The Great 'Cheap internet dating sites' Hunt

purpleweasel

rabb5it wrote: »

Are you hoping to confirm compatibility or provoke separation?

i'm interested to know what criteria they use to match you.

We have been together more than 20 years so we know we're compatible, but a lot of our hobbies & interests don't match up, eg I read (a lot) and he doesn't at all; he plays music & i'm not really bothered; etc etc. Our underlying values & beliefs are the same though and we have the same sense of humour. Do they use your stated hobbies/interests to match you or do they try to use more fundamental aspects of your personality?

keet83

purpleweasel wrote: »

i'm interested to know what criteria they use to match you.

We have been together more than 20 years so we know we're compatible, but a lot of our hobbies & interests don't match up, eg I read (a lot) and he doesn't at all; he plays music & i'm not really bothered; etc etc. Our underlying values & beliefs are the same though and we have the same sense of humour. Do they use your stated hobbies/interests to match you or do they try to use more fundamental aspects of your personality?

We actract opposites and that's the problem with some of these sites, people look for others with the same hobbies and interests and wonder why it doesn't work.
Instinctly we actract people with different immune genes in order for our offspring to have a wider range of immunity, it is nothing to do with interests. Also we are attracted by the smell of others, natural smell not perfume/afershave, as there is a range of 1 to 6 and the more far apart the couple are on the scale the better they are as a couple.
In the short term, maybe interests and personalities are important however in the long term it's the genes, which may explain the 7 year divorce thing

ilona_2

When my partner & I started a relationship (4 years later still happy) he said he was on Dating Direct. Before he cancelled his membership, just for a laugh I joined it & we weren't matched. I was too old, wrong height, ethnicity & education etc; he was OK for age but not for height, education & loads of other things.My partner & I would never have met on any dating website-our search criteria was way out for each other. I don't think anyone can choose a life partner from a 'shopping list' human beings don't operate that way. I've got 2 friends who met their partner on a dating website & many more who found it a complete waste of time & money. When my husband died I tried many dating websites then met my partner by chance. I now advise friends to leave it to fate.

juliamarsh

I have tried freedating which, as the name implies, was free and I tried friendsreuniteddating which I had to pay for. There seemed to be as many misfits on there as on freedating so there seemed to be no advantage in paying. Didn't have much success and soon gave up bothering!

Marizpan

Like some others here I'd recommend OkCupid. Met my boyfriend on there last summer after going on a few other dates first. Nice mix of people, free and easy to use. I ended up meeting someone lovely who makes me very happy so no complaints here. Although, OkCupid has been the only site I've used, so I'm not able to compare it to any others.

pseeker_2

just a note on the short-term paid offer tirals - i vaguely remember reading somewhere, that there was a habit of a website taking ages to "cancel" the membership, which could then overrun the discounted "trial" period and charging you full monthly/quarterly or whatever memebership.
And getting hold of customer services apparently isn't always a breeze.

The rule of thumb advice was to cancel soon after you pay the x-days discount.

If anyone has an experience?

I never got round to doing it (and life moved on), can't remember which site it was - but just in case...

chocaholicmanc

I used Match.com, e-harmony, mysinglefriend and PoF. Out of these PoF was definitely my favourite. I could be biased as I met my wonderful BF (2 years, been living together for over a year and still NO arguments!) on there, but I did find it the easiest to use and I did talk to a lot more people on there too.

My best friend has just got engaged to a man she met on Match and I know 2 other people who met their partners on PoF and Match.

I think internet dating helps you to meet people you may never have come across in 'the real world'. I admit I probably wouldn't have given my BF a 2nd look if I'd seen him in a bar or pub and probably wouldn't have seen him in one anyway given that we lived in different towns.

If you go into it with a realistic expectation and persevere (It took me nearly 3 years to meet someone) then you could end up finding someone wonderful!

landgirl100

Anyone know of a site suitable for over 60's? I tried Match.com but it was crammed with younger folk and I didn't make any contacts in 6 months.

craigsville_2

You get crazies on any site. match.com should be called iwanttogetmarriedafterthefirstdateandhave10kidswithyou.com but guess the name was too long or already taken. You seem to get the same people across most of the sites anyway and at the end of the day its a numbers game, best relationships seem to be with the one who is definately "not my type"! Think outside the box!

G_M

landgirl100 wrote: »

Anyone know of a site suitable for over 60's? I tried Match.com but it was crammed with younger folk and I didn't make any contacts in 6 months.

http://www.seniorpeoplemeet.com/

http://www.maturedatinguk.com/ppc.php?dynamicpage=base&text=dating&ppc_cp=1100031870

(or http://www.rsvp-uk.com/?gclid=CMKZjIeD7bQCFQzKtAod_0MAPg )