Oz Dating

Here's yet another example of online dating being used for a very unusual purpose. This time it was employed to find a mate for a single meerkat. A social networking site for meerkats is next!

Canadians have taken to online dating with gusto. An unscrupulous countryman has taken advantage of this, developing several niche dating sites charging exorbitant rates for almost non-existant service.

Online dating is hugely popular in many countries now. But the nation that has taken to it with the greatest enthusiasm is Canada.

There are some interesting stats about the online dating industry in this article, including a claim that it is now bigger than the porn industry.

Those niche dating sites continue to get more specific, and intriguing. Here's one in which the members search for potential mates according to whether they have British or American accents.

There are many tales of bad - often criminal - behavior by users of dating sites. These usually involve scamming, stalking and violence. But here is an online dating site horror story that is almost unique: A South Australian cop has been charged with creating a fake dating site profile of his ex-girlfriend (including her contact details) and then using it to lure men to her address. This means of exacting revenge is as diabolical as it is nasty!

As internet use increases in Australia, so do the numbers of people who are defrauded online.

Online dating sites continue to be favoured by scammers. One of the reasons is that many people who use them are emotionally vulnerable, and therefore conducive to manipulation. Thousands of Aussies have been tricked into handing over money - sometimes huge amounts - and the problem has risen by a factor of 30 percent from last year.

Contrary to commonly held stereotypes about users of online dating sites being more likely to exaggerate their achievements while online, in truth there seems to be little such a tendency, or even none at all. Apparently those who "big note" themselves in their online profiles are just as likely to do so in real life.

You can find lots of information about how to write dating site profiles, and what sort of photos are the best to use. But there's one ingredient that people often give little thought to which can still be quite influential. That's your username.

I just learned about another niche dating site, probably one of the most unusual ones out there. (And that's saying something.)

It's for people with chronic diseases.