Friday, May 9, 2008

Trust is a fundamental principle

The public is looking for trustworthy representatives. Investors are looking for sounding projects being financed with their money trusted to get them something in return. Small research companies are trusted to make good use of founded money. Humans are looking for a partner in life entrusting all kinds of details into the hands of an online dating service. They all have one thing in common. Trust relies on mutual consent which is framed with rules, no matter if spoken out loud or silently agreed on. This is especially important for the internet with its vast array of new possibilities which don't come without a lot of potential problems. Therefore everyone who wants to get in touch with other people by using an online dating service would do well to first try and find something like a trust charter on their webpage. Several topics should be discussed in such a statement.

First of all a comment on the size of the administration team is a very interesting read. An online dating service only does a good job if it is either a very expansive service or one with a quite large customer base. In the first case, the number of customers is relatively low so is the number of employees. A handful very skilled and experienced people will search for a matching dating partner like a high class real estate broker will try to find the real estate that fits the ideas of his customer. For most people the second case is the most interesting. It is less expansive. But if it is a good service it has one hundred or more administration agents checking all the different profiles and activities on the dating website day by day. Further more the service should offer an easy to use reporting possibility in case of encountered misuse. A direct link to report a profile or bad language in a chat room helps keeping up the level and should be mentioned and placed prominently.

Another maybe self-evident principle is the protection of personal data. All of the entered data while filling up the personal profile must be kept in a protected environment. If a service is asking to use any of the data - be it phone numbers or email addresses - for transmitting on to third party contractors the dating service is instantly gambling with its reliability. Mostly, those services are more interested in gaining new address data they than can sell for profit cloaking it with a minor service that quickly shows its insufficiency. It must be at any given time the solely decision of the customer which data is given to whom.

Contact ban is an additional functionality most good online dating services are offering. It is a know fact that not always the wish for love on first sight comes true with the first attempt. Sometimes people develop a deeply anchored dislike after a while or simply do not want to get any closer or stay in contact at all. This is fine, as long as it is mutual. Unfortunately in some cases one of the two dating partners definitely wants to come back for more and keeps contacting the other person trying to talk her or him into closer contact losing all sense of manners. For those cases a ban functionality is undeniable.

Last but not least the authenticity of profiles within an online dating service should be guaranteed. Several authentification mechanisms are good indicators if the chosen service really means it or not. Spending an extra thought on that topic while creating the very own profile can help to judge if the website is trustworthy or not. An explicit statement that animation services, hostesses and similar are not allowed or used to create the illusion of a high profile customer base is mandatory. The same goes for the misuse of professionals, advertising for their services on dating platforms which is an absolute no go. With these very few and basic topics in mind online dating can be a great experience, a lot of fun and for some even the way to their true love. No matter if it is on first sight or not.