General News

If you run a website then you know spammers are an everyday occurrence. We have a number software tools here which help block out the many messages spammers try to post. The tools range from using CAPTCHA to searching for specified keywords that spammers like to use and, everything in between. The problem is I know we lose a number of legitimate comments, message posts and reviews this way and I am sorry. It is a delicate balance and it seems if I give a little bit, the spammers takes advantage of it almost exponentially. If you post something and it gets rejected as spam, contact us, include your message, and were you want it posted and we will add it in. We will also take a look at our SPAM software and try to tweak is so it doesn't happen again.

Yesterday, we have over 60 spam forum messages that someone typed in which got through our detection software. In the midst of deleting them something happened and we lost a few real messages trying to fix the problem. Sorry about that. If you don't see your message you posted in the last few days, please post again.

Thank-you

Tom

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.

We were sent word of the most recent changes and feature updates that have happened to WealthyMen.com over the last few months. These changes in part are a result of a user survey conducted by WealthyMen.com over the past year to find what type of new features members wanted to see implemented on the dating site.

The new changes concentrate on member profiles, searching and fraud detection:

Profile

• Updated and simplified user registration pages.
• More options to profile for ethnicity and religion.
• Added more photo slots to profile gallery.
• Ability to block other members communication.

Search

• New advanced search feature.
• Reorganized search results.
• Expanded number of profiles visible on search results.

Fraud Detection

• Added steps to encourage verifications.
• Created proprietary fraud detection software.
• Added more staff to fraud detection team.
• Improved customer service operations and training.

The result of these updates so far has seen an increased number of verified members and more male members signing up. It is good to see WealthyMen.com concentrating on fraud detection. While I haven't heard of any problems on this dating service, all popular and successful dating sites suffer from scammers to one degree or another. Sugar Daddie and Wealthy dating sites have been among the first dating services to implement member verification. This verification usually is for photos and income level though sites like WealthyMen.com have started profession and education verification as well. Usually to receive verification, members need to email or fax in a number of documents. While not 100% fool proof (I doubt we will ever see anything that is), it is a good step, and users which see a profile has been verify, have less to worry about.

Other sites like eHarmony offer to verify information and/or do criminal background checks which is an excellent idea but little is known how in-depth these checks are. The other thing that sites like eHarmony need to do is offer this service for free (or part of the membership package). Currently eHarmony charges for their RelyID service. Once it is free, I am sure many more members will take the time to verify their information.

For more information on this Millionaire dating site, read our WealthyMen.com review.

According to a Times article, matchmakers in China have seen an increase in clients ever since the economy started its downturn last year. With the job market frozen in China many young college graduates are not finding any work and are experiencing financial difficulties because of the huge debt of going to school. It is estimated that only 35 percent of the 6.1 million students who graduate this year will find a job. Many young woman are using marriage as a means to ease the financial burden.

Unlike online dating, the matchmaking industry mediates dating through a broker. People who want to find a spouse register at a given agency, and the broker will pick and arrange their dates based on their requirements. The first date usually takes place at the office of the matchmaking business.

Marriage is very important to the Chinese and it is seen almost as a compulsory step for woman. As woman grow older the pressure increases not only though family but friends and the media as well. Many parents agree with their college grad daughters in getting married when work is not found. Some parents will even go out and hand pick the man for them to marry.

New Chinese dating sites like Xiaoyuanlove.com (which means Love on Campus) have seen their member numbers swell. While online dating is not as popular as a personal matchmaking services in China, things are changing fast.

Visit Time for the complete story about Matchmakers in China.

IAC released their first quarter 2009 financial results on April 29, 2009. Looking at the company as a whole, revenue dropped 10 percent to $332 million. This mainly has to do with the global economic state and how it has affected online advertising. IAC search engine Ask.com revenue relies heavily on selling advertising space.

Match.com saw a 1 percent decrease in revenue to $90.1 million when compared to quarter 1 of 2008. This again has been contributed to the negative effect of foreign exchange rates with international markets experiencing a 15 percent decrease in revenue per subscriber. Total Operating Income dropped 2 percent to $9.9 million.

In February Match announced the pending sale of Match Europe to Meetic (see Story). The total value of the sale, including the Meetic shares and promissory note is approximately $140 million.

No mention was made in the report of IAC's other online dating sites Chemistry and their new free site, Down To Earth.

Here is the complete IAC Q1 2009 Report For more information on the dating sites owned by IAC, read our Match.com review and are Chemistry review.

Related Story: Match.com Fourth Quarter 2008 Financials.

From a survey which looked at dating and married couples relationships, researchers learned that the primary predictor of happiness in a relationship is your perception of, if your partner motivates and supports you to live up to your dreams and aspirations. With married couples there was one additional need found that is required to make a marriage a successful one. You must feel that your partner is helping you with your current obligations and responsibilities.

The significant finding, the researchers say, is that we often believe that if our dating partner gives us support to follow our dreams, they’ll probably support other parts of our life, namely our immediate responsibilities. But the ability to inspire a partner is not an accurate predictor of support for the more mundane and immediate obligations. And this can sometimes lead to a rude awakening when the church bells ring.

77 married couples and 92 dating couples participated in this survey which is to be published this summer in the journal, Psychological Science.

For the full story, read Scientific American.