Today my calendar beeped with a message, “On Monday you will being to exhibit greater happiness mental clarity and curiosity.” I had to think a minute before I remembered I set the alarm last fall when my dad did my astrology chart.

Recently I asked him what he thought of an astrology chart I received from a prominent astrology-based dating site. Here’s my dad schooling me on the different software platforms used by companies selling horoscopes, including the kind used by some matchmakers. Agree or disagree, now you know where I get my opinionated nature from.

You were born at 6:14am, but, that’s not going to change the attached horoscope much. I don’t know what pre-packaged software is used, but it’s very basic and not very helpful. Generating such a report involves entering the time, date and place of birth and executing the file. I would expect that an astrology dating site would provide some greater focus on the relationship factors in a chart. It raises the question of whether the site developers know anything about astrology, or are just trying to market another angle.

This is western chart, and not a sidereal one, the style I use. The difference is that in a sidereal chart all planets move backward about 23 degrees from their tropical positions. In your case, the sun remains in easy going Libra in both charts and that gives pre-packaged astrology a good starting point as those born under a Libra sun have distinct (and positive) personality traits (ed note: yay!)

Overall, I wouldn’t build a dating business on such flimsy astrology as reflected in the printout you attached. I have attached a report using your birth data, also published by hitting enter. The introductory text and a lot of the shorter information is from Solar Fire, a widely used program. The more extensive information on the result of planets in certain house is material I have written. While it may be better in some respects than much of the pre-packaged stuff that is out there it IS A FAILURE in terms of providing useful astrological information.

It’s only the second horoscope I’ve produced by this method and it shows, to me, why I had good sense in abandoning efforts for point and click astrololgy. Beside the fact that it needs editing, and neglects important information such as the exaltation of Mercury, the planet of communication and ruler of your horoscope, in the ascendant or important rising sign location.

Basically, pre-packaged astrology always fails for the same basic reason. Every planetary placement, every planet, introduces both positive and negative results. Nothing is all good, or bad. Pre-packaged interpretations concentrate on the positive, which is important, but fail to point out the weakness in the chart, those areas in life where you have to be careful and work hard to avoid obvious pitfalls and mistakes.

What I tried to do, and it doesn’t work out well, is to start the interpretative language with positive things, and then to note what might happen if the planet was weakened in some way. This is doomed to not work as astrology is rather complex, it’s difficult to find common language to describe the enormous variety of possibilities, and almost impossible to give clients the information they need to decide on the basis of a written report if they are to use the positive, or the negative, information.

All in all, your chart as published using my interpretative files in Solar Fire, succeeds in some places, and falls down disastrously in many others. I wouldn’t pay much attention to it, and especially not to let any of the negative information enter your mind. It’s a exercise using a program approach that doesn’t work, and that’s why I never use it. What it does show is that if an astrology dating site was to use astrology in some form that the simplistic stuff you got for free is worth no more than you paid for it.

Astrology can provide a far meatier range of insights into the mind and character, but this should be done person-to-person, and not by printout, as it takes years of study to be able even to read a pre-packaged chart interpretation and not make any serious mistakes.

As one of the best know Vedic astrologers said in a tape I listened to last week, and I shared with your cousin, the horoscopes of anyone who has achieved anything worthwhile in life shows problems and challenges which must be overcome by strength of character, by intelligence, by persistence, by refusing to admit failure or defeat, by weathering storms until the weather clears. Problems are crucibles to test us, and to make us even stronger. At the end of life we should be able to face even death with equanimity, and without letting fear or anxiety shake our composure.

I hope astrology-based dating sites will chime in with their thoughts on the above.

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Today’s guest post is by Julie Ferman of Cupid’s Coach. Julie has been a key participant and driver of new ideas at matchmaking and online dating conferences for many years.

The third annual Matchmaker Conference over October 23-25 was a raving success. Gathered together in Weehawken, NJ at the Sheraton Lincoln Harbor Hotel were 85 of the world’s most savvy and dedicated personal matchmakers, dating coaches, and dating industry execs.

The conference is produced by Lisa Clampitt and Jerome Chasques, founders of Matchmaking Pro, the first association which brings together professional matchmakers and dating and relationship coaches. The mission of the annual Matchmaker Conference is to build a healthy, supportive community of peers, to share resources, maintain quality control, and to literally evolve and propel forward the personal matchmaking industry. The association and the conference provides the opportunity for individual matchmakers and larger companies to share resources and referrals, support one another, receive press leads, and develop national and international referral networks for both prospective client leads and referral candidates for existing clients.

The halls of the hotel were abuzz with enthusiasm, shared stories, abundant laughter and “aha” insight moments as this group of dating and relationship experts compared notes on dating coaching secrets, client challenges and success stories, business innovations, marketing strategies, and innovative ideas for client sharing and cooperative matching strategies.

The conference has been emceed each year by Julie Ferman, founder of Cupid’s Coach, a personal matchmaking and dating coaching company based in Los Angeles. A 20-year veteran of the dating industry, formerly a Great Expectations franchisee, Julie Ferman has produced many a dating industry conference and is also a regular presenter at the Internet Dating Conference in Miami. When asked what’s special and different about the Matchmaker Conference, Ferman beamed with her contagious ebullient enthusiasm. “There’s a completely different ‘vibe’ here at this conference, compared with any dating industry event I’ve ever attended or produced; when this group of matchmakers gathers, it’s literally a Love Fest. The talents and skills that might make someone a natural for personal matchmaking are very different from those that might enable success in business; matchmakers need to not only be experts at enabling relationship but also we need to learn how to survive and thrive as business owners, and this conference is all about strengthening both elements of ourselves and our businesses. It’s an honor and a true pleasure to work with Lisa and Jerome and to lead and synergize with these matchmakers from all over the world. We had speakers and attendees from Singapore, Australia, Switzerland, the U.K., Canada – amazing.”

Highlights of the conference: Keynote speaker Rachel Greenwald, author of “Why He Didn’t Call You Back” delivered a fascinating and well received address, revealing the insights of her extensive research into what women are doing that’s working with the modern day man, and…what’s not. Also a highlight was the presentation by Joelle Apter, with GenePartner, which has developed a biological matching method, designed as a complementary service for matchmakers and online dating sites. Based on the genetic profile of the client, the GenePartner formula determines the level of genetic compatibility with the person they are interested in meeting.

Early-Bird pricing is available through November for next year’s Matchmaker Conference, same place, Weehawken, NJ. October 22-23-24, 2010. For early bird reservations visit www.matchmakerconference.com or call 877.232.8743.

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The Matchmaking Institute is conducting an industry survey of 2,500 industry professionals in the United States and Canada.

This survey will be published this January – and each January thereafter, as part of an industry fact sheet and resource for the media. Full results of the survey will be sent to respondents in exclusivity, and for free, in January 2009.

Mid-January, results will be communicated to the press. If you wish to be considered for potential interviews between January 15 and February 14, 2009, please let them know by email after completing the survey at survey@matchmakinginstitute.com.

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Lot’s going on today. First up, the iovation iDate wrapup webinar at 2PM EST, the Spark Networks investor call at 4:30PM EST, followed by the Matchmaking Institute Cupid system demo, at 5PM EST.

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Lot’s going on today. First up, the iovation iDate wrapup webinar at 2PM EST, the Spark Networks investor call at 4:30PM EST, followed by the Matchmaking Institute Cupid system demo, at 5PM EST.

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Lot’s going on today. First up, the iovation iDate wrapup webinar at 2PM EST, the Spark Networks investor call at 4:30PM EST, followed by the Matchmaking Institute Cupid system demo, at 5PM EST.

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John Tierney has a piece in the New York Times, Hitting it Off, Thanks to Algorithms of Love.

The psychologists and academics who created the personality tests at PerfectMatch eHermony and Chemistry.com are mentioned. Chemisty in particular is singled out for it’s attacks on eHarmony.

Until outside scientists have a good look at the numbers, no one can know how effective any of these algorithms are, but one thing is already clear. People aren’t so good at picking their own mates online. Researchers who studied online dating found that the customers typically ended up going out with fewer than 1 percent of the people whose profiles they studied, and that those dates often ended up being huge letdowns. The people make up impossible shopping lists for what they want in a partner, says Eli Finkel, a psychologist who studies dating at Northwestern University’s Relationships Lab.

Without peer review, as far as I’m concerned, personality tests on dating sites are a shot in the dark. I don’t care if it’s supported by decades-old tests or brand new insight and analysis. Without peer review, it’s all marketing hyperbole.

Tierney found a study done by eHarmony in 2005 titled Helping Singles Enter Better Marriages Using Predictive Models of Marital Success.

I would like to see a study of how effective various matchmaking systems are. Have a series of people join sites with matching algorithms, go out on dates, and review the results.

Remember, a dating site is only as good as it’s members.

The irony of the situation is that singles don’t care. They want results, not science. How in the world is someone supposed to gauge the effectiveness of Chemistry and eHarmony?

Tierney is asking for online matchmaking success stories, horror stories as well. The comments are full of personal stories of people trying various dating sites.

This one summed it up for me:

I hope science will be successful. I have already 5 wives, and none is the right one for me.

Interesting marketing fact: eHarmony is claiming responsibility for 2 percent of the marriages in America last year, nearly 120 weddings a day. In the past, the number touted was 45 wedding a day.

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In preparing for a radio interview, I came across several useful articles containing information about the worldwide dating industry. Time magazine’s We Just Clicked is fantastic, lots of information about online and offline dating around the world. Chock full of useful information, it contains current information about the worldwide dating industry and looks at cultural differences and their impact on how dating sites operate in different countries. The article starts with the usual Match, Chemistry and eHarmony stats, then goes on to shed light on the Indian and Asian matchmaking market.

Here are some of the data you might find interesting.

After booming growth in the early part of this decade, with industry revenue increasing by more than 70 percent a year-over-year, the online dating category has slowed down. The market grew 10 percent in 2006, to $649 million, and is projected to grow 8 percent annually until 2011, according to Jupiter Research.

Of the 92 million unmarried Americans 18 and older counted by the Census last year, about 16 million have tried online dating, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. In 2003 online daters increased 77%. With sites charging $35 a month on average, revenues popped accordingly. Growth has ebbed of late to about 10% a year, say analysts, partly because of the competing popularity of social-networking sites. You can flirt on Facebook too–and for free.

Of the 14 million Chinese Internet daters, only 500,000 pay subscription fees; thus industry revenues are estimated at just $24 million, according to iResearch.

Now in 35 countries, the Dallas-based Match.com says 30% of its 1.3 million members live outside the U.S., accounting for 30% of its $350 million 2007 revenues (the bulk of its 15 million members just browse for free).

eHarmony poses 436 questions to users in order to find them the best match. It has since accrued 17 million members, 230 employees, $200 million in annual revenues and 30% yearly growth. That’s not to mention marriages at a rate of 90 a day, unions that so far have produced 100,000 children (a disproportionate number of them named Harmony).

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In the last two weeks I have had two people mention to me that Think Partnership is having difficulties with it’s relationship properties.

The recent The Right One deal appears to have fallen through, and Relationship Exchange is a shell of its former self, with the sale to a mining concern on permanent hold.

Here we have news that Think is teaming up with BET Interactive on a new dating site with matchmaking capabilities.

Earlier this year I asked What Happened to Vintacom?

Previously, I noted that nothing says “we care deeply about creating long-lasting relationships� than being bought by a mining company involved in coal bed methane in the South Central Colorado region.

I think it’s a good idea for Think to unload it’s relationship properties and focus on it’s marketing companies.

While trolling around eBay I found The Right One is auctioning off memberships. Is that even legal?

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