Find Out About Who You're Dating: Ask Their Exs!

At our age, everyone we date has a history. But don't expect to hear it from the person sitting across the restaurant dinner table from you. And you'd rather know sooner rather than later if that current certain someone is right for you.

One way to speed up the process is to ask someone from their past. And a new Web site hopes to provide a place for exs to both vent and rate those who have gone before.

The site is cleverly but dangerously dubbed ExRated.co – that's just .co, not .com with an "m" (otherwise you'll end up at a site not suitable for family surfing). You can search names of those you are or intend on stepping out with, and you can rate your own former relationships.

When you go to the site, you'll see pithy reviews of anonymous ex's which are often risqué, but often entertaining. Just rite the "reload" button on your browser to get a seemingly endless display of 140 character reviews – no need to sign up.

But first a few questions

ExRated is more than entertaining but ultimately empty comments. When you join, you're asked to describe your past relationships regardless of type – long- or short-term, and sexual orientation agnostic – through a questionnaire:

• What kind of relationship you had (i.e. how many weeks, a one-night stand or "occasional gallop")
• How you spent your time together (nightlife, outdoor adventure, art/culture/sightseeing, sporting event, etc.)
• How you'd describe the other person (quiet, grouchy, total jerk, hidden gem, romantic, not the sharpest tool in the shed, etc.)
• Attribute rating (a scale of 1-10 on looks, style, hygiene, mojo and confidence)
• Personality rating (honesty, intelligence, temperament, conversation skills, generosity/thoughtfulness).

And, of course, you're asked to compose a 140-character Twitter-length review, as well as a "datable" or "undatable" rating. "We want people to be succinct," notes founder, Tom Padazana. "We don't want to know all the horrible details."

Oddly, there's no rating anywhere for humor/funny, which I find funny because I always thought a sense of humor was really attractive – especially those who laughed at my jokes.

When you search for folks, you can filter by education level and interests/likes, but not by age. Padazana notes ExRated is not a dating site, but more a supplemental tool.

Rating ExRated

Padazana started ExRated this past June more-or-less as a lark, but has discovered he's hit a nerve. He is expanding the site and, perhaps, redesigning it, and developing apps for iPhone in the next couple of months and perhaps for Android.

ExRated can only work, of course, if there's a critical mass of ex's for you to search and rate. But don't expect to find me there – I'm a happily married man. I'll leave it to you to rated ExRated's ratings.