It looks like the rumor was true (see Story), Match.com released a press release yesterday which confirm that they have made a deal to acquire the dating site Singlesnet.com. Financial terms of the deal have yet to be released but Match CEO Greg Blatt did state that Singlesnet will continue to be run largely as a standalone business. Adrian Ong of Match.com will be taking over the helm from the previous owner of Singlesnet, Quinn Lipin. Mr Lipin will still continue to work for Singlesnet.com as an executive.

Singlesnet was once the most visited dating site in the USA back in December 2008. Since then traffic has slowly declined with a major drop happening in February 2009 from 7 million unique visitors to just under 5 million.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, eHarmony here in the United States and Canada is planning to have their 23rd free communication weekend (FCW) starting Thursday February 11th, 2010 to Monday February 15th, 2010.

During this 5 day eHarmony free communication weekend, all members will be able to review matches and to communicate with these matches for no cost. The month of February and especially around Valentine's Day is when dating sites are the busiest. This means if you haven't tried eHarmony yet, this is your best chance to see how it works and what type of matches they have in your area. As with previous FCWs, members will not be able to FastTrack the guided communication process. Member's photos also are also not viewable for this promotion.

The last eHarmony free communication event occurred during New Years Eve (see Story).

Check out our review of eHarmony for more information on the dating site.

Singles interested in the United Kingdom Free Communication Weekend, read this News Story.

Update: I see that the Australian eHarmony dating site is having a FCW as well but it runs from Friday Feb.12th to Feb. 15th.

We would like to welcome Moxie as a new contributor here at DatingSitesReviews.com. She has been writing her own online dating and sex advice column called "And That's Why You're Single" for over 5 years now and has shown she has valuable insight on relationships and what makes men and women tick. You can now expect to find Moxie offering the same valuable advice and tips here, which can be used to help you with dating, both online and off.

To find out more about our fourth writer, Moxie, visit her Bio page. You may also use this form to contact her, if you wish to ask her questions or to suggest a topic for her next article.

Tom

We have just completed a first in a series of updates to the user rating and review system here at DatingSitesReviews.com. The major new component in this update is each user review will have its own page (instead of having 6 per page as before). This change also allowed us to enable comments on reviews. If you liked or disliked what someone said about a dating site or service you now have the option to comment on that individual review.

We have also reduced the content on the review summary pages to include just the basic information for each review. Visitors will now need to click the review title or the "Read the full review" link to view the entire review, which includes the full rating, the positive, negative and bottom line bullet points, and the entire review text.

Stay tuned for more changes to come...

Here is a quick update for the 2009 Dating Sites Reviews Choice Awards. We are now busy with the write ups for each category of the Awards. First up this week will be the 2009 Dating Sites Reviews Choice Awards - Over All. Expect to see 2 or 3 Award articles released every week with the final being the Single's Choice Award, our top Award that is voted on by you.

We currently have 641 votes cast in our Single's Choice Award. To participate in the poll which will decide the best free and paid dating site in 2009, cast your vote now right here.

Related Story: 2009 Dating Sites Reviews Choice Awards

Update: Our first Award is in! Check out Awards Topic for more details.

eHarmony is having a free communication weekend (FCW) starting Wednesday December 30th, 2009 and ending Sunday January 3rd, 2010. This is a special holiday event and it has been extended to 5 days (most FCW are 3 days long).

What does a free communication weekend mean? It allows members from eHarmony to be able to review their matches and communicate with them for free through the 4 stage communication process. All members can be contacted and I would expect eHarmony to be extra busy during this timeframe as most singles will be on vacation for the Holidays. If you join eHarmony during the first day (Wednesday) of the FCW, who knows, maybe you will have enough time to meet your match on New Years Eve.

The last free communication event occurred mid November, just over 4 weeks ago (see [story: eHarmony-is-Free-for-the-next-5-Days Story]). This is Free Communication Weekend number 22 for eHarmony here in the US.

Check out our review of eHarmony for more information on the dating site.

Singles interested in the Australian Free Communication Weekend, read this News Story.

Singles interested in the United Kingdom Free Communication Weekend, read this News Story.