Classmates.com lawsuit could affect dating sites
 

http://www.wired.com/politics/law/ne.../11/classmates

When he found out real people were not looking for him online after upgrading he is now suing. Could this set a precident for some of the shady activity in dating sites?

The consumer in me is happy about this, but the affiliate marketer in me is disappointed.

the f-word is always bad

damn, and I just thought I was just really popular. :1orglaugh

I will never sign up that site since it is a scam. It always tells you that you have all of these visitors and to find out who they are, you have to sign up. If they can not figure out how to reach me, then let them wait a few more years.

I can tell you that classmates dot com emails me quite regularly telling me "someone you know is trying to contact you" with upgrade links to see who it was. Quite blatant bullshit and I gotta tell ya, I've been wondering if and when they'd pop up in the news.. and.. ba-zing. Sho nuff.

fuck, this assholes pulled the same shut on me.

fucking cunts :321GFY

?? what ..?? that's why I joined .. CM ...FB ..MS and even GFY .. I want my money back as well

A win for the plaintiff in that case could have implications for many more in this industry, not just the dating sites. It all depends on the actual wording of the ruling.

If they are too stupid to use Facebook, then they don't need to contact me at all.

It is a deceptive practice.
How many millions does that site make? Does it really need to be dishonest to make more or is there a chance it could still be profitable while being honest?

:1orglaugh :thumbsup

Well since the blow up of Facebook more so then myspace I think it has become far less used. Not to mention paying for the service blows as it does not even have as many features or users as facebook.

Damage you have a good point. I read this and thought of the fake winks and nudges of dating sites but it may affect a wider demographic then that.

You watch, this'll turn into a class action.

I hope they do. Scammers like that fuck up the market for the real and honest sites. I hope they run them in the the ground and keep jumping on them as soon as they stick their fugly head out again.

No chance in hell. Would you pay $15 to have access to a site where you don't really have much of a chance of getting in touch with someone you know, when there's a much bigger chance of doing just that for free via facebook or myspace?

Exactly. You'd have to be a moron to pay for classmates at this point on the net.

Reading the reference to Bonzi made me realize that most sponsors using the IM pop-up window ads may risk coming under fire already. Of course, since they did settle it doesn't set a legal precedent, but that won't keep some litigation-happy bozo from coming after them. In fact, that's exactly what I'd do if I were a litigation-happy bozo.

It may end up setting a precedent that would force those "girls in your area" ads to actually contain "girls in your area"

Or simply remove the pics and/or expand "your area" to include neighbouring countries. :1orglaugh

Wow, class action time?

woof woof

I signed up a long time ago for the free stuff, but they keep enticing me about long lost friends trying to get in touch. I lived in the same city for 40 yrs and I'm in the phone book , so those friends can look me up, if they really want to find me ;)

If they sent him mail or notices saying that X was looking for him, and the only way to talk with them on the site was to upgrade, and it turned out to be a lie then they should pay.

My friend's younger brother joined a site called "Horny Matches" and he was telling us about all these chicks he was talking to. Their profiles all said they lived within 10 miles of him, but he'd never heard the name of most of the towns/cities they listed. And when he tried to question them about the exact area they were in, he said they'd ignore his questions or give weird answers.

He was doing this on a daily basis for over two months. I almost hated to tell him he was talking to some third-world beggar who'd never even been to the US, and almost certainly had a penis. He was pissed. :1orglaugh

Ive always thought that about Fling, AFF or other dating sites. Who the hell would pay for it when you have myspace, facebook and countless other social networking sites? But for some reason they still do.

I often wondered when dating websites will get hit for using fake profiles.

dating sites are parasites to the adult industry.
-they make money from adult traffic
-they bring nothing to the table
-they rip off the members with delusions of meeting someone to fuck in "your city here"
-they make fake profiles
-yadda yadda yadda
not sure why the industry lets these scumbags skate off with money that is ours.

name me one thing dating sites bring to the table?

The catch is the wording of the emails. I looked to see if I'd saved one, but nope they all got deleted darn the luck.
They dont say someone MAY be trying to contact you.. they say they ARE trying to contact you.. that little "may" could be millions $$ now. Very poor choice they made, regardless of if classmates themselves were being lied to (which they claim as some pseudo "defense") or not.

I see a whole different content biz coming then, going door to door asking for a 2257 doc and a mugshot, cause - as anyone else - Raven lives next door if I believe those sites

Wasn't match dot com caught for going as far as setting up fake dates with people then sending staff to follow through? If you do a search you will find the story.

Yeah.... the clear potential for slam-dunk false advertising claims aimed at dating and adult sites is something that I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop on for some time now.

I get the emails too - "X" amount of people have checked your profile in the past month, etc etc. Whatever.

I signed up once, looked around, great fine dandy. Set my profile and in the bio section included instructions on how to email getting around their censors. Every now and then I get an email from someone on classmates.com. However, if I haven't been in touch with you in the past twenty years chances are I don't give a fuck about you anyhow.

And it's not like you can't just plug my name into a search engine or look me up on Myspace.

yes you are right

So wait, Carli Banks doesn't live in Schaumburg, Illinois and is so desperate to find men to fuck her she's joined an adult dating site?????

http://www.amateursconvert.com/pics/carli.jpg

good idea to bring that on the table

revenue streams for content theives

Interesting read. The question is, however, should any legal action occur in such a case, would they be able to use the user-submitted profile pictures loophole, like all of them have so far when they got called out for stealing content?

I was so disappointed to learn that my high school sweetheart wasn't looking for me... :(

Andrew and Lars will look like the biggest (or only) winners in paid dating in about a year.

Seriously, could you be that ignorant and stupid? Can you reply to this thread in a year so we can know what you are doing? It might be fun to see if you are still posting mindless responses or if you have finally faded away.

You mean that dating sites as well as adult sites will scam people?

Oh noz! What is the internets coming to?

really, honesty and ethics should start to make a comeback and the dishonesty that is taken for granted by many will hopefully come back to bite alot of these lowlifes

lying or deceiving to obtain money is wrong and fraudulent and it would be nice to see it catch up to some people finally :2 cents:

and they keep repeating it, making u feeling like you should sign up.. probably this guy felt the same and did so, then got fedup when he actually saw that none of those who ARE trying to contact him are people he knew.

I wonder if this will stop all the dating companies from saying Raven Riley wants to date me if I pay for an upgraded membership.
WG

When I met my sweetheart from the high school three years ago it ended up with a very wild outdoors story..

OLD news??

Wouldn't affect POF and free dating sites. Those sites got huge because they offer real dates. Takes a long while to get a critical mass on..... Unless you're willing to put on a black hat :winkwink:

POF founder says free sites will be dead in the coming years. the cost will just be to high.

agreed..