STORY 1 -- YAHOO NEWS -- Nov 3 -- Too busy to meet new people and tired of the bar scene, Traynor, 39, turned to LunchDates.com to meet someone. A personal chef by profession, Traynor, 5 ft 5 tall, checked off medium under "build" in the Web site's membership survey. She said she told a LunchDates counselor in a phone interview she weighed a little less than 200 pounds. She got a call from Lunchdate, and the representative said, 'I'm sorry. We can't help you because you're overweight.' Sack, Lunchdates co-founder said, "I just don't have the people for everybody. Whether it's age or body type, religion, hobbies, if someone asked us for something we can't do we try to be honest about it," Sack said. Body type can be an issue with dating. I have no control over it. I can only be as honest, as courteous and as sincere with people as I possibly can. And I'm certainly going to spend more time with my staff about it," Sack said.
STORY 2 -- YAHOO NEWS -- Nov 4 -- Helen Long was feeling good about herself after finishing her first Ironman triathlon three years ago at the age of 40. A busy personal trainer looking to meet someone, long turned to LunchDates because of their claim to provide a personal touch. She indicated she would be interested in dating men between 33 and 48. LunchDates called her back and told her she was being unrealistic about the age range. "There's no way I would have anyone in their 30s interested in meeting you."
Mark Brooks: Real world matchmaking services are extremely limited in their selection. They usually have membership bases of a few hundred members to draw on for their matchmaking. On the one hand, it's good these services are honest about the services they think they can provide before extracting
thousands of dollars from hopefuls. On the other hand, this example is wholly discriminatory and outrageous? Your comments please...