Is there any free dating site with the 'technical chops' to reign in spam? So far as I can tell, none of them overcome spam directly via technology.
eHarmony - Subscription
Match.com - Subscription
Myspace - Gets spam; though it's less of an issue because it seems like spammers haven't been able to figure out how to emulate a typical real profile, and because many people use the site to connect with people they know already. In other words it's not technology or effort from Myspace, it's that the model is different.
Facebook - Pseudo-dating site, like myspace, plus it has additional restrictions on creating an account.
Any other dating site I've seen has spam all over the place.
OkCupid.com's pretty good about it. Maybe I'm biased.
Also, dating sites aren't the only sites susceptible to spam. Craigslist would probably be a spammer's heaven if they didn't have such great community filtering features.
You're right, Craigslist is a good example. But even there there's enough phishing going on that I'm not comfortable using the dating section. I've had success finding apartments though.
The difference with dating sites, though, is that they only work when members are active, aggressive, and open with their personal information. They work best in a way that spammers will rush to exploit, at which point everyone gets frustrated and stops using the service. This doesn't stop spammers, and pretty soon the ratio of valid profiles to fake ones is ridiculously small.
eHarmony - Subscription
Match.com - Subscription
Myspace - Gets spam; though it's less of an issue because it seems like spammers haven't been able to figure out how to emulate a typical real profile, and because many people use the site to connect with people they know already. In other words it's not technology or effort from Myspace, it's that the model is different.
Facebook - Pseudo-dating site, like myspace, plus it has additional restrictions on creating an account.
Any other dating site I've seen has spam all over the place.