Socionics

Here’s a good video as to why you would want to write a book and rightfully profit from it:

And so I present the Stern Publishing Method (trademark pending) to actually walk you through conception to execution to $$$:

1. [Pre-production stage] Using whatever tools you like such as a notepad and pen, begin to brainstorm your ideas, draw up mind maps until you can define the content layout of your book.
2. [Production stage] Contrary to popular belief you don’t need a word processor for several reasons. In short it will cause more problems later on. Simply download a free advanced text editor with a spell checker plug-in (if required) and produce multiple “bite size” raw text files for each chapter/section of the book to keep the project more manageable
3. [Post-production stage] Using your proof read text files you are now ready to start putting the book together using desktop publishing software. I personally use and highly recommend Scribus. At this point you want two things: 1) to import your source content text files using custom tags that will assign styles to the text you have defined in Scribus, and 2) to actually layout the book itself using frames.
4. [Distribution stage] Using Lulu.com you would upload your Scribus-produced PDF’s for content and cover design when asked. Once an ISBN has been assigned you would need to go back and update your Scribus source file with the relevant numbers and bar-code and re-upload updated PDFs.
5. [Marketing stage] Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that “nothing I create has value”, or “its not about the money”, or “I wrote this book purely out of love”. The fact is, you know something unique and you need to get the word out through social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, etc. and/or your own website.

That summarises the Stern Publishing Method. If you want a full “take me by the hand and make me a published writer” coaching session then contact me direct at s.stern@slideconsulting.com or via this blog on end of the About Me page.

I have previously labelled the Nokia 6300/1 as like “an iPhone without multitouch” because it does everything I currently want reliably and cost-effectively with a great UK provider that rewards customer loyalty with stupendous bonuses.

Anyway, here’s a few tips on how I figured I can get more battery life out of my Nokia 6301:

• Hardware upgrades:
  • Replace the NOKIA BL-4C battery (rated at 860 mAh) with an inexpensive higher capacity (compatible) replacement battery (rated at 1000 mAh)
• Software tweaking:
  • For some bizarre reason the phone has 2 “power saving” modes: one called “power save” and the other called “sleep mode”. Turn off the latter for better general battery usage otherwise the phone has a tendency to light up and light down periodically when the battery finishes charging or when battery life is low, etc.
  • Turn off any screen savers since the “power save” mode will dim the display anyway showing you the date and time.
  • Turn off Bluetooth since no one really needs it “always on” except “on-demand” to transfer files or update the phone using Nokia PC suite, etc.
  • Turn off Wi-Fi and scan for networks only when desired e.g. in a saved hotspot that will allow free and fast mobile internet usage.
  • Set GPRS to connect only “when needed”. It may also help to increase the time delay that the push email service checks for new messages.
  • Store and set your (static) wall papers from the external memory card instead of internal. Dynamic wall papers will use more power to “run”.

That’s a few quick and essential tips for maximizing battery life. Some tips can be adapted for other makes and models of handset especially the switching off of Bluetooth which is known to zap battery life.

The web site also incorporates an element of “if it aint broke NEVER fix it!” which is totally anti-progressive avoiding such basic (and i mean REALLY basic) features likes a simple way to know who an actual subscriber is rather than waste one’s time sending letters of interest that will likely never get a response from.

Another one that gets me… if by some miracle of the Jewish dating lottery two members click “yes” together they should get more than just an automated email to confirm the “double yes” interest. Geez… with the odds stacked against this happening couldn’t we at least get a “bonus” of say a free couple of emails each INTERESTED person can send each other whether subscribers or not.

The IM system has been mastered by myself. I know how it works inside-out in a role of mine as system’s analyst. Anyway, a much needed feature is to exclude IM’s from foreign Jews for the nationalist reasons mentioned above.

Oh well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they obviously have sh*t loads of money to throw around at their toys of negligible real value like registered trademarks, a blog and magazine that avoids the real issues of a feature-starved site, etc.

Expect further rants until my current membership plan is up for renew in December by which time I will either actually get a real JDate or die trying from smoking my hookah, at least we can reflect in peace together without the nonsense that women put men through with their emotional outbursts, moaning, whining about all the problems that haven’t actually happened yet. And don’t get me started on Geography, physical distance is MORE of an issue than potential psychological distance which is perhaps more important don’t we we think??

I personally believe that my life and its struggles are in actual fact meaningul and rewarding hence I present another hunch-turned-truth story of yet another JDate scam artist. I have annotated the original transcript in {red curly brackets}.

Slidester: I assume you like boiled eggs… {Today’s ice-breaker}

*** Waiting for jessicalolFA8A to connect

*** jessicalolFA8A’s IM window is open

jessicalolFA8A: hello {not responding to the ice-breaker}

Slidester: well do you?

jessicalolFA8A: how are you??

Slidester: are you not gonna respond to my assumption?

jessicalolFA8A: no sory im not a boiled eggs {she’s confused already}

jessicalolFA8A: i dont like boiled eggs

jessicalolFA8A: i want a hard balls lol {sometimes an egg IS just an egg as Freud would remind us – another seducing and gold-digging Nigerian woman, obviously}

Slidester: oh really?

jessicalolFA8A: yup

jessicalolFA8A: haha

jessicalolFA8A: so what are you looking for?? {does my male visage not give a hint}

Slidester: haven’t you read my profile yet?

jessicalolFA8A: w8 i read {teenage short-hand language}

jessicalolFA8A: i see

jessicalolFA8A: ur looking for a woman

jessicalolFA8A: huh sorry im just too busy chatting my friends on yahoo {red flag #1: oh dear, its ploy to chat on YAHOO aka “the scam artist’s messenger of choice”}

Slidester: are they Nigerian?

jessicalolFA8A: no they american

jessicalolFA8A: they lived in new york {red flag #2: sharing way too much information too early}

Slidester: cool

Slidester: so you’re new to jdate then?

jessicalolFA8A: no not really because i forgot my pass to my other account

jessicalolFA8A: so that i make another account {a likely story, not!}

Slidester: u do know that you’re profile isn’t ready for me to read yet?

jessicalolFA8A: i dont know

Slidester: are you on facebook?

jessicalolFA8A: no {red flag #3: everyone (especially teenagers) should be on FB these days!}

jessicalolFA8A: and you

jessicalolFA8A: sorry im just too busy chatting on yahoo maybe we can switch there {Yahoo – the preferred IM of the Nigerian scam artist}

Slidester: do you think i’m so stupid that i don’t know that you’re a 419 scam artist?

jessicalolFA8A: L0l k@ t@ng na m0h {and the scam artist reveals herself and my “always on” cautiousness is justified yet again!}

*** jessicalolFA8A’s IM window is closed

I’m quite impressed this with this one as I sussed them out after just around 10 minutes although should have known better when their profile said “willing to convert” with no photos and no information given.

Not to worry, desperate scam artists represent less than 8% of members I interact with on the site although at least I have more “fun” with them then genuine prospects who don’t know what they want and like to raise false promises and hopes. Its no wonder they say that dating is generally unfair for men with the abundance of low self-esteemed women who are simply not ready to receive all that they really desire from the men ready to mutually provide it.

Real women on Jdate can sometimes wonder why I’m so cautious asking A LOT of questions to verify their true sincerity & identity. As an optimist I believe when done correctly it is quite possible to meet someone in cyberspace, form a virtual-to-real relationship, meet up legitimately and live happily ever after because I do know the odd “success story” despite the abundance of scam artists raising the taboo of internet dating as a whole.

All these investigations will lead to some cool on-line dating safety tips for another day. For now, here’s the full transcript with annotations:

SirSpence82: I see that you’re willing to convert… (opening the trap)

*** Waiting for heleina1985 to connect

*** heleina1985′s IM window is open

heleina1985: yeah babe (well of course you’re willing, this is a scam…)

heleina1985: how are you?

SirSpence82: very well thanks

SirSpence82: you’re new i see…

heleina1985: yeah i just join the site (well what else is new, I have nothing else to go on except your completely blank profile with no photos)

heleina1985: and i dunno much more here (this is a dating site, not a community forum)

SirSpence82: you have any photos?

heleina1985: yead

heleina1985: do you wanna see more babe (we’ve just met and I’m her ‘babe’ already, I must have forgotten how women and attraction works)

SirSpence82: it would seem the power lay in your hands…

SirSpence82: are you on facebook?

heleina1985: nope babe (red flag #1)

heleina1985: i dunno much more of any sites babe (i’m a scam artist, not a geek)

heleina1985: i tell you im just new here

heleina1985: so i need to know more babe

heleina1985: can u accompany on this (strange language)

SirSpence82: sure

SirSpence82: so you’re photo and profile still waiting for approval yeah?

SirSpence82: your* (why do I even bother making grammatical corrections talking to a scammer is beyond me at this point)

heleina1985: yeah

SirSpence82: cool

heleina1985: its always like that (where you purposely delete your profile straight after I IM you and then blame the site for a glitch that doesn’t exist)

heleina1985: if your interested to see more of me

SirSpence82: well you haven’t filled out the rest of your profile…

SirSpence82: are you totally new to online dating?

heleina1985: im on the process babe (..of running through my scam script)

heleina1985: sorry for that (…my auto-cue failed for a moment)

SirSpence82: no prob

SirSpence82: you’re not a scammer by any chance?

heleina1985: of course babe (green flag – for honesty)

heleina1985: how could you tell that to me (she’s in full confession)

SirSpence82: one has to be careful online, wouldn’t you agree?

heleina1985: yeah, because a lot of here are fake (she even sympathizes)

SirSpence82: pardon me but until i have to more to go, would u give the benefit of the doubt on you please?

SirSpence82: go on*

heleina1985: sure babe

heleina1985: thats ok with me

SirSpence82: how you going to remedy this blind date type contact we find ourselves in?

heleina1985: its not a blind date babe

heleina1985: coz later you wiil see me

SirSpence82: i assume you’ve browsed my profile….

heleina1985: yeah babe, and i got interested with you (by magic without actually reading it)

heleina1985: if you wanna see my pic (grown-ups usually say “photo”)

heleina1985: lets make it in yahoo or msn?> (red flag #2)

SirSpence82: you’re not from Nigeria are you?

heleina1985: nope, im from california babe (most normal women would get offended by this assumption but not this African chic)

SirSpence82: sorry but i don’t do yahoo or msn

SirSpence82: why haven’t u got a facebook profile?

heleina1985: i will create an account later babe (poor confidence trick)

heleina1985: coz im busy right now talking to you (she’s already hot for me in less than 5 minutes – impossible!)

SirSpence82: so tell me, what do u like from my profile?

heleina1985: your fun to be with, babe i cant make it here now (that doesn’t answer the question)

heleina1985: ill be on my yahoo now (where Nigerian 419′ers belong)

heleina1985: somebody is pestering me here (strange for someone with no photos or anything written in their profile…which leads me to the next question)

SirSpence82: why have you deleted your jdate profile?

heleina1985: it was terminated babe i dunno why (who did it? The Terminator J101 perhaps?)

heleina1985: it sucks (the language of a 23 year old apparently)

SirSpence82: do you really expect me to believe profiles just cancel themselves?

heleina1985: so just give me ur add in yahoo or msn (red flag #3)

heleina1985: i really dunno babe

heleina1985: why it happens

SirSpence82: what makes you think that i’m your babe?

heleina1985: if you dont then imsorry for calling you babe (makes little sense)

SirSpence82: this is another 419 isn’t it?

heleina1985: whats 419? (“denial is the most predictable of all human emotions” – The Architect, Matrix Reloaded)

heleina1985: i just create my profile and its being terminated easily

heleina1985: this really sucks (oh yes, blame “the system” for your behaviour)

SirSpence82: so what is the aim of the 419 for you?

heleina1985: what do you mean?

SirSpence82: no i’m totally serious, what are you trying to achieve here?

heleina1985: i just want you to be my friend (it must be a hard life in Nigeria)

heleina1985: and imaybe will be my man (you want to be your own man?)

SirSpence82: is it that easy?

heleina1985: maybe when we get to know more with each other

SirSpence82: so what’s the local time now in san diego?

SirSpence82: (note to self: she can’t tell me the time after 2 mins of waiting) (yes, I made notes live in the conversation with her which she didn’t find odd)

SirSpence82: (yet another red flag) (indeed Spence, you’ve got this down to a fine art)

heleina1985: 5:29:44 (notice the precise seconds – copied and pasted obviously)

heleina1985: pm (don’t forget the pm)

SirSpence82: shall i see what google reveals as well?

heleina1985: and its 5″30 now (time with inches, well I hope it fits)

heleina1985: what?

heleina1985: it says here in my watch (most people would read the clock on their computer screen which the time given looks like)

heleina1985: not in google

SirSpence82: you’re either very good or very stupid?

heleina1985: you are stupid (the scammer has feelings too)

heleina1985: your talking to yourself

heleina1985: ur a jerk (well nice guys finish last didn’t you know?)

SirSpence82: (guilt trip tactic) (I agree with myself here)

SirSpence82: do you think i don’t know your game?

heleina1985: what game?

heleina1985: maybe u are

SirSpence82: maybe i’m what?

heleina1985: whatever, bye (it gets all too much for the scammer and she folds)

SirSpence82: ever considered acting?

SirSpence82: (if she was going to leave she would have left by now)

*** heleina1985′s IM window is closed (after hanging around for a good few minutes)

Total times she called me “babe” = 17 (the new Nigerian record!!)

Quick summary:

She incriminates herself before my very eyes… admits she’s a scam artist… keeps insisting on yahoo or msn… not deterred by my live notes I made whilst chatting… doesn’t think i’m rude asking my “security questions”…. doesn’t even sound like a 23 year old… no proof that she even read my profile… extremely high “babe count”.

• A paying subscriber/premium member in 92.58% of cases is the real thing because they had to have signed up with a registered credit/debit card.
• When you IM an non-paying member watch out for the following:
  • Can be a bad sign if they keep insisting to switch to a dubious IM service like Yahoo or MSN (designed for big-kids in my opinion).
  • Usually a good sign when they want to use a respected service like Facebook to allow sharing of photos and other private information.
• When you Email a paying member and they want to switch to their own email service especially Yahoo Mail be VERY suspicious as you may be entering the 419 email scam.
  • A pen-pal only relationship that appears very one-sided i.e. where the woman shares all her “best” photos and writes emotionally attached letters that are just a bit too perfect, its probably all down-hill from here.
  • Anyone who claims to not be on a social networking site these days must either be a hermit, have anti-social personality disorder or be a scam artist.
  • Remember: Some scam artists are so desperately clever that they will tell you what you want to hear and even do what you want them to do to advance the scam.
• So what about that 7.42% of paying (premium) members who aren’t the real thing? Yep, I’ve even experienced that. It usually follows this progression:
  • They have a ridiculously good-looking photo mirroring that of some popular film star. This even becomes the subject of my opening email to which they love the attention for and soon tell me to switch to email via their Yahoo Mail.
  • A few hours later their profile gets cancelled/removed and they justify it as something like, “I’m a one-man woman and I don’t want other men contacting me whilst I focus on you.”. This to me is yet another red-flag. Why remove one’s profile on the assumption that the first guy who messages them is “the one”? Crazy scam artist!

That concludes my tips for now and I have to say some scams have been rather elaborate. I’ve literally phoned the USA from the UK and later found out that they were using some kind of telephone proxy service that essentially masks their actual location.

They do the same thing with their email using a VPS (virtual private server) to fake where they are sending emails from. In the full headers of Yahoo emails you can easily check the IP of the source computer that connected to Yahoo’s web-mail to send it, which invites the possibility of hackers “bouncing” the IPs using proxy servers.

Sorry Nigeria I’m not fluent in idiot! – S. Stern

I decided to log on to JDate this morning as part of my daily list of web sites that I visit for updates and to my surprise a rather cute and pretty looking girl “hot-listed” me.

I checked her out to find just one photo (1st red flag), a sparsely written profile (2nd red flag) and when I actually got through via IM she avoided any “real” conversation insisting on a yahoo or msn chat (3rd red flag). Oh and did i mention she hadn’t even bothered to browse my profile thus having nothing relevant to talk to me (4th red flag). I have been emotionally raped yet again.

Here’s the complete transcript of our IM conversation: {notice my notes in red parentheses}

SirSpence82:  you are looking for a muse….
*** Waiting for zarielcox22 to connect ***
zarielcox22′s IM window is open
SirSpence82:  hey {i shouldn’t have to re-greet her with first message already sent}
zarielcox22:  hi
SirSpence82:  how you doing
zarielcox22:  kinda bored {boredom is not an action, its a state of mind}
zarielcox22:  you?
zarielcox22:  can i ask you something?
SirSpence82:  sure {allowing her the benefit of the doubt}
zarielcox22:  how long have you been in this site? {confidence trick #1}
zarielcox22:  i cant read your whole mesage here
zarielcox22:  still there?
SirSpence82:  what are you getting at?
zarielcox22:  huh? {in other words, “don’t make me think, i’m a stupid desperate scam artist”}
SirSpence82:  what were u asking me
zarielcox22:  how long have you been in this site? {who usually persists with the same question – not many}
zarielcox22:  thats it
SirSpence82:  does it matter?
zarielcox22:  yes {how long i’ve been a paying member is important to know for her “end game”}
zarielcox22:  coz im new here {confidence trick #2}
SirSpence82:  aww welcome
zarielcox22:  so how long?
SirSpence82:  6 inches {reality test using a sarcastic answer}
zarielcox22:  you been in this site {no reaction to my vulgar humour}
SirSpence82:  what difference will it make to you {more reality testing}
zarielcox22:  nothing
zarielcox22:  just asking {emotional guilt-tripping}
zarielcox22:  you maat a lot of girls here? {confidence trick #3}
zarielcox22:  meet
zarielcox22:  hey you have yahoo or msn {the preferred IM networks of the Nigerian scammer}
zarielcox22:  i cant read your messages complete here {you can’t read, period}
SirSpence82:  whats ur msn {humour her for a moment}
zarielcox22:  olay_carter@hotmail {too lazy to write out in full}
zarielcox22:  add me now
zarielcox22:  im online {…and ready to continue the scam}
zarielcox22:  what is your msn?
SirSpence82:  calm down dear this real life
SirSpence82:  this is*
SirSpence82:  do u want me add you? {check her interest again}
zarielcox22:  yes
SirSpence82:  what’s your name
zarielcox22:  yardley {well that’s different}
SirSpence82:  cool
SirSpence82:  whereabouts u from?
zarielcox22:  london {too ambiguous – anyone can say that}
zarielcox22:  you add me now?
zarielcox22:  im waiting {emotional black-mail}
zarielcox22:  lol
SirSpence82:  patience my dear
SirSpence82:  i assume you’ve read my profile…
zarielcox22:  ok i will {so she hot-listed me without reading my profile}
zarielcox22:  add me now?
SirSpence82:  so u haven’t read my profile?
zarielcox22:  i read it now {finally, some real enthusiasm for me}
zarielcox22:  why? {she’s so keen on me she has to second-guess herself}
SirSpence82:  you like adding random men?
zarielcox22:  why not {of course, I’m Nigerian!}
zarielcox22:  ?
SirSpence82:  so u like me then?
zarielcox22:  why not again {why should I know what you’re thinking}
zarielcox22:  lol
zarielcox22:  so you will add me now {she won’t give up in her single minded pursuit}
SirSpence82:  you like this game don’t you?
zarielcox22:  i like {a child-like response}
SirSpence82:  aww
SirSpence82:  i see you’re not jewish then…
zarielcox22:  huh? {she doesn’t understand that she’s not Jewish}
SirSpence82:  well.. you do have a profile which i assume you’ve honestly filled out…
SirSpence82:  so you’re willing to convert…
zarielcox22:  yes {anything to advance the scam}
SirSpence82:  you like jews?
zarielcox22:  why not {is her favourite expression}
zarielcox22:  i think your nice {don’t you mean “you’re”}
zarielcox22:  and i fool that {now she’s not making sense}
SirSpence82:  who’s a fool?
zarielcox22:  oh sorry
zarielcox22:  wrong type {further nonsense}
zarielcox22:  lol
SirSpence82:  what do you mean?
zarielcox22:  no sorry {no to what exactly}
SirSpence82:  come on dear, you have a lovely photo but i want to know the real you…
zarielcox22:  lets chat in msn  {her favourite answer to life’s problems}
zarielcox22:  i dont want here {she would rather go “off-site” with a 3rd-party IM where she’s back in her own domain}
zarielcox22:  i cant read your message complete {stupid statement}
SirSpence82:  how so?
zarielcox22:  you will add me or not?? {avoids my valid question}
SirSpence82:  you wanna have some fun? {my reverse confidence trick}
zarielcox22:  yes
SirSpence82:  what’s your number?
zarielcox22:  msn {her number is msn}
SirSpence82:  you don’t have a phone?
zarielcox22:  yes i dont have {repeating my words in her answer}
SirSpence82:  do you Skype? {Nigerians haven’t heard of Skype yet}
zarielcox22:  lets chat in msn
SirSpence82:  what part of london you from? {no answer for about 2 minutes}
SirSpence82:  i assume you don’t have an answer then {my first emotional response to the “emotional raping”}
SirSpence82:  let me rephrase then
SirSpence82:  what part of Nigeria are you from? {my last emotional response before closing the IM and walking away}

Post-Scam Follow-Up:

Well this just says it all when I clicked back on her profile a few hours after this incident: “zarielcox22 ’s profile is currently unavailable.” This basically means she’s either cancelled her own account or been removed by the web site administration.

Paranoia is a valid part of your on-line security! – S. Stern

Either way it now confirms that my paranoia (or unfounded hunch) that she was indeed a (Nigerian) scam artist to be true.

If you want to know how I did it then I recommend The Art of Always Being Right: 38 Ways to Win an Argument.

This marks yet another win for Aristotle and a blow to Plato’s Republic!

Evey Hammond: Are you like a crazy person?
V: I am quite sure they will say so.

First trivial point to note is that I have a common Jewish surname and no, I’m not related to Howard Stern although I do like that eventual title of Dr. Stern. I think it will have a nice ring to it when I get that double Ph.D. in “Independent Thinking”.

Anyway, so the real reason you’re here is to see what I think about the notorious Jewish dating site that is JDate. Let’s get started, might take a while, have a cup of Earl Grey and we shall begin…

One of the first things I noticed about JDate.com is that they have some ridiculously cost-defective trademarks. Now this says a few things to me: that they have loads of money to throw around and have little or no sense of valued branding.

I mean come on! – Who registers a trademark like “Stand Out” as part of their marketing tactics to promote their premium member’s profiles. This site has more marketing plug-holes than The Titanic and I don’t know how they manage to stay afloat.

Their customer service is virtually non-existent and a blatant violation of trading standards stating something like “your question will be answered in 1 business day” and 5 days later — nothing! They must be referring to the old Hebrew calendar or something.

The site also attracts plenty of fake profiles blatantly from Nigeria, the home of the famous 419 scams which in 99% of cases involves the use of a free Yahoo.com email address by the scammer, a ridiculously good-looking photo or two of the member (which to most men would say, “she seems too good to be true!”), and a sparsely populated profile, in most cases blank.

Marketing tip 101: Loooooooooooooooong sales copy is always better than short on a page designed to market one’s self (or product/service). Short copy has other uses like on a “squeeze page” though don’t worry about that for now. If a person can string together a lengthy profile it would suggest something of higher value than say one sentence wouldn’t you all agree? Anyway, another sign of a potential scammer or a real person not taking their profile too seriously (at their own peril!).

True Story: In less than my first 10 days of the service a paying subscriber requested that I stop using the site to message them and email direct instead via, surprise surprise, a Yahoo.com address and my first red flag is raised. After what seemed like a very genuine and sincere amount of corresponding by email and even a few international phone calls we inevitably got to the “419 – romance variant” with a request for money.

I have no problem pursuing these scammers because something in my being says it could, just could be genuine except I will see how far the rabbit hole goes and NOT give in to their requests for money. It just doesn’t happen, out of principle. If I physically knew them already it would be different. Heck, I have reservations with lending money to friends and family let alone strangers. I get accused of being “stingy” by someone I’ve never even met physically. Its like emotional rape.

I performed my own detective work on the person doing IP look-ups and WHOIS domain look-ups to validate this person but I have to say they are either very clever using proxy servers or I’ve been over-extremely cautious and am actually dealing with a real person. I mean, who literally “falls in love” with someone over email. It just doesn’t happen, no matter how heart-warming my letters are to them. I continue to play them at their own game in the spirit of the song lyric, “you’re my….. favorite waste of time” which is great for the weekends when I need a break from work anyhow.

Don’t get me started on the “instant messaging feature”. I even managed to randomly IM the odd FEMALE scam artist masquerading as a Jew trying to get me to sign up to a sex site with my credit card just to view their horny pictures avoiding all attempts to have a “real” conversation.

This site just goes from bad to worse. Next on the list we have the fact that there is no way to discern who is a paying member except the few  “premium” members who pay a bit extra to Stand Out^® (yes, JDate owns the trademark on that term, what a load of BS and a display of how much money they are making from the suckers who subscribe).

Trivia: A little bit of research reveals that a trademark costs anything from $1000-3000+ depending on countries covered by it.

Any “serious” business will consider getting their brand(s) trademarked since it costs A LOT LOT more than simply registering yet another LTD company which anyone can do and I mean anyone. Registering trademarks just because they can is not smart at all. Its like the way a nightclubs spends tons of cash on promotional materials and haven’t got a clue when it comes to social media on the web.

Anyway, what else can I say about this pile of pig shit. The web site framework uses the “server side scripting language for dummies” that is ASP.NET.

Why is Facebook so successful? One reason for sure is that it uses PHP and Apache servers with good scalability and expandability in features as and when they decide to implement and opening it up with 3rd party applications. Heck, they don’t even charge people to use their service, making most money from advertising and other investors and look at its development compared to JExacerbate.

Now don’t even mention the pricing model. The amount of $$$ it costs doesn’t equate to the value one would expect from it. No, I’m not saying that the famous plentyoffish.com site that is 100% free is somehow better because it is “credit card free”. JDate attracts a niche clientèle although they have made the site too traditional and beyond what is acceptable to me. It badly needs a revamp, design-wise and management.

For Christ’s sake, the amount of $$$ it generates doesn’t even get spent on the site that i can SEE or at least, they don’t make it clear enough. Its going into silly things like real-world speed-dating events that only get held in the States mostly and even worse they have no major integration between these events and the members on the site. Oi vey!

They have their email marketing set to “insanity-pilot” where I receive nothing useful except auto generated matches that provide no real value to me. Does anyone actually exist at JDate HQ ready to respond to my over-hyped subscription costs. From a cost-benefit analysis standpoint the numbers do not add up. What am I getting again exactly? An illusion of hope perhaps and a whole load of users who don’t trust my credibility because I’m a paying member. Sad but true.

Ok, so when both parties are paying members we should expect that they both have sincere intentions and should at least get a date out of it. No way! Showing that you’re mature and prosperous enough to pay around $25 to $40 a month (presumably funded by one’s Mafia crime family) is STILL not good enough to denote sincerity.

If I instant message a girl woman lady she may answer if the website doesn’t fall apart in the process. I never know the “real” reason she never connected 92% of the time. The IM system is very unreliable. It needs an IM system more like Facebook i.e. internal on the site using AJAX but oh no, they’ve built the site with ASP.NET – the pile of pig shit that it is for demoting feature rich and open-source web applications.

A Jew with a view:

If and when I find myself a nice Jewish lady from JDate.com I will revoke my statements of damnation and buy the site for redevelopment in my own image. Some day I will have to become the Saviour of JDate.com with a new infrastructure that puts all “free” sites to shame.

I think I will re-launch their brand under a new catchier name: JMasterbate™. At least that way we will have no confusion as to the nature of not taking HIGH paying subscribers seriously coupled with 9 out of 10 members with the self-defeating “no one is good enough for me” syndrome and the harmless fun albeit taboo element.

I want to see JDate v2.0 that incorporates some benefits from social networking sites like LinkedIn for example with a similar system of recommendations/testimonials that would suggest to other members like “hey, I’m a real person and not a scammer who has taken the time and effort to build up my online dating credibility”.

“I’m just a soul whose intentions are good. Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood!”

Dating and social networking sites need to join forces in bigger bolder ways to make it a safe and fun experience for all, including us current value-starved paying members. I hope and pray that the man upstairs will do something about this mess. Ignorance is not a valid excuse, these problems are REAL so stop denying it and spend your money on what the market demands or resign.

Legal Notice: I don’t own or claim to own the JMasturbate trademark though I would appreciate the common courtesy of this idea attributed wherever it may end up getting used.

PS. I know a quick solution to solve the IM issues and it doesn’t involve disabling it because in the correct hands its a useful tool. Now its up to the stubborn, lazy, fat-cat JDate owners to “WAKE UP” and accept proposals for some real changes that will increase business by at least 57% guaranteed, or you can lock me up in the Big Brother house for a whole season without a computer or Internet access and see how I suffer having to deal with petty cavemen and women squabbles.

PPS. To quote from the JDate site owned by Spark Networks® Ltd (Jesus, even that silly name has been registered, they must have more money than the whole of Africa!):

Spark Networks Limited does not conduct background checks on the members or subscribers of this website.

It doesn’t take much reverse-logic to figure out what this means. It basically says that “We, the owners of Jdate.com don’t give a rat’s ass if you get scammed by fake-profiles put up. We don’t have the time, money or detective resources to improve the quality and credibility of our paying members.”

PPPS. Its that IM thing again. A paying subscriber IM’s a non-paying member and they deny their chat request. Are they pissed off to receive yet another IM or were they genuinely busy? We will never know. A new option is needed. “Make me available for IM: yes or no?” to reduce the JExacerbation that is the Jdate IM service.

PPPPS. By the very definition of freethinking i.e. “a person who forms opinions on the basis of reason, independent of authority or tradition, esp. a person whose religious opinions differ from established belief” – This is how I’ve found myself spending the end of the recent Sabbath.