PoF prohibits contacts of over 14 years of age difference

[Lily]

Today I received an alert message from Markus, the PoF owner:
 
"My name is Markus and I created POF/Plentyoffish. When I created POF, I wanted it to be all about finding relationships with the right person. For the first 7 years this worked really well, I got the site to 10 million users without any employees people and POF was generating a ton of relationships. Around 3 years ago, everyone started using the website via mobile phones. Today about 70% of POF use is via a mobile phone and unfortunately about 2% of men started to use POF as more of a hookup site mostly due the the casual nature of cell phone use.

In sticking with my vision that POF is all about Relationships, I'm going to make a bunch of changes to ensure it stays a relationship-focused site.

1. Any first contact between users that contains sexual references will not be sent. Anyone who tries to get around this rule will be deleted without warning. This rule has actually been in effect since last month and it's made the site so much better.

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.

3. Intimate Encounters will go away in the next few months. There are 3.3 Million people who use the site every day, of those there are only 6,041 single women looking for Intimate Encounters. Of those 6,041 women, the ones with hot pictures are mostly men pretending to be women. Intimate Encounters on POF can be summed up as a bunch of horny men talking to a bunch of horny men pretending to be women.

In short the vast majority of people will not be impacted. This is because the vast majority of people are not going around spamming women saying "let's have sex tonight". I can't change POF alone, I need your help to get the word out there that POF is all about relationships!

Markus'

[ML]

What a 'spoil sport.'

[Voyager36]

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.

OMG, a 62 yr old guy might contact a 46 yr old woman!
What a pedophile!
Perhaps they should ban black men from contacting white women (obviously he's a pimp, what else could it be?)
Let's also ban mothers of illegitimate children, the mentally unstable & athiests from using the site. (somebody's gotta keep up the moral standards)
 
Better yet, how about make the women who sign up wear a chastity belt that can only be unlocked by a priest, to prevent these sordid extramarital hookups! 
 
(Somehow I see a lawsuit coming out of this)

[Gator]

3. Intimate Encounters will go away in the next few months. There are 3.3 Million people who use the site every day, of those there are only 6,041 single women looking for Intimate Encounters. Of those 6,041 women, the ones with hot pictures are mostly men pretending to be women. Intimate Encounters on POF can be summed up as a bunch of horny men talking to a bunch of horny men pretending to be women.

 
 
Good training to take a job as Hairy Yuri and scam men looking to marry RW.

[Shadow]

Question is, will he change his policy if earnings drop by 70%.

[Lily]

Question is, will he change his policy if earnings drop by 70%.

Good point. Will see what comes out of it.
 
So far they advertize everywhere. I see them all the way on youtube clips.

[Boethius]

OMG, a 62 yr old guy might contact a 46 yr old woman!
What a pedophile!
Perhaps they should ban black men from contacting white women (obviously he's a pimp, what else could it be?)
Let's also ban mothers of illegitimate children, the mentally unstable & athiests from using the site. (somebody's gotta keep up the moral standards)
 
Better yet, how about make the women who sign up wear a chastity belt that can only be unlocked by a priest, to prevent these sordid extramarital hookups! 
 
(Somehow I see a lawsuit coming out of this)

It's a free site, so the owner can establish whatever parameters he wishes.  He makes about $3.5 million a year in ad revenue, the site has been valued as high as $1 billion in the past so, I suspect, this is to ensure his membership is, overall, happy and his ad revenue remains stable.  He's probably received complaints from women contacted by unsuitable men.


I know two women who met their husbands (all Canadians) on POF.  Both women are very attractive, and I think had they been inundated with spam for hook ups, neither would have stayed on that site.   

[Larry1]

In sticking with my vision that POF is all about Relationships, I'm going to make a bunch of changes to ensure it stays a relationship-focused site.

1. Any first contact between users that contains sexual references will not be sent. Anyone who tries to get around this rule will be deleted without warning. This rule has actually been in effect since last month and it's made the site so much better.

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.
 

Unless Markus has developed a really good automated way of ferreting out these new offenses he will need to hire some individuals to read messages and punish the offenders.  Hmmm, I wonder where he might find such individuals with the proven skills and strong inclination to do this sort of job?  If anyone can think of where, then perhaps they might send a message to Markus. He could probably use the help.

[noelscot]

Today I received an alert message from Markus, the PoF owner:
 
"My name is Markus and I created POF/Plentyoffish. When I created POF, I wanted it to be all about finding relationships with the right person. For the first 7 years this worked really well, I got the site to 10 million users without any employees people and POF was generating a ton of relationships. Around 3 years ago, everyone started using the website via mobile phones. Today about 70% of POF use is via a mobile phone and unfortunately about 2% of men started to use POF as more of a hookup site mostly due the the casual nature of cell phone use.

In sticking with my vision that POF is all about Relationships, I'm going to make a bunch of changes to ensure it stays a relationship-focused site.

1. Any first contact between users that contains sexual references will not be sent. Anyone who tries to get around this rule will be deleted without warning. This rule has actually been in effect since last month and it's made the site so much better.

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.

3. Intimate Encounters will go away in the next few months. There are 3.3 Million people who use the site every day, of those there are only 6,041 single women looking for Intimate Encounters. Of those 6,041 women, the ones with hot pictures are mostly men pretending to be women. Intimate Encounters on POF can be summed up as a bunch of horny men talking to a bunch of horny men pretending to be women.

In short the vast majority of people will not be impacted. This is because the vast majority of people are not going around spamming women saying "let's have sex tonight". I can't change POF alone, I need your help to get the word out there that POF is all about relationships!

Markus'

Honore de Balzac's father was 50 y.o. and married an 18 y.o. Historical perspective doesn't matter, though. All men looking for a young woman are the incarnation of Humbert Humbert.   

[Voyager36]

It's a free site, so the owner can establish whatever parameters he wishes.  He makes about $3.5 million a year in ad revenue, the site has been valued as high as $1 billion in the past so, I suspect, this is to ensure his membership is, overall, happy and his ad revenue remains stable.  He's probably received complaints from women contacted by unsuitable men.

If he wants to restrict sexual content in messages, fine.
But to discriminate on members from contacting each other based on age (or race in my sarcastic reply) may not stand up in court, based on age discrimination laws.
Just to make clear, I'm not supporting guys in their 40s or older contacting 18 yr old girls (I'm sure there are others here that can promote that ), but it may not be legal for them from preventing two members from having a converstion based on age.

[GoodOlBoy]

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

[Boethius]

Honore de Balzac's father was 50 y.o. and married an 18 y.o. Historical perspective doesn't matter, though. All men looking for a young woman are the incarnation of Humbert Humbert. 

She was handed over to de Balzac's father for the services father had performed for a family friend.  She had no say in the matter of her betrothal, nor, from accounts that I've read, did she ever love him. 




Should we go back to those "good old days"?

[Boethius]

If he wants to restrict sexual content in messages, fine.
But to discriminate on members from contacting each other based on age (or race in my sarcastic reply) may not stand up in court, based on age discrimination laws.


Just to make clear, I'm not supporting guys in their 40s or older contacting 18 yr old girls (I'm sure there are others here that can promote that ), but it may not be legal for them from preventing two members from having a converstion based on age.

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.  He probably has lots of evidence that requests for hook ups occur most frequently when there is an age discrepancy of at least 14 years, which is probably the reason for that age as the cut off.  I also doubt it's 50 somethings, probably mid 30's guys contacting 18-20 year olds.

[noelscot]

She was handed over to de Balzac's father for the services father had performed for a family friend.  She had no say in the matter of her betrothal, nor, from accounts that I've read, did she ever love him. 




Should we go back to those "good old days"?

If that's what it takes to produce a literary genius like Balzac, then I'm fine with it.

[Boethius]

If that's what it takes to produce a literary genius like Balzac, then I'm fine with it.

The problem is that in today's world, there are no officers' balls, but there are accurate DNA tests.   


Nevertheless, Tolstoy, IMHO, is a greater literary genius than Balzac (granted, a matter of taste) and had a slightly different family background.  His mother was five years older than her husband.  Perhaps that should be the criterion for all future marriages.

[Voyager36]

His mother was five years older than her husband.
  Perhaps that should be the criterion for all future marriages.

Dating sites might have trouble selling that...

[Gator]

Men can still lie about their age when establishing their profile, and thus circumvent the 14-year limit.  Are the profiles vetted at POF?

[jantzfitzgerald]

This is completely insulting to women. Women on POF can always block men of any age group they desire. Why is he making the decision for the women ?? This is an old-fashioned sexist attitude. POF should be boycotted. There are Plenty of Other Sites to go to . .  . or Maybe we can cause something to change somehow. Post your feelings on the internet-everywhere. What do you guys think ?

[Boethius]

He's probably responding to complaints from young women who are getting messages from older men, in whom they have zero interest.  So, he's reacting to his market.

[Lily]

 

Men can still lie about their age when establishing their profile, and thus circumvent the 14-year limit.  Are the profiles vetted at POF?

Sometimes I see the male profile that show one age, and in the text they write with their own words that they age is different.    Can vary in both sides.
 

This is completely insulting to women. Women on POF can always block men of any age group they desire. Why is he making the decision for the women ?? This is an old-fashioned sexist attitude. POF should be boycotted. There are Plenty of Other Sites to go to . . . or Maybe we can cause something to change somehow. Post your feelings on the internet-everywhere. What do you guys think ?

I don't see how this is insulting to women particularly. It works both ways.
 
At the same time, PoF looks like the best online tool for finding a partner due to their features. From my own experience, the other sites do not even come close to it. Especially the PoF is suited for those who have an approximate idea about what kind of partner do they wish. The Advanced Search functions well. Additionally, the site is free to use. Its paid features do not add any value to the users.
 
Therefore, it is too far to boycott the PoF

[Faux Pas]

This is completely insulting to women. Women on POF can always block men of any age group they desire. Why is he making the decision for the women ?? This is an old-fashioned sexist attitude. POF should be boycotted. There are Plenty of Other Sites to go to . .  . or Maybe we can cause something to change somehow. Post your feelings on the internet-everywhere. What do you guys think ?

You sound like a competing shill of POF. You appear in this thread, make one intense post? What is your bacon in the game?

The guy owns POF and apparently attempting to improve the experience for his market. It's a free market and you should vote with your feet and your pocket

[GoodOlBoy]

This is an old-fashioned sexist attitude..... There are Plenty of Other Sites to go to.... 

You sound like a competing shill of POF. You appear in this thread, make one intense post? What is your bacon in the game?

I thought he was just another disgruntled old goat? 
 
GOB

[lonedrake]

1. Any first contact between users that contains sexual references will not be sent. Anyone who tries to get around this rule will be deleted without warning. This rule has actually been in effect since last month and it's made the site so much better.

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.

3. Intimate Encounters will go away in the next few months. There are 3.3 Million people who use the site every day, of those there are only 6,041 single women looking for Intimate Encounters. Of those 6,041 women, the ones with hot pictures are mostly men pretending to be women. Intimate Encounters on POF can be summed up as a bunch of horny men talking to a bunch of horny men pretending to be women.

Good! About time! 

[jone]

I like the rules.  I would be much more inclined to use such a service that had these rules as part of the site policy.  But, then, I ain't lookin right now.

[noelscot]

The problem is that in today's world, there are no officers' balls, but there are accurate DNA tests.   


Nevertheless, Tolstoy, IMHO, is a greater literary genius than Balzac (granted, a matter of taste) and had a slightly different family background.  His mother was five years older than her husband.  Perhaps that should be the criterion for all future marriages.

  but Chekhov's "Gooseberries" and Balzac's "The Ball at Sceaux" would be highly educational for the men and women involved in this thing of ours.


I know next to nothing about Tolstoy. I read a few short stories. When Oprah put Anna Karenina on her book list, I lost any interest I ever had in reading him more, because of all the negative associations, but I respect Tolstoy's place in Russian literature.