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News You Could Do Without

by Carlo Longino

Thu, Aug 18th 2005 7:58pm





Online Dating Sites Unlucky In Love

from the all-the-wrong-places dept

Online dating has gone mainstream. What was once considered the ultimate sign of a desperate single has become an everyday affair -- but that's not a good thing for dating sites, which are seeing slowing growth. Curious single-seeking surfers aren't hitting the sites as much these days, while what CNN/Money refers to as "the creepiness factor" is turning some people away. It's the same problem people have with old-fashioned personal ads, being contacted by all sorts of people they're not interested in, or might not be what they seem. Dating sites are turning to two tried-and-true internet strategies to keep the revenues coming: appealing to niche audiences (with sites like "cowboydating.com") and selling advertising space.

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  1.  
    identicon
    fuzzmanmatt, Aug 18th, 2005 @ 8:18pm

    No Subject Given

    Hey now! I like getting hit on by strange people! Oh, sure, some of them turn out to be gay lumberjacks who'd like to choke my chicken, but I'll deal with that for the few hot ones who roll my way.

     

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  2.  
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    COD, Aug 19th, 2005 @ 6:24am

    No Subject Given

    It seems like the dating sites have not rally changed the way personal ads work. They've just taken the ads onine and made them a bit more convenient.

    Now, if you took the idea of LinkedIn, and connected to a dating site, so that the ony way a introduction happens is by a referral from a trusted source, you'd have something different that just might be a lot more effective.

    Or not. I'm married, and have been since well before Netscape's IPO, so I have no practical experience to draw on here :)

     

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  3.  
    identicon
    dorpus, Aug 19th, 2005 @ 7:26am

    Simple Questions

    How long until people make it their standard protocol to put people through extensive questioning? I've read books on police interviewing techniques, so when I meet people online, I go through the procedure. I ask them questions about their background, look for inconsistencies. Invariably, the perverts have no patience and quickly give themselves away. If the subject passes the screening, I then talk to them on the phone, get to know them over weeks and months, before I ever agree to meet up with them. With this method, I've never had a problem with the people I meet.

     

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  4.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 19th, 2005 @ 11:08am

    Re: Simple Questions

    How many times have you done this dorpus

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Billy, Aug 22nd, 2005 @ 3:16am

    Re: Simple Questions

    "If the subject passes the screening, I then talk to them on the phone, get to know them over weeks and months, before I ever agree to meet up with them. "

    Lemme guess... you're still single, right?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Kyle Eppard, Apr 8th, 2011 @ 3:34pm

    Cool!

    Interesting post! I like things about dating sites

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    Kyle Eppard, Apr 8th, 2011 @ 3:36pm

    Cool!

    Interesting post! I like things about dating sites

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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