Match.com to screen for sex offenders

When a friend tells you that there are plenty of fish in the sea, they don’t normally mention the sharks. That was a policy followed by the world’s number one dating site myedate.com, Match.com, until now. KitGuru takes a peak over the blind date wall to see what really lurks on the other side.

When an entertainment industry executive named Carole Markin, signed up on Match.com she assumed that the matchmaking site would carry out some basic tests on applicants. However, after she was assaulted, Markin did some investigating and found that almost no checks whatsoever were being performed. That lack of basic screening has been listed in the lawsuit she has just filed against the dating giant.

The whole thing raises a lot of questions.

If someone is an aggressor, but has never been caught – surely you can’t screen for that. Is a dating experience in real life any different from online?  For example is your bunny more or less likely to get boiled if you meet someone in a library, chat room or through a dating service?

In the past, Match.com’s president, Mandy Ginsberg, had ruled out screenings because they were “historical unreliability”.

What is certain in the light of this lawsuit, is that Match.com’s policy of ‘not checking for anything’ isn’t really good enough for themselves or anyone else. The company has already agreed to check its database (and new applicants?) against any available registers of sex offenders and the like, as well as databases for other convicts – where available.

In a surprise move, the lady in question has agreed to drop her suit and all charges against Match.com if it does increase security. This is key to KitGuru, because it means that the plaintive clearly wants to improve the world and not her pocket. Well played madam.

Overall, the advice being given by Match.com’s Ginsberg is that first dates should be in a public place and you should stay sober [Does that mean all of KitGuru’s early experiences of drunken dates in dark alleys with a half empty bottle of gin will be a thing of the past? – Ed].

KitGuru says: In the modern, inter-connected world it should be straightforward for people to broadcast dates in near-real-time so no predator ever feels that they have ‘singled out the weak one at the back’. As the hot summer nights make a come back, we suggest you all play it safe and use your smartphones to good effect. A few kick boxing lessons would probably come in handy as well.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forum.

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