PoF prohibits contacts of over 14 years of age difference

[Kokopelli]

If your sister is physically located in Moscow, then I am surprised how could she access the PoF at all. The site has a feature allowing the members to report Nigerian or Russian (!) scam  .

No. 
The woman I am interested in lives in Moscow.
Sis is in Michigan.
On POF I got a letter from a woman China. I didn't know it was international.
Better look at that search function.
Oooh, Romanian women. 
The Nigerian scammers are just hilarious.

[Voyager36]

That will depend on the laws of where POF's servers are located.  I suspect POF is based in BC.  BC's human rights legislation has exceptions, and I have little doubt the site would have obtained a legal opinion before making any changes.

Perhaps, or he may just have decided to do it anyways unless and until a complaint is filed.
Both Canadian & BC human rights prohibit discrimination based on age, race, religion etc in both government and private businesses, so he is on shaky ground, not to mention that these commissions have some reputation for pushing the bounds of their authority.


He might ask for an exemption, but considering that users already have the ability to set the age parameters as they wish, it might be tough to justify this as anything other than discrimination based on his own personal beliefs.

2. You can only contact people +/- 14 years of your age. There is no reason for a 50 year old man to contact a 18 year old women. The majority of messages sent outside those age ranges are all about hookups. Anyone who tries to get around this rule will get deleted.

 
Well, there goes that sick fantasy.
Let the howling begin!
 
GOB

Rather disingenuous then to cite a 32 yr age difference to justify a ban on 14+ yr age differences isn't it?
Why doesn't he state that a 55 yr old man has no business contacting a 40 yr old woman?


Regardless of whether you or I think it's appropriate, it is nonetheless imposing the owner's own personal moral beliefs on adults who are considered to be responsible for themselves.

You know something. Its his site. He owns it. Its not some government agency that has to be politically correct. So... I think he can do whatever he damn well pleases. The man has some balls. Good for him.

I'd really be surprised if US law would permit the owner of a business to "do as he damn pleases" just because "he owns it".


I had a long discussion with a Russian friend, who insisted that he had the right to refuse applications for his rental suite from certain ethnic groups, because "he owns it". He was surprised to find that Canadian law could prohibit him from refusing service to anyone even in his "own place"

[facetrock]

 Voyager. Actually in this instance he can do it. Now if he was to say no one with physical disabilities could join or certain races couldn't join your right. Big trouble. He's not denying entrance to anyone.. He's just not letting old guys contact 21 year old poon tang. I've seen other sites limit what age range your looking for in your profile. They base it on your age.  A company the size of POF wont just decide to do this for the hell of it. I would bet anything they got a legal opinion before hand.

  His biggest asset is the women. Many sites let the women on for free. Some might call that discrimination but its a common practice with most dating sites. The men shoulder the cost.

 Even with the ability to limit the age of people contacting you some women wont do it and get a nasty letter from some old guy, file a complaint then quit the site. Exactly what he doesn't want. If you have thousands of women online men will follow even with a simple rule like that.

[BillyB]

Voyager. Actually in this instance he can do it. Now if he was to say no one with physical disabilities could join or certain races couldn't join your right. Big trouble. He's not denying entrance to anyone.. He's just not letting old guys contact 21 year old poon tang.

I have to agree with Voyager on this one. He made good valid points.


What if the owner of PoF allowed minorities and those with disabilities to participate on his site but don't allow them to contact people too far outside their league?


You once was attached to a RW with around a 20 yo age gap. What if you wanted to go rent an apartment, eat at a restaurant, or go to the cinema and you weren't allowed to enjoy the freedoms of everyone else because the owners of those establishments did not agree to the age difference in your relationship? It's their right to refuse you service over an age issue? Would limiting your service at those establishments make it right or make you feel any better?


Chances are few, if any, somebody will file legal action against PoF over these new rules but if the owner's moral beliefs were that nobody with more than 4 years age difference could contact each other and it infringed on rights of the majority, you could bet there would be legal action taken. It's possible by narrowing down the age gap considerably the majority of people at PoF can face age discrimination and that is wrong. As of now, the minority face age discrimination and although not a big issue to the majority, it's just as wrong.

[Boethius]

Voyager. Actually in this instance he can do it. Now if he was to say no one with physical disabilities could join or certain races couldn't join your right. Big trouble. He's not denying entrance to anyone.. He's just not letting old guys contact 21 year old poon tang. I've seen other sites limit what age range your looking for in your profile. They base it on your age.  A company the size of POF wont just decide to do this for the hell of it. I would bet anything they got a legal opinion before hand.

I agree, as I stated above.  I had a look at the relevant provision of the BC Human Rights Code:

http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/00_96210_01#section8


The case law could hold that an internet service is "customarily available to the public" even if it's a stretch, but POF has a reasonable justification, which is likely that its members have complained about being contacted for hook ups, as a free site, it relies on advertising income, and POF is ensuring its business model remains profitable.  I would hazard a guess there is a file full of such complaints to justify the position. 

[BillyB]

POF has a reasonable justification, which is likely that its members have complained about being contacted for hook ups, as a free site, it relies on advertising income, and POF is ensuring its business model remains profitable.  I would hazard a guess there is a file full of such complaints to justify the position. 

There are people here in this forum that doesn't like anyone in a relationship with a big age gap and they've registered their complaints in the open. Can RWD bar people in relationships with certain age gaps from participating to please those who are unhappy? If those who are unhappy are increasingly in the majority, does it make it more justified to ban large age gap members?


People said earlier there are age filters on the site that allow only those who meet the criteria to contact them. If a man or woman is open to more or less than a 14 year age gap, the owner should let the filter do it's work.


If the owner is trying to prevent illegal activity, then he should take action but he still has to abide by laws against discrimination. There are other ways of doing what he wants without age discrimination.


Even with new rules, the complaints will continue at PoF. People lie about height, weight, and age all the time and the lies about age will only increase. The problems will always be there. Men will have to deal with fake profiles and scammers and women will have to deal with getting propositioned for sex.

[IAmZon]

Not all "age gaps" are the same.

You take a man that is 40 - 60, and if he marries a woman that is 18 - 24, that will raise eyebrows.  If you take a man that is 40 - 60, and if he marries a woman that is 30 - 40, there is less hysteria.  It the woman has one, or two children, you will hear even less "outcry."  So, perhaps there is a large element of life experience (maybe even life baggage) that factors into these knee-jerk categorizations.

[cc3]

When my 28 year younger fiancee initiated contact with me, requesting opening up an exploratory virtual relationship, I should have imperiously denied her with the protest that there was too much age difference between us? I had been searching in the 10 to 15 year younger range when she first wrote to me. Furthermore, she was from Luhans'k, which I had always believed that I would never visit due to its remoteness and extreme russification.

Now, we are an supremely committed couple, and, due to my airline travel benefits, I have the freedom to visit her often (7 trips, 130 days stay in the last 13 months). I only need to divest myself of my real estate in Colorado in order to make the permanent move to be with her in Ukraine as she completes her university studies.

[CaptB]

I am trying to figure why the guy settled on "14". I can understand 10 years.......12....as in "a dozen" maybe....or a nice round number like 15 years...but why "14"? If he is married......maybe this is his "age difference" which determined the limit ? Just curious.




Capt B




A Yooper in Moscovia