Matchmaker Dating Site
Founded on the success of an award-winning matchmaking service, Midwest Matchmaking aims to help singles throughout the heartland find their partner. Our one of a kind process of helping people find genuine love makes us stand out in the Matchmaking industry. In addition to holding true to Midwestern values, we hold the standard of integrity and honesty, opening our doors to those looking to invest in. Eharmony - a trusted online dating site for singles. Eharmony is the first service within the online dating industry to use a scientific approach to matching highly compatible singles. Eharmony's matching is based on using its 32 DIMENSIONS® model to match couples based on features of compatibility found in thousands of successful relationships.
Matchmaker Dating Sites
| Founded | 1986; 35 years ago |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Gregory Scott Smith |
| Industry | Online dating service |
| Current status | Offline |
Matchmaker.com was the first online dating service. It was founded in 1986 and first operated via a bulletin board system.
Members completed a questionnaire that enabled the platform to rank potential matches based on compatibility.
History[edit]
Matchmaker.com originated from a bulletin board system[1] created by Gregory Scott Smith in San Antonio, Texas in March 1983. It began as a dial-up system running on a single Apple II+ with a modem. Shortly afterwards, it was ported to a Microsoft Xenix–based Tandy 6000 microcomputer and re-written in MBASIC, and then re-written again in C by programmer Jon Boede. It was originally conceived as a pen-pal network for everyone. There were no membership fees and the system operated on user donations.
In 1985, the system was relocated to Houston, Texas and operated on four dial-up lines. The following year, two other systems were networked and allowed users in San Antonio, Texas and San Jose, California to join the 'date-a-base'.
The original site started in 1986 was in the form of a bulletin board system. Each system catered to a geographic area (code) allowing users to find like interests. The original BBS based system only catered to local computer savvy users within a local telephone area code. However, exchange of email between systems and profiles was later implemented using sendmail and uuencoding making uucp and, ultimately the internet, the Matchmaker network backbone. The Matchmaker network was featured in the first edition of '!%@:: a directory of electronic mail addressing and networks' as one of the larger email networks prior to the rise of the Internet.
In 1987, the software became available to franchise from the programmer, Jon Boede. The number of local systems grew to about a dozen, and became funded by user subscriptions. This business model allowed for each system to be moved into a commercial office environment for stability.
In late 1992, the ASCII BBS style was extended to also be a telnet-based service, allowing access from anywhere in the world without the need for telephone long distance charges. A year later, the web-based front end was created. The first Matchmaker system to receive the new version was the largest of the communities at the time, 'Christie's Matchmaker' (see below). Other Matchmaker franchises quickly also adopted the web based front-end.
The site went online in 1996. Phil Moerschell, a founder and owner of multiple matchmaker franchises at the time, acquired the domain 'matchmaker.com' and began using it to link to the 15 matchmaker sites he was running.[2]
Million Dollar Matchmaker Dating Site
In 1998, each of the franchisees agreed to consolidate, centralize, and combine their resources. Matchmaker incorporated and relocated all of the Matchmaker servers to Bedford, Texas. In September 1998, the system became burdened by having to provide direct dial-in over modems and a decision was made to move to the Internet exclusively. At the height of the distributed franchise model in 1998, the number of national systems exceeded 60. An agreement was reached to centralize in Bedford, Texas and incorporate with the name Matchmaker.com. Private stock was issued and there were approximately 12 administrators and employees. Patrick M. O'Leary became the company's president.
In 2000, Matchmaker was acquired by Lycos for $44.5 million cash. The site had 4 million users at that time.[2][3][4]
In February 2006, the site was purchased by Avalanche, LLC.[5]
Matchmaker Online Dating Site
In 2016, the site was shut down.[6]
See also[edit]
Personal Matchmaking Service
References[edit]
- ^'Love & Technology: A History'. POV.
- ^ ab'Lycos to Buy Matchmaker'. New York Times. Associated Press. July 14, 2000.
- ^'Lycos to buy Matchmaker.com for $44 million'. CNET. June 27, 2000.
- ^'Lycos agrees to acquire Matchmaker.com for $44M'. American City Business Journals. June 26, 2000.
- ^'Avalanche LLC (Date.com) Acquires Matchmaker.com' (Press release). PR Newswire. February 28, 2006.
- ^'Goodbye Date.com and Matchmaker.com - Avalanche Has Gone Out Of Business'. Dating Site Reviews. October 25, 2016.
Matchmaking Service
'I joined Midwest Matchmaking in June 2012. I had used the 'traditional' dating websites and was tired of meeting people who were looking for a good time and not a solid relationship. I truly wanted to find someone with the same goals and hopes for the future; someone who was looking for a long-term commitment. It was important to me that I met someone who had children like I do. I met with Courtney, and right away she was confident she would find my perfect match. However, after going on a few dates, I was ready to take a break. Courtney was persistent and convinced me to go on another, and that is when I met the love of my life. Nathan and I have been together since November 2012. We are very committed and our relationship continues to grow daily. I have never laughed, smiled, and enjoyed life as much as I do since meeting Nathan. I thank Courtney for helping me find my perfect match. She was professional and realistic with the matchmaking process. This is a wonderful dating service that I would recommend to anyone looking for a long-term relationship!'