Are You Safer at Home or on Match.com?
Two more articles came out this morning about True.com’s efforts in state legislatures to mandate criminal records checks by Internet dating sites. The best of the two articles was in the Sun-Sentinel, a light version on CNN. Beyond the push being a thinly veiled attempt by True.com to get lots of publicity, there’s lots of concern from defenders of privacy (our right NOT to be investigated). Other dating sites are alarmed, because passage in any state would essentially mandate changes for all states.
At least one of the legislators quoted seem downright wrong in his assessment: Ohio state Rep. Tom Patton says that women face more dangers online “Because they are more trusting.” Than who? Men? Men online are usually Right Out There, giving out their real names, addresses, and phone numbers right off the bat. Ladies, if a guy does NOT do that, you should wonder, because it is such a common practice. If a guy is hiding contact info, likely he has something to hide.
The best number is from Match.com’s Kristin Kelly: In a decade of operation, Match.com has had fewer than 10 reported cases of violent crime in connection to people who met on Match.com. That’s less than one a year, with a million subscribers and eight million members. You are probably safer on Match. com than in your own home. With the doors locked.
From Your Romance Coach, Kathryn Lord
P. S. Tucked in the Sun-Sentinel article was the interesting stats that Match.com has about 1 million paid subscribers. What very seldom is paired with those numbers are the members (paid and unpaid) vs. subscribers (paid). Match.com has around 8 million members, maintaining what I think is probably an industry average of 8 to 1, unpaid to paid members. Keep in mind that unpaid members are coasting along on what the subscribers fund, and cannot communicate without paying. So on average, only one in eight people you contact can email you back without ponying up $25 or so beforehand. I hammer at this industry secret all the time. But you need to know it!
