back to article Gumtree gives up on dating AND casual sex

Free ads service Gumtree is closing its dating and encounters section, claiming it's a reaction to customer feedback. The eBay-owned site said its dating section was giving lower levels of satisfaction than others, so it was closed before Christmas. Managing director Suchi Mukherjee told the BBC it was a difficult decision, …

COMMENTS

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  1. James 5

    Or maybe it's just his English?

    "in all the ads i put up i never found or meet a single gen female, so yes it was fun looking but really a wast of time, maybe its were i live near portsmouth, it seems to be a dead zone for swinging down here".

    Suspect that any female looking at this may not have fancied swinging with someone whose English as as sloppy as this. Who knows what other things he disregards (hygiene, safe-sex etc.)

    1. Peter Kay

      You've clearly not been on a dating site recently

      Compared to some of the women's profiles on dating sites, the above is practically Shakespeare.

      It's acceptable for some people to use text speak, apparently..

      I do wonder how many of the 'single women' on sites like gumtree are actually escorts. Last time I briefly looked it seemed pretty high. Better to use a proper dating site - there's plenty of decent free ones.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Paris Hilton

        You've clearly not been on a dating site recently → #

        > I do wonder how many of the 'single women' on sites like gumtree are actually escorts.

        I thought largely the 'single women' on sites like gumtree were actually hairy palmed policemen, journos and wanna be writers fishing for the gullible.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Happy

          Right Ho!

          Now that they have closed this off - WHERE CAN I FIND THE ESCORTS?!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Darn...

    ..where will I get my cheap hookers, I mean bored loney 21 year old looking for good times, from now.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Unhappy

      its a shame-I've met some decent people there.

      Its a shame.I've met some nice people via Gumtree since I moved here a year ago.

      I've taken part in skill swaps(teaching someone French in return for learning Hindi)

      I've met running & gym bud in my area. I've also met some nice people via the

      dating section and even found a date for a friend who was dumped by her

      boyfriend on her birthday. I wouldn't be surprised that ebay/gumtree starts

      offering dating services via a 3rd party paid for service instead.They probably

      get kickbacks for that.I have spoken to Suchi Muklherjee about it but I'm guessing

      that they cant be bothered with the Spam anymore.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    @AC 10:53

    Try your local football team! They're usually a bunch of overpaid whores! :o)

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Dogging

    It might be me but what's the first thing you do when you are snowed in, contemplating a fantastic 4 miles long ice ring because your local council consider buying salt and/or gritting roads irrelevant?

    Yes putting an ad to meet a 21yo bored top model (sorry, a 62 yo fat man) in an isolated car park 20 miles away, to have some fun in the wood by -10... Sounds to me like IE (the site, not the browser) is just trying to cash in on cheap PR (and some stupid "newspaper" fall for it, can't wait for the Daily Mail coverage....).

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    ...having used it a lot myself ...

    it was getting to the stage where any ad you replied to, or any reply you got was from some "dating" site or not, where you had to sign up to see the "message" someone had left. Of course there was a handy URL to click ...

    Also the categories were badly policed ... it was not uncommon to click on an ad in "women for women" and have some guy boasting about how good his tongue was ...

    Good riddance.

  6. Andrew 42
    Heart

    Once there were genuine people on these boards...

    Back in 2002 and 2003 the dating and casual relationships boards on Gumtree were actually useful and full of genuine people seeking whatever - ah, those were the days!

    But even at the time, I could see the increasing number of escorts doing postings, and week by week I could see the board changing.

  7. I'm Brian and so's my wife
    Joke

    @AC 11:43

    With the reference to hookers by the OP, shurely you mean rugby, not football?

  8. Jerome 0

    Pet scams?

    How on earth are pet adverts used by 419 scammers?

    Do they hook their marks in by offering suspiciously cheap pets, send out photos of the cute fluffy little bastards, and then it's all "send me $3000 dollars or the hamster gets it"?

    Or is it more "my client is the cousin of the crown prince of Nigeria, and he has 500 gerbils that we need to transfer out of the country..."?

    1. Pri
      Coat

      Re: Pet scams?

      Apparently individuals working in the healthcare sector are the biggest culprits - pretty much a day won't go past without a doctor trying to run a cat-scam.

  9. john oates (Written by Reg staff)

    Re: Pet scams?

    Pretty much. They typically get you interested in a fluffy puppy, then tell you they need $XXX for immunisations, vets certificates etc...

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Expensive Encounters!

    IE - that would be the site that's free for women to join but charges men £100 per month. Hmm, if it were the other way around would it be legal?

    1. Steve Roper

      It's illegal either way

      Even though the feminists hate it, the anti-discrimination laws can be used both ways. Someone should take IE to court over it: join up, pay your 100 quid, claim you were discriminated against on the basis of gender, and get the lawyers and magistrates involved. We need to bring bastards like this to justice because men do not do enough as it is to oppose the endemic anti-male discrimination taking place in our society.

      I'll check to see if this site operates in Australia. If it does, I'll take the bastards to court my bloody self!

  11. Head
    Thumb Up

    Hmmm

    I don't care either way... i used Gumtree now and then to sell stuff, it is awesome :)

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    WTF?

    ...is a "specialised lifestyle choice"?? Is that some kind of manufactured Islingtonian PC euphemism for "Oh I tried the bloke/woman thing but it just didn't work, out so now I only specialise in being serially ravaged by transexual norsemen in wildebeest g-strings while being slapped with a smoked kipper and made to recite the works of Dickens through a gag made of shredded Peruvian goats scrotums"?

    This isn't the Daily Fail and we aren't 6 year old Womens Institute Cameron fanciers for gods sake. Get a grip man!

    1. VulcanV5
      WTF?

      . ". . we aren't 6 year old Womens Institute. . .

      . . . Cameron fanciers for gods sake."

      Indeed we aren't.

      Anyway, as the mental age of the typical Cameron fancier, six is really far too high.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Time for a rethink!

    Hmmmm so that would explain why the Business Services section is now peppered with people looking for "fun" and offering massage services. At least previously these ads didn't impose on the rest of the site but now people will just post them in other categories leaving genuine users to troll through all their crap to find the genuine ads.

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