Hi Folks, I had to temporarily do a 180 on forcing users to verify their phone to register and use the site because although it went a very long way towards reducing scammers and spammers, it also greatly reduced the number of legitimate users as it became an obstacle during registration.

So confirming your phone number is now optional and is not required to register on the site or contact other users who don't have Contact Restrictions. It's also no longer a requirement to participate in the Forums.

As a result, the number of new users and the activity on the site and the Forums should go up from this point forward. I'll be working on other backend solutions to keep the scammers to a minimum without making legitimate folks jump through hoops.

If you want to be safe, just set your Contact Restrictions to "With Verified Pic" and "With Confirmed Phone". Users can still only share their verified phone numbers with other users, so that has not changed.

More changes to come as I work on bringing the magic back to Dating.mobi!

@Andres:

Thanks for keeping us up to date

I would suggest making this the status quo....not just temporary. The easier it is to get in, the more people will come in. I realize it's a trade off...real folks vs scammers., but, at some point, users need to take the responsibility of spotting scammers on to themselves.
To help those users not familiar with internet dating sites, maybe a "safe site user" primer would help...I.e., when a user joins, he or she, in their welcoming message is given tips (possibly in the form of a link) on how to spot the ne'er do wells (the scammers). This could also be a site page that you, Andres, could create based on your knowledge of how to spot scammers ....with tips for safe surfing.
For example:
*Push using Google Image Search.
*Make sure an area code matches the users location.
*Point out that users who use forums are more likely to be real than non forum users (post history can be checked), and this may boost forum use also....important for users who want to use the site just for forum use..

I'm sure you can come up with more pointers. Like I mentioned, this could be a "safe surfing" site page used to educate users about scammers.

Also, I would suggest allowing non premium members to be able to post more pics..say, 3. Gives observing users more pics to compare, and image search.

Needed is a..."bigger gate"...to allow more users in... albeit, with some common sense deterrents for scammers.
At the end of the day though, it's ultimately up to the user to take the responsibility of spotting the bad guys.

These ideas are just my brain storming...and ideas just being thrown out.
And I certainly don't confess to knowing the financial limitations involved in creating new things.

Look forward to them for sure!

And let me just add....although it isn't needed right now.....that "Online Now" needs to come back as the site grows. New users want to know what to expect...in terms of possible dating prospects that are actually active....and that tool, Online Now, helps with that.
While it CAN be done with the Activity Feed, it's easier with just an Online Now sect.

Oh...one last thing...like Kelis says, "My milk shake brings all the boys to the yard".....please please please give new females looking for males one MONTH of free premium instead of just the week.
Get the wimins here and the men's will follow

And let me reiterate just one more time....I'm on two other sites (only for forum use) similar to this one (I won't name them)....and their mobile versions suckkkkkkkkkk compared to how Dating.mobi is set up.
In this day and age of mobile devices, this place is head and shoulders above those two in ease of surfing...not a doubt in my mind.

Ah another tip...make sure the zip code matches a user's city listed on their profile.

Another tactic I will use if the Convo ever goes offline is what I call the random pic test.
Say you're texting....and the person mentions something about their house, their car, a pet, whatever....Say, "I would love to see it, snap and send me a quick pic with your pretty little face in it".

@ MrWalkSoftly: Thanks for your detailed suggestions above, they are very helpful. Let me see what I can do about them. I'm very happy to hear our site see is much more mobile-friendly than others as that has been my aim since Day 1.

I just implemented a new solution during the registration process to block potential scammers from registering. I can't go into details so that they don't figure it out, but this new solution should drastically reduce the number of scammers and fake profiles that register on Dating.mobi without affecting legit users at all or making them jump through any hoops.

Keep up the good work

You're welcome. My only goal is to see this place prosper.
In fact, I just added this to my profiles on those two sites I mentioned earlier:





And as a testament to their lack of involvement in their own sites, it won't be taken down

I encourage all users here to link your Dating.mobi page on any other social media accounts you may have.

@Andres: how does it work I've tried 5 timez