Dear Dater,

I decided to take the plunge and set up an online dating profile. I selected a site and answered hosts of questions into the night.  When I finally got to skimming the terms and conditions, I read this site did not consider a person who is ‘separated’ to be ‘single’.  This was definitely news to me.  I certainly knew I was single and had been for years.  So I pressed a few buttons to find the site blocked my profile.  I couldn’t believe it: all this effort for nothing.

I found this rich coming from a site that let people as young as 13 set up profiles.  I left this effort and set up a profile on another site.  A year or so later, I thought I would re-enter the site and switch my status from ‘separated’ to ‘divorced’.  The site wouldn’t let me in until I entered the date of my divorce.  With all the fictions out there in the world of online dating, I found this remarkable.

So if you take the plunge and set up your online dating profile – remember you are not ‘separated’.

Surely Eve

P.S. I got around this by creating a new email address.