Tue, 15 May 2012 04:02:13 -0800WeeblySun, 22 Apr 2012 21:24:14 -0800http://www.oz-dating.net/1/post/2012/04/aussie-soap-opera-character-tries-online-dating.htmlAn episode of the popular Australian soap opera Home and Away has a storyline that features online dating. It involves the character Leah Patterson-Baker.

Considering how widespread this method of meeting people actually is right across the globe, it seems a little odd that it isn't represented in television dramas more often.

That said, there may well be a good reason for this. It could be because the act of connecting online while sitting in front of a computer screen is inherently undramatic. There's just not enough "colour and movement" to hold the viewer's attention. That's why the scripts have people communicating face to face instead.
]]>Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:13:34 -0800http://www.oz-dating.net/1/post/2012/04/woman-injured-during-sex-receives-compensation-from-government.htmlA female public servant has just won her long battle to be compensated by the Government for injuries she suffered while having sex in a motel room in country NSW. Her argument, initially rejected but then accepted on appeal, was that the incident occurred while she was on a work trip and so her employer was liable.

This outcome is interesting not just because of its legal ramifications. There also seems to be a societal aspect: the lack of shame of the compensation claimant.

I can't imagine such a thing occurring a couple of decades ago. I suspect that any woman who suffered such a bizarre misfortune would not seek compensation simply because of the potential for embarrassment. But this woman had no such trepidation. Not only did she make the claim in the first place; she kept persevering with it even after initially losing the case!
]]>Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:38:56 -0800http://www.oz-dating.net/1/post/2012/04/afp-suggest-extreme-measures-in-war-against-scammers.htmlIt's clear that online fraud -- much of which is carried out on dating sites -- has been rising at an alarming rate. But the attitude of law enforcement about how it should best be combated shows just how widespread the problem now is:

The Australian Federal Police argue that, just as drivers on public roads are penalised if they don’t wear a seat belt, internet users should be punished if they don’t use antivirus software, firewalls and password changes.

If this remedy is made law, and people end up losing their "licences" to surf the net, one wonders what will be next. Perhaps demerit points for being drunk online as well?
]]>Sat, 14 Apr 2012 19:51:53 -0800http://www.oz-dating.net/1/post/2012/04/japanese-woman-met-men-on-dating-sites-then-killed-them.htmlAs online dating continues continues to grow in popularity all across the globe, there are more and more cases of crimes being committed by people who met others on such sites. Reports of scams, stalkings, rapes and even murders appear regularly in the media.

These acts are overwhelmingly committed by men against women. But every now and then it's the woman who is the aggressor.

The latest example of this occurred in Japan. A young woman called Kanae Kijima has been convicted of murdering three men she met on dating sites. Not surprisingly her case has generated enormous publicity.
]]>Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:23:16 -0800http://www.oz-dating.net/1/post/2012/01/zoosk-television-commercials-also-showing-in-australia.htmlAfter seeing that PlentyofFish commercial I caught the tail end of another ad for a big international dating site. This one was for Zoosk.

There are several of these all running now. These internationally based sites are clearly muscling in on the Australian market. But there must still be money to be made. Otherwise they wouldn't be doing this.

The saturation point must be fast approaching, though. It will be interesting to see when it does occur!
]]>Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:51:50 -0800http://www.oz-dating.net/1/post/2012/01/plenty-of-fish-running-ads-on-australian-television.htmlLocally run dating sites have been running television ads for quite a while now in Australia. I think RSVP might have been the first to do it. Aussie Matchmaker and Adult Matchmaker have done so for years, too. And Oasis Active has been visible on the box lately.

Of the big international sites moving into the Aussie market, I think Lavalife has been at it the longest. And eHarmony has been going for a while, with a lot of ad exposure in recent months.

Then earlier today I saw a television advertisement for POF (Plenty of Fish). That was surprising because it is still basically a free site (although you can pay for an upgraded service that gives you even more options and visibility).

The fact that they've decided to run very expensive TV ads here confirms that POF -- like the big paid dating sites mentioned above -- is doing very well indeed in this country. To use their own metaphor the Australia dating pool is clearly a long from being overfished and there are clearly still many thousands of members yet to be hooked!
]]>Sun, 02 Oct 2011 05:02:54 -0800http://www.oz-dating.net/1/post/2011/10/dating-site-survey-confirms-desirability-of-men-with-expensive-cars.htmlIt's now very common for researchers (both professional and amateur) to use dating sites as a way to make generalizations about wider behavioural trends. The results of one study, for example, implied that opposites don't find each other quite as attractive as that well known saying suggests. Another one, on the other hand, seemed to confirm some national stereotypes that many would say were false.

And here's another one, which has to be one of the more bizarrely specific dating site surveys of its kind. The results show "a direct correlation between the value of the car a man drives and the length of a date, including the probability of a second date".

Well, it's hardly surprising. It's pretty well established that women do find men with social standing and material possessions more attractive. Still, the survey's focus does seem to be very narrow, even considering the nature of the dating site itself.
]]>Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:34:06 -0800http://www.oz-dating.net/1/post/2011/09/study-shows-older-aussies-are-hardest-hit-by-dating-scams.htmlIt's been obvious for a while that dating scams are on the rise in Australia, and that because of their comparative lack of experience with the internet, older people are more at risk of being fleeced.

A recent study conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology and other institutions revelaed the extent of the problem.

The most vulnerable were older Australians, who despite using the internet less accounted for four out of 10 victims, the study said.

But people seeking love on the web suffered the most.
]]>Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:38:29 -0800http://www.oz-dating.net/1/post/2011/09/perth-woman-scammed-on-dating-site.htmlHere's yet another case of someone being defrauded of a large amount of money (in this case one hundred grand) by someone she met on a dating site. She was a 55 year old woman from Perth.

These online scams are now a huge problem in Australia. And it seems that dating sites are the primary method by which people are fleeced:

"Romance fraud is number one," Det Supt Hay said. "We have 10,000 Australians sending $10 million every month to Nigeria and Ghana and 70 per cent of those are romance fraud."

]]>Sun, 10 Jul 2011 21:50:00 -0800http://www.oz-dating.net/1/post/2011/07/dating-site-study-shows-that-opposites-dont-necessarily-attract.htmlHere's yet another example of a dating site being used as a tool for psychological research. This time researches used one to find out if members were mostly attracted to others in their own "league" of desirability, or not. The Berkeley researchers drew this conclusion from their study of 3000 members: "Individuals on the dating market will assess their own self-worth and select partners whose social desirability approximately equals their own."

Maybe their results do measure people's genuine attraction to others. But they might also just show that they are just being more realistic in their choices of who they might want to be with. Either way, they show how powerful social conditioning and environmental factors are in dating and courting behaviour.
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