Pat Gaudette


AuthorWeb DeveloperPublisher

Dating & Relationships

Friends and Lovers was the first site I developed. In December 1996, it was named one of the Top 10 Relationships Websites by PC Computing Magazine. A couple years later, Sally Jesse Rafael began one of her TV shows with “According to friends and lovers dot com…” The original site grew into a massive web of thousands of pages residing on several different servers.

As one of the Internet's first relationships websites, Friends and Lovers was a good match with dating affiliates who were just getting started themselves. Over the years I opted out of several affiliate programs when they became less about matchmaking and more about sex. Now I don't link to any matchmaking or dating affiliates except those that are connected to Google's Adsense program. Google has a policy of not accepting porn so I trust their ad feeds on my sites.

I kept expanding the site to include a matchmaking program, several forums, chat rooms, a custom postcards program, a virtual wedding chapel, and an online store. In January 2010 the site was given a complete makeover. The forums, which attracted more spammers than legitimate posters, were closed. The matchmaking program was removed from the site because it also attacted too many spammers. The virtual wedding chapel, advice columns, and relationship articles now have a cohesive look and affiliate programs have been pared down to Google's Adsense and Amazon. Due to hacker attacks the site is due for another extensive makeover.

For a list of my sites, visit Home & Leisure Publishing, Inc.