Online dating for seniors?

The_Goose

I used two sites when I was in my fifties - Love and Friends, and Guardian Soulmates. I thought they were both much better than some of the others, but I guess it's horses for courses and depends what kind of person you are, what your interests are, and what kind of person you're looking for.

I didn't lie about my age, and I met some nice men via both sites. In fact I went out with one for a year! But that ended in tears (mine) - he hadn't got over his wife leaving him.

However when I was 56 I met my present partner at a party (I hardly ever go to parties, I should add). I'm now 62 and he's 48, so we've been together six years. I had to make sure he knew how old I was before we got together!

Oh and re meeting in a supermarket queue - I met a previous partner on a bus, and I was with him for six years too!

Re the age thing, I don't think people should make assumptions about what people of a certain age "must be like". We're all different and we all age differently, both in appearance and in energy levels and enjoyment of life.

Invalidation

frankie1star wrote: »

well I am 52, and certainly dont act older, dont necessarily want to waltz, definitely not bingo, and dont mind Vera Lynn, but love all sorts of music Noel Gallagher, Goldfrap, Frank Sinatra! Trouble with men my age, seems they want to be with someone younger, possibly to boost their egos! Controversial to say I know!

Trouble with women my age is that they all want to be with men younger, possibly to boost their ego's too.

Tell me oh wise sage, why shouldnt anyone of any age want to be with someone younger than themselves?. Youth has its attractions.

frankie1star

wouldn't say I am particularly wise, I just think its tough to start dating again, just some have pre conceived ideas. Of course, youth has its attractions, but its not the way I would choose to go,

mjdh1957

Trouble is, if everyone wants to be with someone younger than themselves, there's going to be a lot of disappointed single people out there.

Luckily, human beings come in all varieties and there are a lot of younger people who like their partners a bit older!

NAR

Well I allowed my wife to pick a younger model - I'm 9 months younger than her and I let her know every year that I am her toyboy! :A

Elizabeth_739

I am so happily settled and married to a wonderful man I met on Udate 6 years ago. I was 58, he 61 at the time, and we will have been married 4 years this summer. I did go out with a few men during my years alone but found it difficult to find the right one and, to be honest, men do not go around with 'available' tattooed across their forehead so there certainly isn't a great deal of choice!!!! Theoretically with a dating site, you should be able to find prospective partners that are available, that is if they are telling the truth. But I am a great believer in getting to know someone over the telephone, I think a voice can tell you a great deal, so talk many many times before you agree to meet someone.

I was so so lucky. I very nearly didn't meet up with my darling man as he told me upfront that he had been married twice. I could have missed out on such a happy future as I hesitated for quite a while before we met up. Of course you should be careful, but you can shut the door on possible happiness if you're too cautious!

onzey

I tried a seniors dating site recently and soon discovered that having joined for free I would have to pay a subscription to read any messages etc.. Eventually I convinced myself the initial messages (and even a wink :eek: ) I received were more than likely generated by the site itself using false profiles to encourage me to subscribe. Anybody else think (or know) if this goes on just to get people subscribing?

I did a bit of Googling and I think there are a number of dating sites which are built using software from a couple of companies who then take a percentage from the sites income. This allows someone to setup a dating site in a few minutes with a ready made database, perhaps aimed at a particular niche, like seniors. Surely there is the potential for a huge scam here.

fitzroy

I'm the OP who asked the question back in January. I looked at the websites of those kindly suggested including plenty of fish, smooch, freedating, love and friends and guardian soulmates and, in particular, the terms and conditions/privacy policy of each company (how sad am I:o).

I don't want to be targeted by unwanted ads passed to third party affiliates nor unwanted marketing emails etc. Although some of the dating sites had check boxes at the signing up stage (for those not wanting to receive such information) this is deceptive; by digging deep into the terms and conditions I found numerous exclusions and if you really objected to receiving unwanted "stuff" then your membership (albeit free) would be terminated. From memory I think only guardian soulmates and plenty of fish allowed you to opt out without having to terminate membership.

Of course, the free dating sites have to obtain income from third party affiliates and marketing etc but it seems that even the subscription dating sites want to target you with emails and advertisements.

267

fitzroy wrote: »

I'm the OP who asked the question back in January. I looked at the websites of those kindly suggested including plenty of fish, smooch, freedating, love and friends and guardian soulmates and, in particular, the terms and conditions/privacy policy of each company (how sad am I:o).

I don't want to be targeted by unwanted ads passed to third party affiliates nor unwanted marketing emails etc. Although some of the dating sites had check boxes at the signing up stage (for those not wanting to receive such information) this is deceptive; by digging deep into the terms and conditions I found numerous exclusions and if you really objected to receiving unwanted "stuff" then your membership (albeit free) would be terminated. From memory I think only guardian soulmates and plenty of fish allowed you to opt out without having to terminate membership.

Of course, the free dating sites have to obtain income from third party affiliates and marketing etc but it seems that even the subscription dating sites want to target you with emails and advertisements.

As a young(ish) widower I used both Plenty of fish (PoF) & Guardian Soulmates. I met a wonderful woman through PoF and we were together for nearly 4 years.

Anyway, if you are worried about spam the answer is surely to set up a free/disposable email address through any one of the hundreds of services that are out there. That way if you start getting spammed or get a stalker you can just dump it and create a new email address. I never had trouble with spam.

Me? I'm going to stay single now.

Frankie56

I found that some sites are run by the same people. They have different names and you can sign up and pay for each of them but they have the same profiles and, if you get a message through one site, you will get the same message through each one. Datingover50s and Maturefreeandsingle are the same site.