Should dating sites be held responsible if some meets an offender on their site?

[Rhye]

I agree we should not judge her and that she should absolutely seek and find healing.. but I do doubt that getting involved in a possibly lenghty law suit with questionable arguments ( according to the best knowledge we have atm ) will accomplish that. :l

Maybe it wont. I am not going to speak for her, or for other victims like her, so I can be wrong when I say this. Sometimes, when a person is in pain, and when they want someone to hear what horrible things another human being has done to them, they have to do something to get heard. Sometimes, its these things that need to be done in order for some action to be taken.
But, again I say, I hope there are people around her that are taking care of her, and truly giving her sound advice instead of putting her in more pain.

 

[mina]

This is an interesting article about the same woman. Interestly she's not seeking financial damages, she thought she knew how to be safe on internet dates, she didn't invite him into her home. A Woman Sues Match.com After Sexual Assault - Business News - Business Review USA

I think I read that now match.com is going to screen it's users against a sex offender registry so she did win her lawsuit.

 

[SneakerPimp53]

I haven't been following the story; so I only read the article the OP posted. I agree that risky behavior has consequences. I hope she finds healing for whatever she needs healing from. Faking a rape is as disgusting to me as blaming the victim and it's why many rape victims aren't believed or feel like they can't come forward. I don't want to pat myself on the back for feeling like it's ok to throw a stone at her now.


This article says that the man followed her home after the second date and then attacked her; which is quite different from inviting him in- so the lines of truth aren't clearly defined. And it seems like she is not seeking money; but for dating sites to offer screening of people- this is her only demand.
Woman sues Internet dating site after sex assault | KSBY.com | San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, Paso Robles
Woman sues online dating site over alleged sexual assault | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times
A Woman Sues Match.com After Sexual Assault - Business News - Business Review USA
I don't believe match.com is at fault; but i am not really sure if the truth was she was acting like a stupid tart.

The story she told during her CNN interview, it's in the link I already posted, was that the man picked her up. They went for sushi, then returned to her apartment. She had to have allowed him up because she mentioned entering the building and then using an elevator, so the individual apartments are not accessible from the public street. If she's telling multiple versions of the story then that makes it seem even less creditable to me.

I personally wouldn't engage her conduct here if she wasn't suing, and if you're suing then it's about money. That's the only thing courts can award, a judge doesn't have the authority to tell match.com they have to start screening people. I'd find her a lot more sympathetic if instead of filing a lawsuit she was trying to get a measure requiring a certain level of screening through her state legislature. But she's not, she's going after money. I wouldn't agree with such a measure, but that's a worth while understand cause. The payday seeking just makes me wonder, especially given she waited more than a week to notify police, if the whole story isn't a lie. She had a couple dates with the guy, discovered he had a record and then went straight to trying to parlay a rape claim into a chunk of change.

 

[SneakerPimp53]

This is an interesting article about the same woman. Interestly she's not seeking financial damages, she thought she knew how to be safe on internet dates, she didn't invite him into her home. A Woman Sues Match.com After Sexual Assault - Business News - Business Review USA

I think I read that now match.com is going to screen it's users against a sex offender registry so she did win her lawsuit.

Specific performance awards are rare, and this is one is way beyond the authority of the courts. I tend to suspect this is a ploy by her attorney to seek cash compensation. A judge can decline the specific performance request and instead award monetary damages. It's a PR move, and the story about her being followed home is in direct contradiction to what she said in the CNN interview. I'm starting to strongly suspect the whole thing is bogus.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

It's hard to know the truth because you can't trust anything you read anymore as journalism with truth is pretty much dead anymore and no one here knows her so I guess we'll never know the truth. I do think dating sites should have some sort of screening, but again, in reality there are always ways to fool the site so I don't think that would work for everyone, but it's something.