We want the OLD Guardian Soulmates back!

Please sign this online petition if you are a user of the Guardian's Soulmates service, and would like to see the OLD version of the site put back online.

Thanks.

UPDATE (April 2nd): After 4 pages of negative (but constructive) comments in 3 days, Mairead O'Connor locked the article on Guardian online and disabled the posting of more comments (March 31st):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/soulmates-is-changing/product-development

The other article relating to the new Soulmates, where users also posted comments and then they were disabled again, has been removed completely from her profile, and now appears author-less:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/soulmates-is-changing/changes-to-soulmates

I have had no reply to messages I have sent through the Help section of the new Soulmates site.

On Monday I will be calling up the Guardian and trying to get through to Mairead O'Connor on the phone, and I suggest any other unhappy users do the same, as right now we are just being ignored.

Their switchboard phone number is: 020 3353 2000

Please also ask anyone you know who uses Soulmates to sign this petition and leave a comment.
It is anonymous, unlike Twitter, and as mentioned before comments on the Guardian's website have been disabled.

Thanks.

UPDATE (April 4th): Speaking with a switchboard operator on the phone, they informed me that they have been advised to take people's names and phone numbers and call them back. They said there is no one else we can contact or complain to, and it's not possible to speak to Mairead O'Connor directly. They also said that lots of people have been calling them today to complain.

UPDATE (April 5th): The Guardian have posted an author-less update in which they apologize for the problems (only 5 are listed) and continue to promise to fix them, without giving any reason for why the site was changed in the first place (which I think it's clear by now was monetary). They have also not allowed any comments on this one:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/soulmates-is-changing/update

I personally have had no reply to any of my emails (after one week), or the call I made on Monday.
Mairead O'Connor also seems to have ceased any activity on Twitter.
The Guardian have also removed any links to Soulmates from their front-page, effectively disowning the site for the moment.

I have received some direct messages through this petiton website from other users with useful suggestions as to who to contact and extra info to post up. Many thanks for the help.

175 signatures and 3000 views in one week mean something has to be done.

UPDATE (April 8th): 210 signatures, nearly 4000 views, still no reply to phone calls or emails...

UPDATE (April 23rd): 313 signatures, over 7000 views.

One month on, in a two-fingered salute to their loyal user-base, the Guardian have now COMPLETELY REMOVED the old Soulmates posts from their website, INCLUDING ALL USER COMMENTS. I received an email which has apparently been sent out to everyone who contacted them, saying something about offering some re-imbursement for current subscribers, without giving any specific amount or time frame.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/soulmates-has-changed

Here you can read another explaination of "Why have you changed the Soulmates site?" - "so we could develop the site in-house on an ongoing basis, and continuously improve the service for our customers."

I did receive one email informing me that apprently the Reader's Editor was going to be writing a column about the whole fiasco. If anyone sees this please send me a link and I will put it up here.

I have joined one of The Dating Lab's (the company that ran the old Soulmates site) other websites, which after using for a few days I find to be excellent. It's called The Love Lab and I noticed a few other people have been talking about it already in the comments. They are currently running an offer of 1 month's membership for free, so it's worth checking out. Not many people on there at the moment, so maybe if lots of old Soulmates users join we can flesh it out a bit.

http://www.thelovelab.co.uk

I'd like to point out that I'm not affiliated with The Dating Lab or any rival websites, I just thought we were being treated awfully and needed a forum for discussion / a place to show the Guardian just how many people don't agree with them and the new site.

Thanks to everyone who has posted here so far and sent me messages. Now that the link to this petition has been taken down from the Guardian's website, if you want to carry on signing this then please ask other people who used to use Soulmates to do so.

I'll post any more updates here when they happen.

Thanks.

Please keep on signing this petition and leaving constructive comments.

Guardian Contact Information:
Switchboard:
020 3353 2000
Website user help at guardian.co.uk:
userhelp@guardian.co.uk
Postal address and offices:
Kings Place, 90 York Way
London N1 9GU

Mairead O'Connor (Product Manager at Soulmates):
mairead.oconnor@guardian.co.uk

Alan Rusbridger (Guardian Editor-in-Chief)
alan.rusbridger@guardian.co.uk

Other people and emails which have been forwarded to me by other users:

Hi. I have been promised a refund on my subscription by Tina El-hage. She said "Your details were passed to me, I manage Soulmates at the Guardian". She's on tina.el-hage@guardian.co.uk or 020 335 34155. Cheers, M.

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