The dating industry just keeps chugging along. When I presented at iDate2004 in Nice, France this last July, it was the first time that I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with a large group of dating industry types. It was excellent to meet so many Online Dating service vendors face to face. They were a great group of folks. Some sharp and witty, others very buttoned-down and conservative, and a wide variety of personalities and demeanors in between. But all bright, and very concerned about the safety of their clients.

Today I am reading an article by John Ewoldt for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Ewoldt is talking about 43 'date shopping' days til Christmas. Yikes.

And, in a cautionary 'buyer beware' tone, he points his good readers to two reputation tracking systems—Complaints.com and the Ripoffreport.com to either check in on what others think of a Matchmaking enterprise you are considering, or to register a complaint or warning of your own.

Thanks for the tip John. Then there's always the Online Dating Magazine.