They can post details and photographs of the miscreants, scathing appraisals of anything from their true marital status to whether or not they were just after "one thing" (clue: not deep, lifelong commitment). There is also the opportunity for a brutal rubbish-ing of the hopeful terms in which these men might present themselves on match-making sites (from "tall, dark and handsome" to "whole foot shorter than stated, with man- breasts").

From now on, all the murk and mystery of meeting a new man will be a thing of the past. Women who are suspicious, or just plain nosy, can type in their man's name and see if he pops up in human form, or as the devil himself, swathed in sulphurous fumes, horns poking out of his head and a wedding ring hidden in his back pocket. More proof, as if any more were needed, that when women work together we are unbeatable and, frankly, rather scary.

Women have always grassed up "bad eggs", mainly in the time-honoured way of huddling in disgruntled scrums in nightclub toilets, where within minutes of shaking your hands under the dryer there would be a jab between the shoulder blades with a manicured nail, followed by an explosion of "privileged information" that might have taken a John Le Carre spy his entire career to amass.

If you've ever wondered why men always make nervous jokes about women going to the loo together, this is it - even if merely on a subconscious level, men sense the danger that lurks in that impenetrable female fortress of squirty-soap dispensers and shared lip balm. The true "information superhighway" of the gentler sex.

Now we have the creator of DontDateHimGirl.com calling her site a form of "dating credit rating", and you have to ask yourself - is any of this fair, or necessary? Of course it isn't. Which is probably why there will soon be a brother site, DontDateherMan.com, to redress the balance a little. On the other hand, it's not as if the blending of love and Internet technology is anything new - for years now a woman I know has been Googling every man she meets.

I say, "Please stop doing that, you look like some crazy woman." She says, "Aha, I've just found a speech he gave three years ago on the changing bio-climates of the African continent. Now we've got something to talk about - just as soon as I find out what a bio-climate is."  Moreover, unlike celebrities, who can just pick up any old gossip rag or tune into "Hollywood Confidential" to find out whether, say, Colin Farrell is a dating no-no (or yes-yes), we have to go blindly into that relationship abyss.

Unless of course we're dating Farrell, in which case we know what we're letting ourselves in for, and when it all goes wrong, we can at least go on-site and type: "Twinkly eyed Irishman, my foot - he goes after anyone from 18 to 80, and spends the whole time in front of the football drinking Guinness." And what would be so wrong with that - except (if Farrell's lawyers happen to be reading) the appalling libellous lying about pretty much everything?

 Indeed, questions should be asked. When did women start thinking it was a good idea to morph into the gender KGB? Must every guy (married reprobates excepted) be emotionally and psychologically "frisked" before trying his chances these days? Most pressingly: can women be trusted with such a website? Although, obviously, most women are goddesses of truth, there is always the chance that a few of these postings might be motivated by spite or sour grapes. There is also the danger of limiting our possibilities. One imagines that every woman has a man in her romantic CV who was wonderfully unexpected, shall we say (Okay, insolvent with funny teeth, but nice with it); someone, anyway, who she probably wouldn't have given the time of day to had she properly "looked into" the situation (or not drunk those 10 vodkas that first evening). Bearing that in mind, maybe sometimes it's a good thing to pitch into the romantic unknown... well, not knowing. Knowledge might be power, but travelling hopefully is a lot more fun.

- The Guardian

By Barbara Ellen

Comments on this column can be sent to relations@nationgroup.com.