This seems like an extremely uninformed post on this page. But could someone explain to me what this mashup thing is all about? What do you need to do in order to create these mashups? I understand there is something called APIs, which are instrumental in the process. Who provides these APIs and what are they? Where can one access these APIs? PLEASE HELP

Revenue? The only thing missing = the right APIs. Providers who do not reward referrals will inspire proof-of-concepts. Providers who reward referrals will inspire proof-of-revenues. In other words, nobody is asking that question about the likes of eBay & Amazon.

As for RorD, simple, aggregator. Look at the level of comparison resources in other major verticals vs. dating. Not good, IMO, so trying to fill some gaps, although admittedly still in “iceberg” mode.

Cheers,

Sean

Next mashup idea: No Google maps, those are useless for online dating. No single-site data pulls, that’s not a mashup and it’s too easy. Better search? Probably not, too difficult.

Forget free mashups show me the revenue.

Okay seriously, while I’m also guilty of releasing the latest (yet-another-) HotorNot-mashup, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by what comes next. The next apps will be more interesting than mere aggregation.

All in due time.

Forums, chatrooms, blogs, etc are a way to communicate with the person you want to date. A way to learn more about him/her/them.

Do you think your members exchange 2 messages and then go out for a date? I don’t think so.

“Most people who use dating sites are there because they want find someone ASAP…”

Correct! What better way then real time chat? Real time message board conversation?

The other 90% of my users log into the site, check a couple of emails, write a few responses and look at a profile or 2, and maybe do a search.

These people only have 5-10 minutes to do something the above is all they have time for.

I collect gigs and gigs of usage data, i’ve tried to introduce more social networking aspects, but they tend to mostly fail or polarize the membership in some way. My core membership is looking to date, not to waste time reading blogs, forums etc. People who read forums/blogs/ or hotornot like popularity contests are there to waste time. This causes a LOT of problems when they mix with people who want a date and want a date now.

“adding things like blogs, chat rooms, forums, popularity features etc devalues your site.”

I couldn’t disagree more. It’s the implementation that needs work. You really don’t like social networking do you? I’ve come to think that Fastcupid is one of the more interesting sites out there because it does have a paywall as well as all the stuff you think your users don’t seem to care about. What are the other 90% of your users doing on Pof?

I get hundreds of emails every single day, I have yet to come across one that even mentions the word RSS. Given that something like 5% of internet users even know what RSS is, and those 5% are composed of mostly the tech community I can’t see a huge demand for it.

If you are serious about finding someone you make a commitment to use a dating site. If you just want to surf feeds, blogs etc you would use something like myspace. Most people who use dating sites are there because they want find someone ASAP, adding things like blogs, chat rooms, forums, popularity features etc devalues your site. You will find that 2-5% of your membership is there just to read forums, another 2-5% of the site is there for blogs etc. At the end of the day you get a large following that really isn’t even interested in dating and the site ends up going nowhere. ie friendfinder.com, and friendster.com.