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  Posted by Longdrive at 01/01/13 10:57:27

  montechristo5000, I sincerely wish you well with your venture. Unfortunately over the last 15 years or so dating sites have proliferated and, in many cases, their standards of professionalism fallen through the floor. Even to the extent that they can be dangerous places to visit. Let me set out a typical set of problems encountered when dealing with these sites, and I only speak generally:-
  (1) They start taking subs. immediately. So one joins and then discovers only a dozen other members exist, the closest being located two countries distant. I respectfully suggest that subs. should be free for each country until several hundred alternative dates can be offered there.
  (2) Data protection is non-existant. So for example one joins a vegan dating site only to find, often within minutes of joining, that one is also a member of a sister instant sex dating site. You only discover this when you find your e-m inbox stuffed full of naked Mary Janes guaranteeing you their pleasures the very same evening.
  (3) You take a peek at someone's profile. The site owner sees this and immediately e-mails the other party advising that their particulars are being examined and by who.
  (4) You decide to shortlist a member in your 'private' shortlist box only to find that not only has the other party been notified, but also your observations about them passed on word for word.
  (5) You are offered a free trial of say five days for ten bucks. Unfortunately however somewhere in the site's small print lies a clause to the effect that 'recurring billing occurs.' So after the five days have elapsed $50. a month is then taken from your account and the site owner goes missing when one asks for the theiving to stop.
  The problems are legion and I could easily set out a further dozen or so routine malpractices. If your site is different then let me congratulate you. Your site will be a rose amidst many thorns. I hope so.
  

  
  
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  Posted by eric at 01/01/13 17:43:23

  Anyone interested in veg dating sites... keep your eyes on http://www.veggiedate.org . A friend just bought this and plans great improvements. Although the site has been around forever and seems old school, I know more people that have met there than any other website.

  
  
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  Posted by Longdrive at 01/02/13 04:09:47

  Thanks Eric, I have e-mailed the site inviting the owner to comment how the site is being operated. I have drawn his attention to this thread and if we are lucky he may well post a reply. My major concern is 'recurring billing' which occurs on most other sites. With your readers' indulgence I will spell this out in a little more detail: Most sites open with the arguably misleading come on 'register for free.' So one then registers and usually one is provided with limited access to members' profiles. Wonderful, really free so far. The first payment kicks in if either (a) You wish to send an internal message to another member, or (b) You choose to reply to someone's message sent to you. (One cannot include an e-m address in one's profile). Fair enough, the site owner has to make a living. One pays by either credit card or Paypal so from that point on your financial details are on their file. Somewhere on the dating date will be a link to 'Our terms and conditions.' Often this is deliberately set up so as not to open. (If one asks for these - "Sorry, but we have a temporary fault with our site.") Otherwise if they do open one finds - usually very close to the bottom of the lengthy conditions - a 'recurring billing' reservation. One would expect another invoice close to the expiry of one's membership term, otherwise expect the ad. to lapse. But that is not how it works at all. Such is not an invitation to renew in any shape or form. What it means is a relatively new despicable practice which has arisen in the finance industry: The money is automatically taken out of one's account and the payer is notified after the event without any prior warning. Few of us remember to diarise when our membership expires, we may have found someone, or be away. "Ah," the site owner replies "You should have cancelled your membership before the first term expired." You reply that you did - by their internal messaging system their being no e-m address or street address provided. "Sorry but we never received this. Are you sure that you sent it?" Hence my acute trepidation to deal with the dating/ friendship industry. When I last dealt with it - the best part of twenty years ago - there were two U.K. organisations which administered their affairs with honesty and dignity - 'Natural Friends' and 'Vegetarian Matchmakers.' Maybe I will check if they now offer membership of less than a year and whether they still operate as Eric says 'old school.'

  
  
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  Posted by Dave VeggieDate at 01/02/13 09:56:47

  Hello everyone. I'd like to wish you all a happy, healthy, compassionate and prosperous 2013. I am Dave Rubin and the company I own is the new owner (as of Sept. 2012) of VeggieDate.org. Thank you Eric for mentioning VeggieDate and thank you Longdrive for inviting me into this conversation. I made the decision to acquire VeggieDate because I believe it is the premier vegetarian dating site in the world. VeggieDate.org is the biggest and I believe the longest running Vegetarian dating site. Even though it is the biggest, it is still pretty small compared to the number of vegetarians in the world and my priority right now is to build the size of our data base. Right now about 350 new member profiles from around the world are approved each month and I intend to take steps to ensure that number will grow significantly in the coming months. The top 3 countries in terms of membership size are the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Members from the United States form the majority of our database. It is free to join, search other profiles, view profile details of other members, send winks, read messages sent to you, and respond to messages sent to you. There is no need to provide a credit card or pay unless you want to initiate contact (other than a wink) with a member who has not yet sent you a message. Paid members can also upload more photos compared to non-paying members. Our membership rates are extremely low. The rates will increase soon, but will remain extremely low (our new annual rate will be less than $45 which is less than $4 per month). Members can currently get a 3 month, 6 month or annual membership. We will add a monthly option shortly. We do not currently offer recurring billing. We will soon implement recurring billing as an option. As long as I own and control the site our members will have the option to choose non-recurring billing. We will continue to be very upfront, direct, honest and respectful of choice. Our database is entirely our own and does not connect with any outside database. I should add that we run buddhistsingle.org and adventistsingle.org which is part of the VeggieDate database. We do not currently have functionality that allows a member to see which other members have viewed them, though we are getting requests for that functionality. I intend to offer that in the future however, members will have the option to view other profiles anonymously. It is my perspective that the previous owner of the site operated the site in an ethical way. When Eric refers to "old school" I do not believe he is referring the practices you mention Longdrive and I think you will find that VeggieDate has a good reputation. I suspect that Eric is referring to how the site has not kept up with the times and can use a facelift, added functionality and an influx of new members (which is already starting to happen). I intend to implement all of that over time and the highest priorities for 2013 is to grow our database and to create a greater sense of community and connection for our members. I also wish to do what I can to empower our non-vegan members to choose a vegan diet. Our site is not only for dating. It is also for meeting friends/activity partners. I invite everyone reading this post to give us a try (and if you would like a paid membership, enjoy our extra super low rates while they last).

  
  
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  Posted by Longdrive at 01/02/13 10:07:06

  Dave: Thanks for you immediate and comprehensive response. As you appear to be sincere, genuine and open I have applied for membership with your organisation and await your decision. I personally believe that it is healthy to air what is happening out there and to give the good guys a chance to reply and hopefully move to the top of the pile. Your prices are almost certainly the best in the business and I wish you every success. Sincerely, Longdrive

  
  
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  Posted by Dave VeggieDate at 01/02/13 10:39:15

  Thank you Longdrive.