
FINDSOMEONE.CA
is a Canadian online dating site with photo profiles,
chat rooms, message boards and offline events for singles.
FINDSOMEONE.COM.AU
is the Australian online dating site from the same
company.
FINDSOMEONE.COM
redirects to
FINDSOMEONE.CA.
A
Net dating service, also known as
online dating or Internet dating, is
an example of a dating system and allows individuals, couples and groups
to meet online and possibly develop a romantic or sexual relationship.
Net dating
services provide un-moderated matchmaking
through the use of personal computers, the Internet, or even cell
phones.
Such services generally allow people to provide personal information,
then search for other individuals using criteria such as age range,
gender and location. Most sites allow members to upload photos of
themselves and browse the photos of others. Sites may offer additional
services, such as webcasts, online chat, and message boards. Sites
sometimes allow people to register for free but may offer services which
require a monthly fee.
Many sites are broad-based, with members from a variety of backgrounds
looking for different types of relationships. Other sites are more
specific, based on the type of members, interests, location, or
relationship desired.
Problems with Online Dating
Services
There can be a variety of problems when utilizing online dating sites.
Some sites expect members to sign up "blind," meaning that users have no
preview of the profiles they will get to see. eHarmony is one example of
this kind of site. On other services, some profiles are not actually
real people, but "bait" that has been placed there by the site owners to
attract new paying members. Both Yahoo Personals and Match.com have
received several complaints of using this tactic. Some users spam sites
with "fake" profiles that are in reality advertisements to other
services, such as prostitution or multi-level marketing.
A majority of dating sites keep
profiles online for months or even years since the last time the person
has logged in, thereby making it seem as though they have more available
members than they actually do. Many sites offer the option to sort
search results based on activity, however.
Most
members are enticed to join dating websites with free or
low-priced "trial" memberships advertised on many other
websites. These trial memberships lack many of the features of
the full membership, including the ability to contact other
members or reply to e-mail from other members. On sites which
require credit card information to join at all, these trial
memberships may automatically become full memberships at the end
of the trial period and charge the full monthly fee, without any
additional action from the member, regardless of whether the
member has actually used the services or not.
For paying members, it is often unclear whether a potential
contact has a full subscription and whether he or she will be
able to reply at all. There are still, however, a few
established free dating sites that allow users to reply to
messages, among them: DateHookup.com and MatchDoctor.com. Niche
sites cater to people with special interests (e.g. sports fans,
nerds), professions, political preferences, conditions (e.g.
HIV+, obese), religions (e.g. Jewish), or even logistics (e.g.
rural farm communities such as FarmersOnly.com).
Some members have expressed complaints about the billing
practices of certain dating sites. In some cases, trial
memberships that were canceled within the trial period were
automatically re-billed even after canceling. To avoid these
potential problems, some users have advised using a virtual
credit card number which is offered by several credit card
companies.
Even when members' profiles are "real", there is still an
inherent lack of trust with other members. Many members
misrepresent themselves by telling flattering 'white lies' about
their height, weight, age, or by using old and misleading
photos. Members can, of course, ask for an up-to-date photograph
before meeting others. Matrimonials Sites are a variant of
online dating sites, and these are geared towards meeting people
for the purpose of getting married. Gross misrepresentation is
less likely on these sites than on 'casual dating' sites. Casual
dating sites are often geared more towards short term (and
implicitly sexual) relationships.
Online predators
find online dating sites especially attractive, because such sites give
them an unending supply of new targets of opportunity for Internet
fraud. A recent study, led by Dr. Paige Padgett from the University of
Texas Health Science Center, found that there was a false degree of
safety assumed by women looking for love on the internet, exposing them
to stalking, fraud, and sexual violence. Some online dating sites
conduct background checks on their members in an attempt to avoid
problems of this nature.
On any given dating site, the sex ratio is commonly unbalanced. For
example, eHarmony's membership is about 58% female and 42% male, whereas
the ratio at Match.com is about the reverse of that.
Disreputable sites such as Quechup may harvest users' personal
information and contacts for use in e-mail spam. |