“This man was on the face of his profile a responsible man and supposed to be a 55-year-old gentleman, who ran his own business. He turned out to be nothing more than a sex pervert who was clearly not using the site to date but made it clear that he could get sex on the website 7 days per week,” Ellie said. “I reported this man as a concern but he is still allowed on the site even now.”
Karen of Ajax, Ontario, said she met a man who claimed to live in her area and to be single and 40. In fact, she said, a background check found that he lived in San Francisco, was 50 and married.
“His entire profile was a lie,” Karen said. “I reported him to Match so that his profile can be removed because there were too many discrepancies in the information he provided.”
“I called Match and they told me that they can’t do anything about the situation because they only look at the username and deal with the username alone for the issue,” she said. “So basically, if this guy was a rapist or sexual offender, the user can come back again and again on the website even if Match checks their current Match predators with the sex offenders list as they say they will.”
More online dating companies are trying to get you away from your keyboard
Somehow online dating has become so normal, that offline dating almost seems like a novelty. This is the thinking and marketing approach many dating sites like Match are now using, with its newly developed social mixers called “The Stir.”
The Stir events, which have been heavily advertised on television, are organized gatherings of Match subscribers, and the events include Happy Hour get-togethers, cooking classes, bowling parties, and Tequila tastings.
The online dating site has starting rolling out these events in twenty U.S. cities earlier this summer, including areas like New York, and San Francisco. Match has said the events will be coming to more cities in the near future.
Some people attending the mixers said the events were more or less glorified bar scenes, and many who showed up seemed to be completely different from their profile picture and background information. However, others said they felt the mixers were a good experience and they felt comfortable knowing everybody in the room was already single and looking to meet someone.
A few female Match subscribers said they didn’t meet their soulmate during one of the events, but they met other women subscribers that eventually became friends.
Not just Match
Match isn’t the only dating site that’s marketing the possibilities of offline datingpanies like howaboutwe are also trying to get their subscribers to meet-up for a date or just hangout face-to face.
Here’s how it works: The site sends profiles to subscribers so you can communicate virtually with someone you’re interested in. Once you get to a level of comfort you set up an in-person meeting.
Unlike other online dating sites, where actual dates also transpire, howaboutwe’s main purpose is to establish in-person meetings, instead of its members speaking online and hoping a date will soon happen.
This site is also new so our readers have not yet commented on how useful howaboutwe is, but overall customer reviews throughout the Internet haven’t been all that great.
One user said that although the site is being promoted on television, and seems very popular, the number citas loveandseek of paid users on the website is relatively low.
Since many people that are signed up only have free access to the site, paid users aren’t able to have many of their messages read. A good portion of the people they’re interested in aren’t forking over the necessary amount of bucks to have full access.