I got an email this morning from someone whose level of upset seemed oddly strong for such a non-controversial column topic ("Best Way to Date: Collaborate?"). He blasted me for being a "shill" because the features at Collaboradate don't work and I should never have "recommended" it.
I don't think I ever said anything in today's column about recommending Collaboradate. And I mentioned that it's in very early stages and has a few glitches – but if anything broke between press time and this morning, you'll have to take it up with Andy, not with me.
I wrote about Collaboradate because it represents a trend in online dating services, or at least a direction dating needs to go in. There might be other sites like it already but those folks haven't bothered to send me an email telling me about it, nor have I received any generic press releases about 'em.
In my research into online dating, Girlfriend X is probably the most closely related to Collaboradate, although much more complex and developed but also a little more "adult entertainment" oriented. TeamDating has the group dating thing going, and several services offer various ways to rate and review your dates.
Chris sent me a link to Map Mix, a Google Maps mash-up social networking site.
