Exclusive interview with DoNotDateHim.co.za founder

Do Not Date Him has been making waves of late. I took it upon myself to not judge and instead get the information I wanted from the source. So I did just that and got in touch with the founder of the website, Yolandi van Rooyen (28).Here is the interview a nh.com exclusive:Do not date him is a very intriguing concept. Should guys be worried about this particular website?I do understand that most men feel very worried about the site. The main goal of the website is to make women aware of conmen as well as men that are physically,emotionally and sexually abusive. The idea is to be more pro active about these concerns in society and to help women to make more informed choices next time they start a relationship with a man.Why did you start the website?I've been in an physically and emotional abusive relationship myself and I wanted to prevent other women and their children to experience the same pain and suffering.The idea isn't yours, tell me a bit about how you set up the website, did you hire developers and designers or is it all your skill?I read about the American website Dontdatehimgirl in a magazine and I immediately thought that this could be very effective with South Africa's high domestic violence statistics. I did call in the help of developers and a designer and I also had to get a lawyer to help me setup the terms and conditions for the website.You aren't very shy, you were written about in the Saturday Star recently. Aren't you nervous of being outed as the founder?The Beeld published my name in their article and I have to say I did feel a bit nervous about everyone knowing that I am the founder but now that the cat is out of the bag I have accepted the fact. I am still very camera shy though.How are you going to prevent abuse of the your service? What is stopping any woman from gaining revenge through your site?I do moderate all the profiles myself and I am definately in the process of evolving the website into a community site where women will be able to get information and healing. Any user can report a page for any abuse or foul language and when I communicate with my users I encourage them to be responsible with their comments and posts.This site portrays men in a very bad light whether you like to admit it or not. Is this not just perpetuating the cycle?Yes it does make some men look bad, but I,allot of women and men feel that it is time to seperate the good men from the bad. For many years and generations this topic has been a taboo and that also didn't help to stop the cycle. If women can see a very dangerous man's profile on my website it can prevent her from entering a relationship whith this man and can possibly stop the cycle from jumping from one abusive relationship to another.Are you aware of any legal action taken by outed men against the original Don't Date Him Girl website?Yes, Don't Date Him Girl had two lawsuits in 2006 and they won both of them.Have you received any hate mail yet?Yes,What are your plans for the sites future?I am already in the process of evolving the website into a site for information, discussion and healing. There will be experts writing articles about issues that envolve women and the struggles they are facing on a daily basis. A legal expert will help women with issues concerning their rights and the correct procedures to follow. I am also excited to introduce a forum and a rating system.Do you have a Do Not Date Her in mind?The domain was bought on the 3rd of the September when the news of Donotdatehim broke. The site launched this week.Do you plan on making money off the site?Unfortunately I do still need funding to pay for the hosting monthly and to keep the website live.And finally, do you have anything you would like to add?I would like to invite all men to join the fight against women and child abuse. It is not going to help if we stay silent and action have to be taken to eliminate this evil in society.I'd like to thank Yolandi for being so transparent and getting involved online. I truly do hope that the site reaches its intended goal of protecting women and spreading the word against abuse.I have my reservations about the potential success of the site, prevention of abuse and proper use of the service but in the end only time and lawyers fees will be able to tell if the site succeeds or not.