Linkstravaganza!

You know how I’ve been under the weather for basically all of August? Well, one of the things that’s fallen off my usual checklist is keeping up on my Google News alerts about online dating topics. So, let’s see if things have totally shifted since we last checked into the world of online dating news. I present you with almost a month’s worth of the worthwhile Google News alerts that didn’t make it to my Facebook page!

• Your dating profile can totally be used as evidence in a trial. So don’t go committing any crimes, you lovebirds.
• If Aziz Ansari is actually picked as the next Bachelor, I will watch the show faithfully for the first time since Season 2.
• If any of these niche dating sites surprise you, then you are not in the same line of work as me.
• Q: Is Facebook stalking your online date a bad idea? A: Yes, but everyone does it, so expect it, but don’t further this behavior by friending people pre-date. Once you’ve met in person, anything goes. (But try to rein it in and get to know them more naturally/in person, too!)
• News panels are still ridiculous, and eHarmony’s Neil Warren still thinks same-sex marriage is one of the biggest problems in our country. But he identifies the clear issue that MOST marriages in this country don’t really work, so we can’t just blame the gays. I consider this interview progress.
• Oh, and by the way, eHarmony is run mainly on open-source software, in case you care. Including something called Mongo something that I don’t care about but you might.
• Ashley Madison is still going strong, despite plenty of objections from advertisers, media, and the general public. Personally, I don’t really care about the adultery-based site; I don’t think a site alone can make or break a marriage. But I do wonder what percentage of their millions of accounts are active users who have actually conducted extra-marital affairs, as opposed to just browsing for tittilation.
• Apparently it’s fun to cross-reference Ashley Madison and OKCupid, extrapolating data about cheaters and the cheated. The takeaway? Ignore articles like this and go about your dating. There are plenty of non-cheating non-weirdos out there too.
• New York has matchmaking cafés. I love this idea and would adore seeing it spread nationwide, especially in Seattle. Quick, someone else fund it!
• Yes, online dating can be unsafe. Just like any dating, or really, any activity at all. Be safe.
• Furries are still newsworthy, online dating scams are still newsworthy, furries can get scammed too, and journalists still write pieces expressly to sneak in clever headline rhymes.
• Normally I say don’t read tabloids, but this one makes a good point about photos tagged with geolocation data. Turn that stuff off, people. Your phones are sometimes TOO smart. 
• Everyone still gets pumped up with music before a date. I don’t believe that Barry White is an unbiased age range sampling, though.
• Remember that OKtrends blog we loved? Well, dude’s writing a book called Datalcysm. Keep an eye out.
• Apparently my services have been automated; there’s a lorem ipsum generator for your online dating profile. (I’d be more attracted to a profile using actual lorem ipsum text, and then deciphering the half-assed pseudo-Latin. But that’s me. And I’m married.) The content it generates reads like word salad.
• It’s OK to date broke.
• Dudes still copy and paste. Stop that, dudes. Or use an Excel spreadsheet.
• BuzzFeed is still adept at digging up incredibly obvious data, and presenting it in a way that feels vaguely offensive.
• Match still conducts strange data surveys that don’t really tell us anything.
• I must admit, E Jean from ELLE doing some kind of matchmaking/online dating venture does fascinate me.
• Don’t worry, gay men make online dating flubs too.
• I have to admit, Ryan Gosling does improve the average OKcupid profile. Yes, including my own. Seriously, try it in search results! Aaaah, that’s nice.
• I was on QUIT again; the episode will be live here in a few hours.