Online dating?

Notorious_T

Sooo...I think I might be ready to start dating agin, has anyone had any luck with online dating? If so what sites??

NNAhuja

My best friend had a SUPER bad experience with dating crazies on eharmony.
Otherwise, I have no idea what site you could go to. Good luck!

7funnygirl7

I'm thinking right here on MFP might be a good start!...LOL. Always lots of exciting people to converse with

ashlinmarie

I met my husband on plentyoffish.com.

Okay, I have to be blunt, you meet a lot of crazies, but if you are specific about what you want and really get to know the person before agreeing to meet them, it can work wonders. Also, this goes without saying, but I'd go on at least 3 dates before being alone with them. Meet at a crowded restaurant or whatever and don't let yourself get into a situation where you rely on them for a ride home or whatever. I never had bad experiences with that, but just standard stuffs that you'd think is common sense but not everyone knows.

But yes, again, met my husband....and to think of it, my best guy friend both on plentyoffish.com . Also met a few other really nice guys that it just didn't click with. I only messaged one jerk off but never ever EVER would have agreed to meet him. I'd definitely recommend trying it!

lmkelly679

I haven't but one of my friends went on match.com and she's been with a guy she met there for about 4 years now. Another girl I used to work with met her husband on match.com, they had their first baby a few months ago :-) Give it a try you never know what could happen!

kettle_belle83

Good for you for being ready to get back out there!!! I have done online dating myself with little success. I met some really nice, normal guys but never made any real connections (still trying by the way). Fair warning: there are a lot of creepy, weirdos out there. I've used plentyoffish and match.com. Since match is a paid site I seemed to find less guys just looking for you know what. Just be careful. Make sure to get to know someone a little before going out with them. We all have horror stories, but there are a lot of great stories too. One of my best friends is very happily married to a guy she met online! Good luck to you!

BibiFit03

I met my honey on plentyoffish and it's been six wonderful years now, plus a ring, a house and a baby. He's my perfect match. But I met a lot of weirdos before I met him. I was actually logging on to delete my profile after a particularly horrific encounter when I saw his cute dimples smiling at me from the screen. I am SO GLAD I gave it one last shot!

However, I agree with ashlinmarie 100% about the rules of engagement. I always met my "dates" during the day, in public. They did not know my phone number and they did not pick me or drive me home. No alcohol was involved ... EVER. And I always told a friend where I was going and when I would be back. Just in case. Because you never know.

marycmeadows

I met my boyfriend on PlentyOfFish.com. We met in person (after chatting online and then via text for a couple weeks) on Labor Day of Last year, and have been together ever since. This is the best relationship I've ever had, and we're talking about marrying.

**However, I will say that I have met other men via online dating sites. In theory it's good because you think you can weed out the losers, but it's pretty much the same as meeting people at a bar. People lie, and are jerks.

justzoot

I met my sweetie on OKCupid 4-5 years ago. Been blissfully happy ever since. Also, try Meetup - we still belong to our singles group because we have so much fun! Quite a few of our friends met through Meetup.

A couple of tips:

Always use common sense & take basic safety precautions. Meet in a public place, let a friend know what you're doing, where you're at & check in with him/her at preset times.

TRUST YOUR GUT! If someone gives you the creeps, there's probably a good reason for it.

If you go the online dating route, meet in person & take it offline ASAP (again, be safe, public places, phone a friend, use common sense, there are some nutjobs out there!)

marycmeadows

I met my honey on plentyoffish and it's been six wonderful years now, plus a ring, a house and a baby. He's my perfect match. But I met a lot of weirdos before I met him. I was actually logging on to delete my profile after a particularly horrific encounter when I saw his cute dimples smiling at me from the screen. I am SO GLAD I gave it one last shot!

However, I agree with ashlinmarie 100% about the rules of engagement. I always met my "dates" during the day, in public. They did not know my phone number and they did not pick me or drive me home. No alcohol was involved ... EVER. And I always told a friend where I was going and when I would be back. Just in case. Because you never know.

OMG -- This is the same thing as me -- I was about to delete my account, and had just been on there deleting messages, but for some reason I gave him a chance!!!

Teresa712

Well....I don't usually comment on many topics...but this one I will jump right in!
I met my husband on match.com in 2008. We will be married 2 years in July! I had been divorced for about 4 years and out of a long term relationship of 3 years when I joined Match. He was newly divorced and had not dated much when he joined.
We emailed and texted for about 2 weeks before our first date.
I had went on some doozy dates with men who had slightly misled me about their height-weight-marital status. I was almost ready to throw in the towel when I met my now husband. Our first date was an awesome time!
We met at TGI Fridays (I know--very cheesy!) and then a year and half later he proposed to me at the same TGI's!!!

My advice is to join a dating site with an open mind, but also keep you guard up and don't believe everything you read on people's profiles.....and there are some men out there that only want one thing---but most of the people on dating sites want a relationship.
Be honest and sincere.
Good Luck!!!!

ashlinmarie

I met my honey on plentyoffish and it's been six wonderful years now, plus a ring, a house and a baby. He's my perfect match. But I met a lot of weirdos before I met him. I was actually logging on to delete my profile after a particularly horrific encounter when I saw his cute dimples smiling at me from the screen. I am SO GLAD I gave it one last shot!

However, I agree with ashlinmarie 100% about the rules of engagement. I always met my "dates" during the day, in public. They did not know my phone number and they did not pick me or drive me home. No alcohol was involved ... EVER. And I always told a friend where I was going and when I would be back. Just in case. Because you never know.

Yep, I followed all those...though I was only 20 at the time so no drinking anyway. And I met my husband the same way! Was about to log in to delete my account and I had a message from him and was like..."What the hell, why not?" I was going to get back together with my ex, which I moved to ohio to try and win him back and we had been talking about giving it another shot, but I decided to give the guy who hadn't broken my heart a chance first. We started off as friends but after about a month he sort of tricked me into being his girlfriend. We've been together 2 1/2 years and he truly is my soul mate!

aoikirin

I do try, but it is really hard. So many people just want sex.

LilacDreamer

I met my husband on OkCupid.com

we've been together since 2008 (living together since 2008, too) and Married for 2 years.

yourenotmine

I've had good and bad experiences in the past. I don't know if I'll try it again, but that's because I don't know if I'll try dating again. Good for you, putting yourself out there. Best of luck, and definitely, definitely do what the previous posters suggested for safety.

callsitlikeiseeit

i have a friend who has had good and bad experiences. mostly good, because shes super picky and super cautious. whenever she'd meet a guy for the first time, shed send me his whole name and license plate number - and if they guy didnt agree to that, or didnt understand the reasoning behind it - she wouldnt go out with him. it was simply a security measure - if she went missing- we at least had a starting place!

for the record, after she explained the logic behind it to them, none of the guys ever had a problems with it....

BEMND

I know a few people that had luck w/ Plenty of Fish. I know I need to get myself out there into the dating world, but I'm too self conscious. Let us know how it goes! Maybe once I reach my goal weight I'll try it out, too

Jesea

I met my husband online using Yahoo personals about 12 years ago. But since we're married with 2 kids, I don't have any recent experience

wondergurl25

I've used pleanty of fish and okcupid I haven't had luck persay but I have made some good friends out of it, just have to be careful of guys who only want sex but other than that its worth a try

A_New_Horizon

I know 2 people who have met from eHarmony.com including my aunt who got married 2 yrs ago after being single for over 15 yrs. I am currently dating somewhere from here. We have been dating almost 2 months, and he is flying to see me in less than 2 months (July). We are very, very happy. You can met crazies anywhere. I met my soon to be ex husband off of Myspace. We have been married 5 yrs and are now in the process of a divorce. Just be specific, and take things slow. I married my ex way too soon which got me into trouble. I agree with meeting in public and I would have him make the first move. Good luck!!!

Foodie711711

met my prince on plenty of fish!!

Amo_Angelus

My fiancé and I met on plenty of fish. There's a lot of idiots on there though and I'd almost given up hope of finding anyone...in fact I'd almost given up hope of finding anyone that could actually spell and was usually greeted to a barrage of messages saying "u lk hwt wna meet" and other such nonesense. I actually resorted to implementing a character limit on messages to me. That is, a minimum requirement. Still, they resorted to just adding a million !'s, but it eventually paid off and we're getting married in September.

TheNakedHouseWife

I met my husband on plenty of fish. We've been together 3 years so far.

myntric

There are successes and failures.

I've tried it in the past and met some wonderful people, in fact, many of which are friends today. I also met two wonderful people and had a long term relationship with both of them following my divorce many years ago. In the end, it didn't work out, but I was able to maintain a good friendship with them.

Just be prepared because from what I hear from my female friends, there ARE a lot of crazies on there as well.

LadyKT

Eh, I did the online dating thing for a while. Did E-Harmony first, met two guys. Really liked the one guy, then he told me his job might be transferred overseas. So i questioned it and then we ended things, so I asked him "well if you know you're leaving, why even bother going through all this?" his response: "Because i'm bored and I just want to go out and have fun". I should have asked the hard questions up front before I even got involved w/ this guy.

Second guy was recently divorced w/ a four year old daughter. Never met the daughter, but the way he talked about his ex NON STOP drove me nuts. I'm not a therapist, nor will I ever be. Ugh.

Met a guy on Match.com. We went out once a week, always on thursdays (?!), he hadn't even KISSED me until the third date (which was at his house). Fourth date, he wanted me to sleep with him. I don't think I left his place any faster than humanly possible!

Needless to say, I gave up on online dating!!! I ended up dating a friend from high school, but that only lasted six months because he's STILL just as he was in high school! Grow up dude. And now, over a year later, here I sit STILL single and not sure if I want to try online dating again :-/

What's worse is I work in NYC. It's seeming to be impossible to find a guy there

What should I do?

TheWinman

You can meet crazies on any of the dating sites. Eharmony is actually a real good site. Just be smart and follow your hunch. Always meet in a public place, meeting for coffee is a great way to do it. Many times you know within 10-15 minutes if the other person is not right or you don't like that person, why be locked into a complete dinner with someone you don't want to be with in. A coffee date is a great way to end a blah meeting or if you two are clicking you can sit there for hours talking and talking.

Watch out for some of the initial free sites were you can't read a message from a member unless you join the site under some kind of membership. On these sites, as soon as you sign up, you have have these beautiful people messaging you (In my case good looking females 20-25 years younger then me), but you can't read the messages unless you pay and join. You join, you message them back and you may get a Hi back, but that's about it. Also after joining you stop getting the messages that I described above. lol

Erisad

I had bad experiences in general. I dated a fella there for 4 months only to realize halfway through that he was on probation for statutory rape but I looked past that (for some reason, not sure why now). His mother forced him to break up with me (he was 24 years old). Let's just say I'm better off without it. Luckily my friend introduced me to my current boyfriend, a good man who loves me. But if I were to ever date again, I won't be using a dating site. I'd rather go on being single then date the crazy people on OkCupid.

beccaspex

Its the way a lot of my friends have met partners, especially post-divorce. to be honest, I didn't know how else I was going to meet people, I am very reserved and don't like being approached by strangers. Online dating is one step removed from that (which is both its strongest asset and the most dangerous - people really are weird and do lie).

I met my partner 3 1/2 years ago on Match after also using a couple of other sites. I cant deny that there were a couple of messages from people I considered weird, but that might just be me! One absolute jerk and several perfectly nice, attractive, ticks all the boxes on paper guys that there was just no connection with.

The one I ended up with though I had already discounted as not my type till he sent me the funniest, sweetest message and we took it from there. It really pays to see beyond the profile picture sometimes.

Worst experience was having my ex-husbands profile being sent to me as a potential match!

Amen to all the safety tips too.

Its a big step dating again but I hope you have fun.

MJ0214

I met my husband on tangowire!

mom2gar

Eh, I did the online dating thing for a while. Did E-Harmony first, met two guys. Really liked the one guy, then he told me his job might be transferred overseas. So i questioned it and then we ended things, so I asked him "well if you know you're leaving, why even bother going through all this?" his response: "Because i'm bored and I just want to go out and have fun". I should have asked the hard questions up front before I even got involved w/ this guy.

Second guy was recently divorced w/ a four year old daughter. Never met the daughter, but the way he talked about his ex NON STOP drove me nuts. I'm not a therapist, nor will I ever be. Ugh.

Met a guy on Match.com. We went out once a week, always on thursdays (?!), he hadn't even KISSED me until the third date (which was at his house). Fourth date, he wanted me to sleep with him. I don't think I left his place any faster than humanly possible!

Needless to say, I gave up on online dating!!! I ended up dating a friend from high school, but that only lasted six months because he's STILL just as he was in high school! Grow up dude. And now, over a year later, here I sit STILL single and not sure if I want to try online dating again :-/

What's worse is I work in NYC. It's seeming to be impossible to find a guy there

What should I do?

Get thee to a hockey game. Men dig chicks who like sports.

slepygrl

Tomorrow in mine and my Hubby's 8 year wedding anniversary. We met on Yahoo Personals. :-)

It seems to be working out well for us! :-)