Internet Dating Discussion

snugglepuss_2

DP and I met through the website you mentioned. We have been together for 9 months, and are now living together and planning our future. I recommended the site to a colleague, and he has found someone special too. We have all found having friends proof read your profile for you makes all the difference if they are prepared to be honest and you are prepared to take on any changes they recommend. Sounding desparate or bitter is one of the biggest turn-offs going. It has also been proven that adding a few good recent photos will increase your chances of getting responses. I chose to only reply to those people who had bothered to post photos.

I also started off with quite a narrow search area and age grouping, and then realised that the man of my dreams wasn't necessarily going to live in the same town as me or be the same age. I have a car, and knew roughly how far I would be prepared to travel to meet someone. For me, I decided that I would expand my search to include the counties that neighbour the one I live in, and expand the age critera a bit. As luck would have it, DP was only 24 miles away from me!

Don't give up on the site completely - please be patient. It may be that the person for you joins the day after you leave. I was a member on and off for a while, met a few people, but DP was only on there for a week before we met. I found it to be one of the best sites - I tried a couple of others first - and found that on some of the ones where you don't pay, there were quite a high proportion of people who were there just for a short term "fling". Having said that though - there were some people like that on the "premium" website discussed by the OP too!

Hope that helps!

saxy1

Although its not free, I can recommend 'friends reunited dating' it certainly worked for me, getting married in 8 weeks!!!

Dan_Thunder

What about speed-dating? Most towns/cities organise events and at least it gives you a better impression of someone than just a blob of text on a computer monitor.

Karrie

Dan_Thunder wrote: »

What about speed-dating? Most towns/cities organise events and at least it gives you a better impression of someone than just a blob of text on a computer monitor.

She's tried it - she won't be doing it again

snugglepuss_2

Karrie wrote: »

My friend is 43 and has joined a well known internet dating agency. She's had to pay and will get 6 months free if she "doesn't find love" within 6 months. She has been so disheartened by the response that she has got so far that she is giving up. I am finding that she contacts guys but they never respond. She is (in my opinion) attractive, petit and has a great sense of humour although very fussy and particular. She has recently had counselling for depression. She doesn't have any children and has a good job but she is so very lonely and has had rotten luck with fellas over the years. All her friends, including me, have children and a partner. She told me that she doesn't have anything to live for. She admits she is very fussy which is making it even harder to find a partner. Do you guys know of any internet dating sites that you don't have to pay and that are good? I just want to get her out of this rut and help find her, at least, a companion. She's done Speed Dating and won't do that again. She's been to singles nights and won't do that again. What can I do to help her out?

If she would like an independant opinion of her profile from someone who has been successful on that site, and some tips on how to improve it, feel free to PM me. If she has got the 6 months free, then she might as well use it!

hellokitty08

Argh,

I am looking to give internet dating a try, but I am finding it very frustrating! I am on a limited budget and therefore sites that are totally free would be great, however when I am looking at different sites I find it almost impossible to find out if there is any cost involved until I have completed the registration details and then they try to charge me for contacting other members.

Does anyone who of any sites that are totally free or ones where the costs are clearly outlined. I have tried to search the forums, but couldnt find anything. I spent about 4 hours looking at the weekend and didnt get anywhere.

Thanks

pinkshoes

One of my friends tells me that the free ones are often plagued by weirdos because it's free, so she doesn't mind spending money on the more well known ones like match.com. Do they still give you 6 months free if you don't meet someone in 6 months?

I think that you also get a free week trial with match.com without having to pay, so you could contact people in the first week for free.

moneysaver12

plentyoffish is free

Sugarplumfairy_2

Hi hellokitty,

Free sites that I have came across :

www.plentyoffish.com
www.okcupid.com
www.speeddate.com

(These maybe .co.uk, can't remember)

SPF x

cowbutt

I can recommend okcupid.com, but I'm reluctantly considering giving up on it and the other free dating sites in favour of something like Guardian Soulmates. I think a large proportion of the users of the free sites don't take any contact seriously, since they're not paying anything, and instead choose to hold out for some kind of unrealistic fantasy!