake by Fox) most famous role was becoming James Woods' boyfriend for a while. Recently she has filed a lawsuit against online dating site Ashley Madison for the “humiliation’ she has endured over having the same name as the site which promotes having an affair. Apparently she wants the site to change its name and to take her picture off of a related site, AshleyMadisonbio.com.

According to a $1 million counter-suit filed by AshleyMadison.com against the actress, the website has had the name “Ashley Madison” trademarked since 2002. The actress Ashley Madison Myrick only started going by the name Ashley Madison 3 years later in 2005. AshleyMadison.com also claims that they do not own the website AshleyMadisonbio.com and have no control over it (whoever does own it, has taken it down anyways).

The infidelity dating site is suing Ashley Madison for using their trademark to “inappropriately garner goodwill” to support her acting career.

More on this story can be found at Fox News.

I received a bit of surprise this morning when I read the following email from a reader:

Hello....

I was wanting to join AmericanSingles.com but cannot get to the site no matter how I try......

through your website or any other way. I keep getting sent to the Spark.com dating site.

It is like they have high jacked their website address. Can you tell me what is going on?

Thank You

First of all, don't worry the AmericanSingles.com domain did not get high jacked. It looks like a number of the Spark Network dating sites, including AmericanSingles.com and Date.ca, got rebranded and combined into a new dating site called Spark.com.

Gay.com has been updated recently and sports a whole new color scheme. Gone is the white and old grey color (seen on right), and in is the black and blue neon futuristic look. The new Gay dating site reminds me of a night life or dance club website.

Other than the color scheme, the dating site has not changed much. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it was already a full featured service. One of the things that makes Gay.com a popular destination for singles is it offers members more than just a dating service. On the website you can find gay related news and videos. Most Gay dating sites I come across contain lots of adult material and seem to be geared towards the casual fling. If you are a man or woman looking for a Gay dating service that put's the emphases on the relationship, you may want to give Gay.com a try.

For more information on this dating site, read our review of Gay.com.

Zoosk let us know a few holiday trends that they experience on their Facebook Dating Application last year. The busiest week for online dating activity was the week before Christmas. The second was the first week of January. Christmas Eve was the busiest day of the year for Zoosk. Throughout the year, on average Mondays are the most popular day to visit a dating site.

In a recent online survey conducted by Zoosk, 63 percent of Zoosk members are looking for long-term relationship. 33 percent of respondents are just looking for a holiday party date and 4 percent will not date this holiday as they find it too stressful. 19 percent of men from this survey also stated that they would invite a women on a first date to their office holiday party, while with women, only 10 percent said they would do this. In total, 39 percent of singles would prefer at least 3 dates before considering taking someone to their office party.

For more on this subject, read the Zoosk press release. To find out more about Facebook dating, check out our review of Zoosk.