Month: November 2005

Match.Com Says Lawsuit Filed Against Them Is Baseless

Posted on November 22, 2005

Matchcom_logoALL HEADLINES — Nov 22 — Online dating powerhouse Match.com, is calling for a class action lawsuit filed against them to be dropped claiming the suit is thoroughly baseless, and the allegations of fake dates for members are entirely fictional.  The suit contends people on the Match payroll went on sham dates with subscribers as a marketing ploy. The woman named in the lawsuit as a Match.com employee has confirmed in a sworn statement that she has never been an employee of Match.com, nor was she ever paid to go on dates with any members or subscribers.  "The suit apparently was filed by Evans and his attorneys on the basis of no evidence whatsoever and without any investigation of the facts," said Kristin Kelly, spokeswoman for Match.com.  "Match.com intends to fight back against this totally baseless attack with all of our resources.“

The full article was originally published at All Headlines, but is no longer available.

Match.Com Says Lawsuit Filed Against Them Is Baseless

Posted on November 22, 2005

Matchcom_logoALL HEADLINES — Nov 22 — Online dating powerhouse Match.com, is calling for a class action lawsuit filed against them to be dropped claiming the suit is thoroughly baseless, and the allegations of fake dates for members are entirely fictional.  The suit contends people on the Match payroll went on sham dates with subscribers as a marketing ploy. The woman named in the lawsuit as a Match.com employee has confirmed in a sworn statement that she has never been an employee of Match.com, nor was she ever paid to go on dates with any members or subscribers.  "The suit apparently was filed by Evans and his attorneys on the basis of no evidence whatsoever and without any investigation of the facts," said Kristin Kelly, spokeswoman for Match.com.  "Match.com intends to fight back against this totally baseless attack with all of our resources.“

The full article was originally published at All Headlines, but is no longer available.

Online Daters Sue Match.com, Yahoo

Posted on November 21, 2005

Matchcom_5 REUTERS — Nov 18 — Match.com is accused in a federal lawsuit of goading members into renewing their subscriptions through bogus romantic e-mails sent out by company employees. In some instances, the suit contends, people on the Match payroll even went on sham dates with subscribers as a marketing ploy. Match spokeswoman Kristin Kelly said the company "absolutely does not" employ people to go on dates with subscribers or to send members misleading e-mails professing romantic interest. In a separate suit, Yahoo's personals service is accused of posting profiles of fictitious potential dating partners on its website to make it look as though many more singles subscribe to the service than actually do.  The Match lawsuit was filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by plaintiff Matthew Evans, who contends he went out with a woman he met through the site who turned out to be nothing more than "date bait" working for the company. The Yahoo suit was filed last month by Robert Anthony, of Broward County, Florida. The suit, brought in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, accuses the company of breach of contract, fraud and unfair trade practices. The lawsuit also claims the company violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, a law best known for being used in prosecuting organized crime.  FULL ARTICLE @ USA TODAY

Mark Brooks: Small players, one man bands and new sites that are scrambling to get to critical mass may well send bogus emails.  Larger, established top ten players don't.  Date bait emails are very bad practice.  As an industry we should work to stamp it out.  These services don't 'send' their employees on dates.  However, I've not heard of many dating services banning their employees from using the services they work on.

Online Daters Sue Match.com, Yahoo

Posted on November 21, 2005

Matchcom_5 REUTERS — Nov 18 — Match.com is accused in a federal lawsuit of goading members into renewing their subscriptions through bogus romantic e-mails sent out by company employees. In some instances, the suit contends, people on the Match payroll even went on sham dates with subscribers as a marketing ploy. Match spokeswoman Kristin Kelly said the company "absolutely does not" employ people to go on dates with subscribers or to send members misleading e-mails professing romantic interest. In a separate suit, Yahoo's personals service is accused of posting profiles of fictitious potential dating partners on its website to make it look as though many more singles subscribe to the service than actually do.  The Match lawsuit was filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by plaintiff Matthew Evans, who contends he went out with a woman he met through the site who turned out to be nothing more than "date bait" working for the company. The Yahoo suit was filed last month by Robert Anthony, of Broward County, Florida. The suit, brought in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, accuses the company of breach of contract, fraud and unfair trade practices. The lawsuit also claims the company violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, a law best known for being used in prosecuting organized crime.  FULL ARTICLE @ USA TODAY

Mark Brooks: Small players, one man bands and new sites that are scrambling to get to critical mass may well send bogus emails.  Larger, established top ten players don't.  Date bait emails are very bad practice.  As an industry we should work to stamp it out.  These services don't 'send' their employees on dates.  However, I've not heard of many dating services banning their employees from using the services they work on.

Seattle, Online Dating Mecca

Posted on November 21, 2005

Sperlings_best_placesBLOOMBERG — Nov 18 — The Web-based Sperling's BestPlaces guide this month ranked Seattle the #1 place in the U.S. to hook up, based on 33 factors, including male-to-female parity, membership in online dating services and the number of coffee shops and dog parks.  Match.com chose Seattle as one of four cities in the country to test a new dating site called chemistry.com, designed for people "actively seeking meaningful long-term relationships." There are 186,480 Seattle Match members, ~6.1% of the population of 3 million. That's the highest proportion of online daters among the 12 largest metropolitan areas. 47% of men and 40% of women in Seattle have never married. 

Seattle, Online Dating Mecca

Posted on November 21, 2005

Sperlings_best_placesBLOOMBERG — Nov 18 — The Web-based Sperling's BestPlaces guide this month ranked Seattle the #1 place in the U.S. to hook up, based on 33 factors, including male-to-female parity, membership in online dating services and the number of coffee shops and dog parks.  Match.com chose Seattle as one of four cities in the country to test a new dating site called chemistry.com, designed for people "actively seeking meaningful long-term relationships." There are 186,480 Seattle Match members, ~6.1% of the population of 3 million. That's the highest proportion of online daters among the 12 largest metropolitan areas. 47% of men and 40% of women in Seattle have never married. 

Truth in Dating

Posted on November 21, 2005

TruedaterMAIL TRIBUNE — Nov 19 — TrueDater.com is helping put honesty in the online dating experience by providing a venue for reviews of online singles, posted by the actual men or women who date them. The reviews are anonymous and generally focus on whether a person's online image is accurate and profile answers appear to be true. "People fall in love over the Internet before they even meet," Diamond says. "It's not a matter that I wasted 20 minutes. It's crushing. " Amazon.com has book reviews," he says. "Why not have online dating reviews?"

The full article was originally published at Mail Tribune, but is no longer available.

Truth in Dating

Posted on November 21, 2005

TruedaterMAIL TRIBUNE — Nov 19 — TrueDater.com is helping put honesty in the online dating experience by providing a venue for reviews of online singles, posted by the actual men or women who date them. The reviews are anonymous and generally focus on whether a person's online image is accurate and profile answers appear to be true. "People fall in love over the Internet before they even meet," Diamond says. "It's not a matter that I wasted 20 minutes. It's crushing. " Amazon.com has book reviews," he says. "Why not have online dating reviews?"

The full article was originally published at Mail Tribune, but is no longer available.

Internet Hookups Provide Little Mystery

Posted on November 18, 2005

Eharmony_1BADGER HERALD — Nov 18 — Well, after clicking 75 little (eHarmony) bubbles ranking characteristics – warm, arrogant, impulsive, attractive, perfectionist and uncomplicated – from one to seven and only being 17% complete with the profile, I gave up. F-you eHarmony. That’s not fun. On to Match.com.  I’m going to take a stand against Internet dating. It’s just another way to become impersonal and lazy, just like text messaging or when people abuse the Facebook for stalking purposes.  FULL ARTICLE @ BADGER HERALD

Mark Brooks: What’s the #1 most important decision you will make in your lifetime?  (Ans: Who you decide to marry).  You can answer/ask questions 6 months into a relationship, or you can take the online dating approach and answer/ask them for your profile.  This is what the likes of eHarmony, TRUE, PerfectMatch, Match, Tickle, Yahoo etc provide. These questions are surely worth a few hours of consideration…if you’re serious about being serious.

Internet Hookups Provide Little Mystery

Posted on November 18, 2005

Eharmony_1BADGER HERALD — Nov 18 — Well, after clicking 75 little (eHarmony) bubbles ranking characteristics – warm, arrogant, impulsive, attractive, perfectionist and uncomplicated – from one to seven and only being 17% complete with the profile, I gave up. F-you eHarmony. That’s not fun. On to Match.com.  I’m going to take a stand against Internet dating. It’s just another way to become impersonal and lazy, just like text messaging or when people abuse the Facebook for stalking purposes.  FULL ARTICLE @ BADGER HERALD

Mark Brooks: What’s the #1 most important decision you will make in your lifetime?  (Ans: Who you decide to marry).  You can answer/ask questions 6 months into a relationship, or you can take the online dating approach and answer/ask them for your profile.  This is what the likes of eHarmony, TRUE, PerfectMatch, Match, Tickle, Yahoo etc provide. These questions are surely worth a few hours of consideration…if you’re serious about being serious.