Online Dating Newsletter
Volume 2, Number 13 - June 22, 2005
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Table of Contents
1. From the Editor
2. Creative Date Ideas: Get Crafty With Your Date
3. Online Dating Tips: Say Thanks with an eCard
4. Relationship Tips: Take a Time Out
5. Relationship Quote of the Week
6. Inspirational Quote of the Week
7. Romantic Ideas: Visualize a Romantic Surprise
8. News: ABC Produces Hooking Up Online Dating Documentary
9. Feature Link: Reader Review of eHarmony
10. Online Dating Newsletter Updates

From the Editor

This week True announced a new service. With the click of one button it will send out 20 "winks" to people compatible with you or vice versa. That's right - True has come up with a way to truly depersonalize the online dating experience. Imagine receiving a dozen more winks a month from people who may have never viewed your profile and may not have a genuine interest in you. You could end up spending hours writing "thank you for the wink" emails and never getting a response.

Winks, smiles, and flirts have always been a great way to let someone know you were interested in them after reading their profile. Now, True has found a way to turn it into "virtual spam". But really, that shouldn't surprise anyone. True started off as a great online dating service that has been drastically going downhill this year. They claim to promote a safe dating experience while using provocative ads to advertise their service. They even make the user experience more unfriendly by forcing you to call them on the phone to cancel your account. It seems that every week True is doing something new to alienate another segment of their user base. And that's truly sad for a service that once held out hope of being a quality option.

Online Dating Services should work on making the experience more "real" and more "personal". Creating new "spamming" methods does nothing for the innovation or evolution on the online dating industry.

Keep your user experiences personal,

Joe Tracy, editor
Online Dating Newsletter

P.S. Due to vacation time, there will be no issue of the Online Dating Newsletter for the next two weeks. We look forward to getting you the next issue on July 13 and hope that you are having an enjoyable summer.

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Creative Date Ideas: Get Crafty With Your Date
Some shops, in local malls, allow you to not only purchase things like glazed pots, painted glasses, and other craft items, but also allow you to be part of the creation process. Take your date to one of these shops (pottery, candles, stuffed animals) and get creative together. For example, take your date to a shop where you can paint and glaze your own ceramic pots or sculptures. You will have fun picking out which item to decorate and which colors to use. When finished, exchange items with each other as gifts. Your ceramic gift will always remind you of your fun and creative date together. (SOURCE: Online Dating Newsletter - www.onlinedatingnewsletter.com)

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Online Dating Tips: Say Thanks With An eCard
If you enjoyed your first date with someone you met online, it's perfectly appropriate, the day after the date, to send a quick and simple ecard that expresses a thank you. If you're a traditional woman, this also sends a message that you're open to a second date if one wasn't immediately planned after the first.

First, find a creative "thank you" card from one of several places like:

www.hallmark.com
www.sugarqube.com
www.americangreetings.com

Once you find a thank you card you like, be sure to include a very short personal message such as, "I enjoyed meeting you. Thanks for the date" or "I had fun on our date. Thank you." Sending an ecard after a first date you enjoyed is a nice gesture and a non-invasive way of showing an openness to future dates. (SOURCE: Online Dating Newsletter - www.onlinedatingnewsletter.com)

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Relationship Tips: Take a Time Out
When small children act up and get out of control, a common way to get them back under control is to place them in "time out". During time out, children usually have to go to another room and sit by themselves until they have calmed down. It can be an effective way to get a child thinking more rationally and acting calmer. While time out is a good parenting tip, it may serve as an excellent relationship tip, too.

If you and your partner have a tendency to blow up at each other during arguments, a time out may be just the thing to get you both thinking straight again. Often times during heated arguments, a person (or both people) get overly upset and start fighting over irrational things. The argument can quickly spiral out of control into a major fight. If this becomes the scenario, a good way to get back on track is to stop for a minute or two and not say anything. Just think about what the real issue is and what the best approach would be to effectively solving that issue rather than trying to yell over the other person to defend yourself. It may be a good idea to go into separate rooms during the "time out" so that you can think with a clear head. Once you reconvene in the same room again you will most likely be a bit calmer and ready to discuss the issues rationally. And, who knows, you may come back wondering what all the fuss was about in the first place. (SOURCE: Online Dating Newsletter - www.onlinedatingnewsletter.com)

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Relationship Quote of the Week
"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same." - Flavia Weedn

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Inspirational Quote of the Week
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." - Alan Kay

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Romantic Ideas: Visualize a Romantic Surprise
When walking past shops or through a mall with your significant other, make note of any comments he or she makes about items you see in the store. If your partner really likes something you see in a store, and it is within your budget, go back to that store when you are alone and buy that item for your partner. It will be a romantic surprise and another way to show that you listen to them. (SOURCE: Online Dating Newsletter - www.onlinedatingnewsletter.com)

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News: ABC Produces Hooking Up Online Dating Documentary
(June 22, 2005 - onlinedatingnewsletter.com) Once stigmatized as the last resort of desperate souls and lonely hearts, today Online Dating services are a billion-dollar industry used by an estimated 40 million Americans. ABC is looking to cash in on some of the popularity of online dating by presenting a new five-part documentary series about online dating titled "Hooking Up". "Hooking Up" is described by ABC as "an intimate look at the sometimes bewildering, often hilarious, and occasionally frightening world of online dating." "Hooking Up" specifically focuses on the online dating experiences of 12 Manhattan women, documenting their connections, rejections, and dating disasters. The hour-long show premier is Thursday, July 14 at 9:00 pm ET on the ABC Television Network.

The women in "Hooking Up" range in age from 25 to 38 and include a gynecologist, a hair stylist, a yoga instructor, a realtor and an opera-singer. In the documentary series they discuss the ticking of their biological clocks and the difficulty of finding the perfect man in a city full of competition. While all feel the odds are stacked against them, each goes into online dating with her own dating strategy. Lisa, the doctor, initially conceals her name and occupation from potential suitors, because, she says, "if they know you're a doctor... they'll bring the engagement ring to the first date." Amy, the real estate broker, doesn't hesitate to tell dates that she is looking for a husband and the eventual father of her children. Reisha, a technology consultant, is determined that the next man she kisses will be the one she weds.

Several different date adventures are documented. Here's an example: After a sumptuous dinner, Sonja, owner of a health food store, discovers that her charming date refuses to keep his hands to himself once they reach his lavishly appointed penthouse. Another example: When Cynthia, the hair stylist, realizes her date has misled her about his appearance, she bails out on dinner before the main course arrives. "Hooking Up" will document online dating through the entire process, from the first online "wink" to meeting prospective in-laws.

Terence Wrong is producer and executive producer of "Hooking Up." Brad Hebert and Bryan Taylor are co-producers. Rudy Bednar is the senior executive producer and Phyllis McGrady is the executive-in-charge.

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Feature Link: Reader Review of eHarmony
Another Online Dating Magazine reader has provided his input about online dating service eHarmony. Find out why he says, "The one other problem that has been discussed here before is the lack of any type of physical requirements. Now, I'm not a shallow man and I have dated larger women and would do so again. I am; however, simply not physically attracted to women when they reach a certain body type."

For the full review, click here.

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Online Dating Newsletter Updates
A new "Clicking Together" cartoon, number 19 in our 20-week series, has been uploaded to the Online Dating Newsletter Website. Click here to view it.

A new joke has been added to the Online Dating Newsletter Dating Fun Zone. Click here to view the new Dating Jokes section.

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Editor: Joe Tracy (jtracy@onlinedatingmagazine.com)
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