General News

Interracial couples still get stares when they go out in public in 2008/2009 according to an article at AlterNet. A number of their website readers have confirmed this as well. They have posted comments about their experiences as being part of a interracial couple or being part of an interracial family. I didn't think this issue would be as prevalent in today's world as the article suggests, especially with the rise of dating sites like InterracialMatch.com. They specialize in singles who want to meet other people from different cultures and backgrounds. Unfortunately, it is still a problem as the comments suggest. There are reports from many interracial couples who still get surprised stares or comments from both white and black people.

At the end of the article the author (who is a teacher) asks an interesting question

It's nothing compared to the discrimination racial minorities face everyday in America. But when my white students, for example, joyously remark that "racism is a thing of the past," I ask them to consider how their own parents would react if they brought home a black person to marry.

I do hope this is more just an older generation issue. With the world becoming a smaller place today with the Internet and the global economy interracial relationships are a rising trend and are becoming more popular.

Check out the full story at AlterNet and for more details on Interracial Match read our review.

The unofficial eHarmony Blog noticed that a few months ago eHarmony lowered their member age requirements to 18. Back in 2006 the minimum age to join eHarmony was 21. The maximum age has never change and is 110 years old.

For more details visit the unofficial eHarmony Blog and for more information about this dating service, read our eHarmony review.

MillionaireMatch.com now displays a member count on their homepage. As of writing, there are 1,071,634 member profiles available on this dating service. Since it is free to place a lifetime ad at MillionaireMatch.com, this number shouldn't be confused with the number of active members. The number being displayed is the number of members who have joined MillionaireMatch.com since it started, which was around 2001. Active members refers to members who routinely log in and use the site. Unfortunately there is no standard measurement for this so some dating sites count an active member as someone who has logged in within 2 years while others count a member as active when someone logs in at least once a month.

While this number is not the number of active members it still represents a large number of profiles. This probably means that Millionaire Match has tens of thousands active members. You should also remember that all free members can reply to a paid members email so this can greatly increase your chances of finding a match when you compare Millionaire Match to other Sugar Daddy dating sites.

Read our full Millionaire Match review for more information on this popular and award winning dating service.

As the economy continues its downward trend in December, singles continue to use online dating sites in increasing numbers. Are people trying to save money on dates by finding a better match first through a dating service rather than trolling bars? A night out on the town with your single friends is expensive when you add up all the costs, cab fare, drinks and cover charge. For probably much less than a night out with friends, you can join a dating site for a month. Some statistics from an article by the Los Angeles Times seem to back up this thinking:

Craigslist personals postings and eHarmony.com registrations have each seen 20% increases in 2008. Match.com has seen an even larger spike; its memberships were 22% higher in December than they were in the same period last year. Even more interesting, both eHarmony and Match.com reported especially high traffic on days when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted.

Match.com also reported a 50% increase in profile views for the month of December when compared to November. Remember, November also saw its share of increases as well, where dating sites like Match.com, Perfectmatch.com and Date.com all saw more members joining and/or participating in the month of November, when compared to the same month from previous years. Match.com also performed a survey of 1,500 members and found 84 percent of them were "being more selective about first dates in today's economy."

For more information about the online dating sites and how they are performing in the recession, read this article from the Los Angeles Times. Check out our reviews of Match.com, PerfectMatch.com and Date.com for more information on these successful dating services.

Match.com International (which includes the UK) recently launched a personality test (see Story) earlier this month. To date more than 1.3 million people have completed the test. Not bad numbers for being available less than a month. The test is very similar to the one provided by Match.com's North American sister dating site called Chemistry.

Find more stats about these two dating sites at the IAC website. For user opinions about these dating services, read our Match.com review and our Chemistry review.

I've been sick lately (and still am) so I have some catching up to do on news posting.

On December 23, 2008 FriendFinder Networks filed for a $460 million IPO. My first thought was it is an interesting time to file with the downturn of the economy. Adult FriendFinder is the major revenue generator of the FriendFinder Networks and with the latest posts about dating sites doing better in these market conditions, maybe the recession is not as much a concern. Still, there are less people out there with money to invest.

The other big issue is the proceeds of this will be used for the most part to pay off debt. Most investors tend not to like this type of scenario. I'm not sure where this debt came from. FriendFinder Networks was bought last December (see Story) by Penthouse for $500 million. I assume at this point, the FriendFinder accounting books where in a positive territory. I can't see Penthouse buying them for so much money if FriendFinder had a huge debt. This new debt must of come from Penthouse.