August 14, 2012 | Online

Old, abandoned dating profiles here to stay

There is nothing worse than joining a dating site and finding a few men of interest, only to discover that they last logged onto the site over a year ago. Bummer!

It seems enough people were angry about experiencing just that on match.com that they launched a class action lawsuit against the popular dating site. The site is primarily designed for heterosexuals, but it does provide ads for people looking for same-sex relationships.

The plaintiffs alleged that as many as 60 percent of user accounts were either fake or inactive, and that the company did nothing to remove them.

"The reason Match.com does not take any serious measures to rid its site of inactive, fake, or fraudulent profiles and, in fact, takes steps to ensure such profiles remain on the site, is because Match.com expressly and publicly relies on the artificially inflated number of profiles to demonstrate that it is a growth company, gain prospective subscribers and their payment for joining the site, and retain paying subscribers," the suit said.

However, U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay did not agree. On Friday he dismissed the suit, saying that  Match.com had not breached its user agreement, as there was never a promise that dormant or inaccurate profiles would be removed.

He wrote: "Language such as 'you are solely responsible,' cannot be read to mean that Match.com accepted responsibility for the authenticity of members’ information posted on its website. Moreover, Match.com disclaims any such liability relating to the truthfulness of members’ information several times throughout the agreement."

The judge has given the plaintiffs until the end of August to buttress the second part of their suit, which claims match.com is guilty of deceptive trade practices used to lure people in by promising a huge selection of singles.

Luckily gay men have alternatives, such as sites like ManHunt, smart phone apps like Grindr and Mister, and free sites like Craigslist. 

Suit Tossed Over Inactive, Fake Profiles on Dating Site [XBiz]