if weblogs are a manifestation of amateur journalism, perhaps something to be gleaned from this salon article about online personals sites is that these sites are the playground of amateur advertising. (that's also why it is a fertile area for sites to make money: you get users to create the content for you.)

(one quibble from the article: am i really supposed to believe that dot.com companies in san francisco had vending machines stocked with banana moon pies? i think someone is letting some non-west-coast roots show. i'll let slide the bit about going to the company vending machine somehow involving a trip outside into the wan san francisco sun, if only because it lets me use the word “wan.”)