Are personal ads and dating sites all bogus?

[gonzo]

Sex Baiting Prank on Craigslist Affects Hundreds

Recently, a blogger named Simon Owens ran a social experiment on Craigslist. He wandered into the "Casual Encounters (http://seattle.craigslist.org/cgi-bin/personals.cgi?category=cas&SAB=)" section of the personal ads where countless men and women were soliticing for no-strings-attached sex and wondered, Is it really that easy? As a test, he composed several ads with different permutations of assumed identity and sexual orientation: straight/bi men/women looking for the opposite/same sex. He then posted it to New York, Chicago, and Houston, and tallied the results (http://bloggasm.com/you-chances-of-getting-laid-through-craigslist-a-bloggasm-case-study).

Overwhelmingly and instantly, the ads from the fake women looking for male partners were inundated with responses, sometimes several per minute. All the other ads received lukewarm responses, at best. These results weren't surprising, but some of the observations were... Many of these men used their real names and included personally identifiable information, including work email addresses and home phone numbers. Several admitted they were married and cheating on their spouses. Many included photos, often nude.

His first conclusion was very reasonable: "If a really malicious person wanted to get on craigslist and ruin a lot of people's lives, he easily could."


Jason Fortuny's Craigslist Experiment

On Monday, a Seattle web developer named Jason Fortuny (http://rfjason.livejournal.com/) started his own Craigslist experiment. The goal: "Posing as a submissive woman looking for an aggressive dom, how many responses can we get in 24 hours?"

He took the text and photo from a sexually explicit ad (http://rfjason.livejournal.com/410835.html) (warning: not safe for work) in another area, reposted it to Craigslist Seattle, and waited for the responses to roll in. Like Simon's experiment, the response was immediate. He wrote, "178 responses, with 145 photos of men in various states of undress. Responses include full e-mail addresses (both personal and business addresses), names, and in some cases IM screen names and telephone numbers."

story continues here... (http://www.waxy.org/archive/2006/09/08/sex_bait.shtml)

[CuriousToyBoy]

Many ARE bogus, and many DO use "bait and switch" and fake profiles.

I can tell you that databases at our dating sites at LionDollars (http://www.liondollars.com/_f82ca3c53af8d0bd743f206c4cd59fa5/), AND our soon to be released Escort Directory sites are bloody real.

They were commissioned as same (and heavily tested) and they bloody well cost enough because of it.

MANY cut corners because, from market experience, bullshit databases cost about 1/20th that of real ones.

Oh, and funnily enough, fake databases equals MUCHO chargebacks.

IMHO, ANYONE using fake databases is just in for the wuick buck, because there is NO longevity at all.

REAL sites, with REAL databases retain incredibly.

:waving:

[gonzo]

Many ARE bogus, and many DO use "bait and switch" and fake profiles.

I can tell you that databases at our dating sites at LionDollars (http://www.liondollars.com/_f82ca3c53af8d0bd743f206c4cd59fa5/), AND our soon to be released Escort Directory sites are bloody real.

They were commissioned as same (and heavily tested) and they bloody well cost enough because of it.

MANY cut corners because, from market experience, bullshit databases cost about 1/20th that of real ones.

Oh, and funnily enough, fake databases equals MUCHO chargebacks.

IMHO, ANYONE using fake databases is just in for the wuick buck, because there is NO longevity at all.

REAL sites, with REAL databases retain incredibly.

:waving:

This is the type of dialog I had hoped this would start.
Maybe someone from Pussycash or adultdatelink and drop in here and give us the 411.

I know personally that the ads on Swappernet have always been accurate and actually checked for vailidity for years.

On the otherhand I know of one LEGENDARY cam and personals site that has been known to have the system filled with bogus ads and pictures. Of course they have problems with burping databases too.

[Im still waiting for the guy to get back from lunch over 6 months later to explain to me what happened with my traffic that was switched BTW.]

[Toby]

I'm sure you've seen the geo-targeted ads for a large "legenday" web site. On one such ad recently I see a poor quality photo of pornstar Chelsea Zinn amongst the five lovely ladies that are supposedly now online from my area. Yeah right, I'm gonna hook up with Chelsea Zinn on their web site. Give me a fuckin break!

[Hammer]

Funny that you mentioned the legendary one Gonzo, because I was thinking the same thing.

I think most are legit and like Lindsay said, if they aren't they're in it for the quick bucks. Webmasters would be smart to promote the legit ones though.

[pam]

I'm writing an eBook about online dating and find most of the men who respond to ads are married and most of the women placing ads are escorts. Our local police busted 12 people in Operation Friend Finder recently .... girls meeting guys but having a guy with them who would rob the john.

I've perused AFF and seen photos from my own websites being used in ads but fortunately their legal department is fast to pull those images. I see tons of images of gay porn stars in the male ads.

Too many guys have told me that all the women on AFF are escorts, and while I know many are real, I think more aren't.

[JoesHO]

I have a plan LOL :waving:

[JR]

This is the type of dialog I had hoped this would start.
Maybe someone from Pussycash or adultdatelink and drop in here and give us the 411.

I know personally that the ads on Swappernet have always been accurate and actually checked for vailidity for years.

On the otherhand I know of one LEGENDARY cam and personals site that has been known to have the system filled with bogus ads and pictures. Of course they have problems with burping databases too.

[Im still waiting for the guy to get back from lunch over 6 months later to explain to me what happened with my traffic that was switched BTW.]

Sex Search is mostly BS i would guess.

i was looking at their affiliate program... wanted to walk through the registration process, see what users see etc. i created a profile like they make you do to see more. i uploaded no pic and put text like "just looking at the system... test test test test.... test test test" etc.

i did not think the profile would be live until it was approved.. i thought i would enter crap, look around and they would review the profile and delete it, but that wasn't the case.

next thing i know, i am getting 1-2 people "interested in me" every day to the e-mail i used to register. i go to check the inbox in their site that won't let you reply unless you pay and there were messages coming in everyday "hi, i saw your profile, i am very interested in getting to know you....."

i didn't object to this to an extent. i mean, i could forgive baiting people once a month in some way shape or form to get them to come back. but they were doing it daily. in the following days, it quickly went from what i percieved to be "forgivable spam" to "holy shit, this has to be illegal!"

[gonzo]

Sex Search is mostly BS i would guess.

i was looking at their affiliate program... wanted to walk through the registration process, see what users see etc. i created a profile like they make you do to see more. i uploaded no pic and put text like "just looking at the system... test test test test.... test test test" etc.

i did not think the profile would be live until it was approved.. i thought i would enter crap, look around and they would review the profile and delete it, but that wasn't the case.

next thing i know, i am getting 1-2 people "interested in me" every day to the e-mail i used to register. i go to check the inbox in their site that won't let you reply unless you pay and there were messages coming in everyday "hi, i saw your profile, i am very interested in getting to know you....."

i didn't object to this to an extent. i mean, i could forgive baiting people once a month in some way shape or form to get them to come back. but they were doing it daily. in the following days, it quickly went from what i percieved to be "forgivable spam" to "holy shit, this has to be illegal!"
Excellent point.
Did you ever get emails for special offers or pharma etc?

Some friends of mine were being pitched here locally by a stock scammer turned spammer. He was sniffing around for what ever he could work his way into.

At the time they didnt have a website. He told them that the money wasnt in the membership for the dating site he had but actually a perfectly prequalified and demographically completed profile was what he sold to mailers that either spammed via PMs in his system or direct to their email addresses.

PMs are exempt from any can spam regulations etc.

Of course I havent seen him at the last few shows trying to weasel his way in as a player.

Note to AVNOnline.... you should screen your panelists more carefully. After he spoke on a couple of Internext panels he was passing himself off as an expert.

An expert that couldnt even pay his hosting bill which we kicled out of the data center at the end of 60 days.

[Top_Of_Google_Man]

I have seen porn models on the front page of a huge personals site.

[Hipchick]

Some are bogus..some are not..I met my main squeeze on a dating site..One of the next sites we venture into will be probably be a dating site..


http://www.oprano.com/banners/rayguhn/728x90_2.gif (http://www.rayguhndefensefund.com/)

[woodysm]

This is the type of dialog I had hoped this would start.
Maybe someone from Pussycash or adultdatelink and drop in here and give us the 411.

I know personally that the ads on Swappernet have always been accurate and actually checked for vailidity for years.

On the otherhand I know of one LEGENDARY cam and personals site that has been known to have the system filled with bogus ads and pictures. Of course they have problems with burping databases too.

[Im still waiting for the guy to get back from lunch over 6 months later to explain to me what happened with my traffic that was switched BTW.]

I can say that I know for a fact that ALL the profiles on Swappernet when I was working there were thoroughly screened to make sure that these were REAL people with REAL ads. I know that if we caught a profile that was not real or was spamming other members that we would close their account down.

[Dianna Vesta]

I think it depends on which sites you go to. many of the lifestyle sites that have been around are good. I think a lot of the cookie cutter dating sites are bogus and anyone who has run personal ad sites or phone dating knows you have to seed the system which means bogus ads.

Dianna