SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS -- Feb 13 -- Nearly all of the 1,650 new Bay
Area members who joined Table for Six in 2004 were singles who stopped
fishing online, said owner Julie Paiva. "A big reason why someone does
online dating is to expand their social life,'' said Paiva. "But they
find out what they're mostly doing is spending time in front of a
computer screen." Cali, for one, paid for memberships at five
sites before pulling the plug. ``If you're serious about finding
someone, you have to spend money and stick around to make the effort,''
she said. In 2000, when eHarmony homed in on the population of
serious daters -- armed with a 436-question personality test -- many of
its competitors laughed. EHarmony's algorithms for romance struck
a chord; boasts a membership of 6.5 million, up from 1 million in 2003.
Yahoo Personals, True, PerfectMatch.com and Tickle followed suit with their own love Alchemy tests. At ColorCupid members are matched based on color preference tests. Mary.comlaunched this month offering compatibility testing, background
checks and certified photos taken by its photographers to ensure people
look like their photos. FULL ARTICLE @ MERCURY NEWS

Mark Brooks: Mary.com, what a great name!