Last week I was watching a TV show I recorded  and when it was over and I returned to live TV the Dateline program was on.  I never watch it, I think it's a horrible show, always sensationalizing some poor woman's death. But it was on, and they were talking about Seeking Arrangement!

The show aired 3/25/21 and was titled: "The Waiting Car" A Man Uses an online dating site to meet and murder a college student.

Evidently this guy used Seeking Arrangement to lure a girl to his car late at night in a deserted park and then killed her.  Dateline ran some footage about the website, interviewed a couple of SBs and left the uninformed viewer with the distinct impression that this site was heavily populated by sexual predators and murderers.  Interestingly they did get a few of their facts correct.  Such as one college girl who said everybody on campus is aware of SA.  Everybody knows about it.  Which does seem to be true.  I don't know what Dateline's demographic is, but anyone who was not well informed would come away with a distinctly negative impression about SA and sugar dating in general.

SA is an online service that allows like minded people to connect and interact.  

 
This can be said for virtually any online service in the last 20 years, and NONE of them have been immune to users who abuse that service for criminal purposes.  

 
Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Match, eHarmony, eBay, PayPal, CashApp, Facebook, Twitter, and so many more services have all been attached to some news story about bad people doing bad things to other people using one or more of these services.  The services themselves are not inherently bad actors. Instead, bad people find ways to use these services to take advantage of people that are vulnerable.  What level of responsibility does each site have to keep bad actors out of their system? What level of responsibility does each user have to keep themselves safe from bad actors?  

 
The linked story below came out in Dec, 2019 and is titled:  
"Match's Parent Company Admits Sexual Predators Use Its Free Dating Apps Including Tinder, OKCupid"

 
So right now we see headlines about SA and bad actors who used it to commit crimes. These bad actors should be held accountable and prosecuted if they committed a crime. These current stories are sensationalized due to the salacious nature of the events involved AND, with the case in FL, the added "brain candy" of the individuals named being associated with one political party at a time when political divineness is extreme and appears in our news on a daily basis.  

 
So a year later, what happened to Match, Tinder, OKCupid and the other sites scandalized in the story? Nothing.  I think it's important to understand that generally, LE is not looking to take down legal online services, unless they believe the service is complicit in the crimes committed (i.e.: Backpage, RedBook). They want to arrest criminals who are breaking the law. You don't see the FBI trying to shut down Visa because criminals and terrorists use credit cards to make fraudulent purchases or launder money. And so you wont see LE trying to shut down Tinder or other dating sites because there are rapists who use these to find victims. The man in the story posted by Sweetman could have found his victims at a bar, or a supermarket, or an AA meeting. He just happened to use SA for THIS crime.  

 
For Facebook, Twitter, Google, and the like, their C-Level Execs continue to be called to hearings so that congress people can spank them for not making them look good. But we've seen no legislation that forces these companies to implement any significant changes in policy or operations - yet.  

 
For the smaller world of the Sugar Bowl, I think the themes we discuss here remain important and consistent:  

 
1. Sugar Dating is dating.  
2. We don't "share" our SB's - ever.
3. SD's and SB's must take due diligence before and after meeting to ensure the safety of all.

 
So even with the temporary spotlight shining brightly....  

 
Life is good

 
The Cat

Of course I agree with Herb's sage comments as always.  I only posted this story to let others know that some people might think SA is a dangerous place due to the nature of the TV broadcast.