The eWooing Week In Review, some articles about online dating or related stories that might be of interest from the past week. Actually from two weeks ago. The power was out and I never got around to posting until now. There were a lot to read and only a few that were really worth anything. So here are four online dating articles for your perusal. Enjoy!

When writing your profile, give it some heart

Some good tips and examples on sprucing up your online dating profile so you can stand out from the crowd.

Take a Second Chance with that First Love

The idea of using other sites than online dating sites, such as ClassMates.com to find that special someone. In this case someone you may have known or been attracted to in high school. An old friend becomes new again.

Online Valentine

This has some truly funny recounts of experiences with online dating. While this person has given it up as it is not for him, he does think that it can be good for some people.

So, just who pays for a quasi-date?

Miss Manners on who should pay for that first meeting beverage. She says that going back and forth in a relationship is the right way to go. So you would have to go past a first meeting to find out if this would be the case with the person you have met. I figure the person who initiated the request to meet should pay. That seems fair to me. What do you think?

Have you ever been out somewhere and met a nice person and later realized you will probably never see them again? This happens all the time. You wish that you could make a further connection. Yet more than just the chance of rejection is holding you back. I mean you don’t know this person and giving them your contact info may not be the greatest idea. So how do you get around that?

PeakaBio is an online dating website that hopes to fill that void. You sign up at the site and post a full profile including pictures and anything else you want a prospect to see when they look you up. When you are done you print out Peek cards with nothing but your first name, the website address and your handle. You stay completely anonymous. If they are interested then they type your handle into the search box at the site and view your profile. Only people who know your handle can view your information.

Give it to that pretty waitress, that hunky UPS guy, the teller at your bank or anyone else that sparks your interest. Just hand them the card with an “I would’ve been kicking myself tomorrow if I didn’t do this.” When someone checks out your information the site allows you to email each other without trading your personal email address with the other person. You stay completely anonymous until you don’t want to be.

You could also use it in conjunction with a site like Match.com or Yahoo! Personals. You could post information that you don’t want the general public to see and give your handle out to people you meet at those sites.

The site as of now seems to be free to use. So stop chickening out during those chance encounters out there in the real world. Let them PeakaBio.

A First-Meetingâ„¢ is supposed to be an informal in person meeting. You setup a mutually agreed upon place and time to see if there is any chemistry. The suggested length of a First-Meetingâ„¢ is about 30 minutes or so. They say that should be long enough to gage whether or not there is any chemistry or not.

How to Initiate a First-Meetingâ„¢

You can attach a First-Meetingâ„¢ request to an email or you can just send the request from the email page for your match. Either way you then have to select your First-Meetingâ„¢ preferences.

The first question you have to answer is your availability: “What are the best days and times for you to go on a First-Meeting™?” You are given a grid of times by hour from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for each day of the week. You click the chechbox for each time you are available. Once you answer this question and click next a pop up asks you to read some safety tips and click a box that you have read them.

On the next page you are asked: “What kinds of food do you like to eat on a date?” You once again click a bunch of boxes next to things like American, Italian, Pub Fare, Fast Food, Dessert and Coffee or any if they all look good.

Next you answer: “What are your favorite date activities?” You can choose from Meet for coffee, a drink, dinner, movie, for a party, sporting event, a walk or any.

Lastly you are asked: “What do you expect from your date?” Things to check off under this question are splitting the check, showing good manners, good conversation, knowing when the date is over and others.

After the Questions What Happens?

Once the other person has accepted and filled in their preferences, the system then offers up a suggested meeting place based on your answers. Something that fits the times for both of you and something that is roughly halfway between you based on zip code. Or you can select an alternative and suggest another time and place if you wish.

Once you have both agreed on a time and place when you go to the active matches page next to them you will see that a First-Meetingâ„¢ has been set. When you click the button next to it a box pops up with all the meeting information. It also gives you the opportunity to cancel should you need to.

It is a nice little idea for an online dating site to include a system for helping people to actually meet. Unfortunately this system is a little awkward to use. Most of the material on the Chemistry.com site talks about informal meetings at a coffee shop for 20 or 30 minutes yet the system asks you for all kinds of dating info preferences. It is not clear what they are for or how the system uses that information. The help with facilitating an in person meeting is great though. It is something that other online dating sites should look into adding to there offerings. They should just make it a bit more user friendly.

Once you have met when you log back into Chemistry.com you are asked to give the system some feedback. Mostly though you are deciding whether or not you want to keep in contact with the match. If you do the system lets both of you no what the other decided. I will post more about that in a future post.

Have you used Chemistry.com? Gone on a First-Meetingâ„¢? What did you think of the System? Let us know in the comments.

The eWooing Week In Review, some articles about online dating or related stories that might be of interest from the past week. There were a lot to read and only a few that were really worth anything. So here are five online dating articles for your perusal. Enjoy!

Meet Internet Daters: The Never-Ending Casting Session

Some funny little online dating anecdotes. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, online dating is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get.

SINGEL BOUND

A ring for single people to let other people know you are single and looking. What do you think? Would you where a ring like this?

Is technology replacing humanity?

This is an interesting question. In some ways we maybe are. Like the listening to an iPod or something instead of interacting with the people around you or talking on a Cell phone instead of with people around you. On the other hand, something like online dating is meant to help facilitate a face to face meeting. A way to find other people that have similar interests or are compatible in some way.

Starbucks, Yahoo! Cross-Market Personals

Find a date, grab a lattte. It’s Esspresso Dating with Yahoo! Personals and Starbucks Coffee. I mentioned this last week also but it is worth mentioning again as you can get a $10 Starbucks gift card when you sign up with Yahoo! Personals through February 19th. Read the guide. Meet some people. Buy some coffee.

Cupid deserves more respect

A look at online dating versus a blind date. To me they seem very similar. Except supposedly the person putting the two of you together knows something about both of you.