Different dating sites?
LGrill27
Posts: 337 Member
I see a lot of mentions on Single Peeps about certain dating sites. I have never joined a dating site so I truly have no idea and my question is genuine. Why are there so many niche dating sites? Christian Mingle, Our Time, Black People Meet, Single Parent Meet, Tall Friends etc. etc. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a site for Blondes Only. You get the idea. I thought all dating sites allow you to break down the different criteria that you may be looking for? With Match and Eharmony for example isn't it possible to search for someone who is between a certain age, race, height, religion already, even interest such as animal lover and enjoys outdoors. I would find it odd (as well as the other person) to be matched up with a 25yr age difference and completely different religious views. My guess is the success rate with the niche sites? Finally I had to ask what POF is… why is POF somewhat of the laugh around here? How does it differ from any other dating site with a search results just curious.
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I've never tried any of the niche sites, so I can't comment on those. My take on those id that there would probably be a lot less people to choose from, but probably also a lot less crap to weed out. And yes, most dating sites let you search by all different types of criteria. You can basically put together a shopping list of the criteria you want and it will show you the people that most closely fit what you're looking for.
POF is Plenty of Fish. I don't think it's much different than Match or OK Cupid, I've had some decent luck with it. I just don't like the layout and design of the site itself, it's just horrible to look at. But it's free so you get what you pay for.0 -
I think POF is popular because its free. Something about a dating site being free creeps me out but I have looked at it before. There seem to be a few good guys but it looks like mostly, uh, odd men on there, at least in my area.0
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I actually really like the set up for OkCupid. If I was still interested in seeking out a relationship I would still be using it.0
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I see a lot of mentions on Single Peeps about certain dating sites. I have never joined a dating site so I truly have no idea and my question is genuine. Why are there so many niche dating sites? Christian Mingle, Our Time, Black People Meet, Single Parent Meet, Tall Friends etc. etc. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a site for Blondes Only. You get the idea. I thought all dating sites allow you to break down the different criteria that you may be looking for? With Match and Eharmony for example isn't it possible to search for someone who is between a certain age, race, height, religion already, even interest such as animal lover and enjoys outdoors. I would find it odd (as well as the other person) to be matched up with a 25yr age difference and completely different religious views. My guess is the success rate with the niche sites? Finally I had to ask what POF is… why is POF somewhat of the laugh around here? How does it differ from any other dating site with a search results just curious.
Because a lot of people know what they are looking for and those criteria meet that - like if you only want to meet christians, why wouldn't you do christian mingle? Sure, you can sign up on a broader site, but you will get a lof of messages from people who aren't christian, why bother doing that? I've done an Indian site myself (I'm Indian) because I wanted to meet Indian guys and most Indian people I know have done that too, nbd.
The other sites don't "match" you up with people (maybe eharmony does) - but like on plenty of fish or match, you can write to whoever you want. Often those people ARE much older, different religious views etc.0 -
POF is for sex0
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I have used dating sites.
okcupid and pof- both are free and similar. okcupid does have stupid tests you can take which can pass time. However, i have found that they are mostly for hookups and I have found a lot of married people use it. I don't get it.
I have also tried Match.com but no luck. So now, just debating on others or just waiting.0 -
For pay sites I've tried Match.com and Zoosk. Both were a waste of money for me. Didn't receive any messages except from scammers. I'm on OK cupid but no luck there either:grumble: . Kinda disheartening. Haven't tried POF yet.0
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I think different people have different experiences, also based on their area...but..
POF - I did date someone for 9 months, but I tend to find the men want hookups mainly
OkCupid - deleted my profile in 1 day, the men who responded to my add scared me that much
Match.com - paid POF site, horrible waste of my money
Eharmony - paid site, but it has yielded me the most dates and the closest matches. Now mind you I am still single but for me I like this site the best. Yes you can't just openly search people, but I find that overwhelming anyways0 -
Agree with Kim....depends on the person and the area...
POF - I have had met a lot of great guys through POF and was engaged to a man I met through it.
OKC - I was on it for about 3 weeks. Just a lot of guys looking for hookups. I went on 4 dates with one guy, he ended up being a flake though. Sweetest guy, just flakey.
Match - I've had no real luck on there. My experience has been that it's the first stop for men when they get out of a LTR. I've had so many men cry on a first date that I've met from Match (no joke, I can't count how many).
EHarmony - I had good results with it a couple years ago and signed up again about 6 week ago. So far I've been on 1 date and the guy was just not my type. There are a lot of matches 60+ miles away, but I'd like to stay local.
Zoosk - I lasted about a week. It was just ghetto.0 -
Haven't used any though did run across this one:
http://www.fitness-singles.com/
For the active, workout types. Anyone ever heard of this one or used it before?0 -
Oooh.... no, but I like the idea.0
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I strongly disagree that the free sites are better than the pay sites.
Paid for match--was a waste of money
Paid for eharmony--have not had a single date from there (3 mos--not even any one that I would be interested in)
Free POF--2 LTR relationships, and many good dates---Definitely do NOT agree that it is just for sex
Free OKCupid--not alot in my area, but had 2 dates--nice guys, but too far away.........0 -
didnt say Just.0
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Haven't used any though did run across this one:
http://www.fitness-singles.com/
For the active, workout types. Anyone ever heard of this one or used it before?
I've heard decent things about it but haven't used it myself. Since I'm not quite where I want to be weight-wise, I don't want any guys there assuming I'm a fake if that makes sense.0 -
Yeah, I just haven't had best of luck on those. However, I am horrible with the dating process. I would rather be friends first and then move on. OOPS. ha0
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This thread has just driven me to singledom forever. :-)0
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This thread has just driven me to singledom forever. :-)
Probably for the best.0 -
OK Cupid came across more to me like that.... hated that site!!!POF is for sex
I've actually met some great people on POF... guys that I've remained friends with even when dates didn't go any further.... (K, I have also met some heathens on POF but that's a whole different post....)0 -
I'm trying a niche site on the basis that it appeals to a particular demographic, and reduces the number of men to sort through. If a site appeals to a particular group who have characteristics you find desirable in a mate, that has to improve your chances of finding someone compatible. That, and when I've previously tried a couple of the bigger dating sites, they either 'matched' me with someone completely inappropriate (I'm an opera singer with multiple degrees who loves to read and debate, enjoys skiing, jazz and country walks - obviously my perfect match is a plumber who left school at 15, has a rottweiler and lists his main interests as football, rap and death metal...!:noway: ) , or there were just too many people and it was too time-consuming sorting through hundreds of profiles to identify those who really were of interest.0
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(I'm an opera singer with multiple degrees who loves to read and debate, enjoys skiing, jazz and country walks - obviously my perfect match is a plumber who left school at 15, has a rottweiler and lists his main interests as football, rap and death metal...!:noway: )
Oh my! Looks like it's time for them to reconfigure their algorithm.... Poor plumber was probably a bit overwhelmed, as well....
--P0 -
(I'm an opera singer with multiple degrees who loves to read and debate, enjoys skiing, jazz and country walks - obviously my perfect match is a plumber who left school at 15, has a rottweiler and lists his main interests as football, rap and death metal...!:noway: )
Oh my! Looks like it's time for them to reconfigure their algorithm.... Poor plumber was probably a bit overwhelmed, as well....
--P
Probably! :laugh: That was all it took to put me off the big sites forever, though!0 -
I'm trying a niche site on the basis that it appeals to a particular demographic, and reduces the number of men to sort through. If a site appeals to a particular group who have characteristics you find desirable in a mate, that has to improve your chances of finding someone compatible. That, and when I've previously tried a couple of the bigger dating sites, they either 'matched' me with someone completely inappropriate (I'm an opera singer with multiple degrees who loves to read and debate, enjoys skiing, jazz and country walks - obviously my perfect match is a plumber who left school at 15, has a rottweiler and lists his main interests as football, rap and death metal...!:noway: ) , or there were just too many people and it was too time-consuming sorting through hundreds of profiles to identify those who really were of interest.
What's wrong with a plumber?? With out them we'd have **** running rampid!! Although his interests are pretty basic... the world needs dudes like him!!0 -
Where was this post 3 weeks ago when I signed up for Match.com. Seems like the general answer here is match.com isn't worth the money and yeah it has only been 3 weeks but I am going to say, "yeah it's not worth the money" I'll ride out the 3 months and then cancel that membership.
I have mentioned it before but I am not a fan of POF mainly becuase that was the site my ex-wife used to find "hook-ups" while we were married. I was on POF for a short while and went on a "few" dates and each date told me multiple horror stories about experiences they had on the site. Then I saw my ex-wife on the site and quickly deleted and swore to never sign into that site again.
OkCupid was ok for me a year ago. The mobile app made it easy to use and they had just released the "near me" feature where you could turn on GPS and let people find you (yeah, I thought that was creepy too). I went of a few dates from here and found that I had a lot more in common with the dates than POF so I would say the quality of dates that I found on OK Cupid were better and I ened up deleting the account after meeting one gal from there becuase we started dating exclusive. After that relationship ended I took about 14 months off and just created the match.com profile.
When your are 42 like me dating is VERY hard, well let me re-phrase that, meeting people is hard, dating is easy. Dating is just being yourself and having fun with a person that has similar interested. Meeting that person is the hard part.
my 2 cents.0 -
Where was this post 3 weeks ago when I signed up for Match.com. Seems like the general answer here is match.com isn't worth the money and yeah it has only been 3 weeks but I am going to say, "yeah it's not worth the money" I'll ride out the 3 months and then cancel that membership.
When your are 42 like me dating is VERY hard, well let me re-phrase that, meeting people is hard, dating is easy. Dating is just being yourself and having fun with a person that has similar interested. Meeting that person is the hard part.
my 2 cents.
Dang. I could of told you not to do Match. I signed up for it about a year ago and nothing came out of it. Not sure how it is in your area, but in mine I was seeing women who haven't logged in for weeks or months constantly. I just stopped looking and canceled the membership.
On a good note, my best friend met his wife on Match years back. They've been married, have a daughter and are happy as can be, so who knows.
I signed up to Eharmony recently just so I could see WTH that site was all about. I'm seriously wondering how they match people. Some of these matches I get feel like it's just because I said "hiking" in my profile and so did the other person.
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I'm trying a niche site on the basis that it appeals to a particular demographic, and reduces the number of men to sort through. If a site appeals to a particular group who have characteristics you find desirable in a mate, that has to improve your chances of finding someone compatible. That, and when I've previously tried a couple of the bigger dating sites, they either 'matched' me with someone completely inappropriate (I'm an opera singer with multiple degrees who loves to read and debate, enjoys skiing, jazz and country walks - obviously my perfect match is a plumber who left school at 15, has a rottweiler and lists his main interests as football, rap and death metal...!:noway: ) , or there were just too many people and it was too time-consuming sorting through hundreds of profiles to identify those who really were of interest.
What's wrong with a plumber?? With out them we'd have **** running rampid!! Although his interests are pretty basic... the world needs dudes like him!!
Nothing wrong with a plumber - I'm eminently glad they exist - but this chap was not an obvious match for me, in any way, shape or form, as we had absolutely zilch in common (and I have no interest whatsoever in any of his listed interests). As he was the 'best' match that site was offering, I felt it was not the site for me - as Patrick said, there must have been an algorithm that really didn't work in there somewhere!0 -
I'm trying a niche site on the basis that it appeals to a particular demographic, and reduces the number of men to sort through. If a site appeals to a particular group who have characteristics you find desirable in a mate, that has to improve your chances of finding someone compatible. That, and when I've previously tried a couple of the bigger dating sites, they either 'matched' me with someone completely inappropriate (I'm an opera singer with multiple degrees who loves to read and debate, enjoys skiing, jazz and country walks - obviously my perfect match is a plumber who left school at 15, has a rottweiler and lists his main interests as football, rap and death metal...!:noway: ) , or there were just too many people and it was too time-consuming sorting through hundreds of profiles to identify those who really were of interest.
What's wrong with a plumber?? With out them we'd have **** running rampid!! Although his interests are pretty basic... the world needs dudes like him!!
Nothing wrong with a plumber - I'm eminently glad they exist - but this chap was not an obvious match for me, in any way, shape or form, as we had absolutely zilch in common (and I have no interest whatsoever in any of his listed interests). As he was the 'best' match that site was offering, I felt it was not the site for me - as Patrick said, there must have been an algorithm that really didn't work in there somewhere!
Do you know what else it used to determine a match... I wonder if distance, height, weight or any sorts of things like that came into play. I know when I was dating, I would find awesome matches 100 miles away and that always sucked.0 -
Do you know what else it used to determine a match... I wonder if distance, height, weight or any sorts of things like that came into play. I know when I was dating, I would find awesome matches 100 miles away and that always sucked.
That's all I'm finding on Eharmony.... everyone is 100 miles away. Lots of guys that appear to be great, but I'm not looking for long distance. I changed my settings to 30 miles and get very few matches sent, but I'm not adjusting that.0 -
I'm trying a niche site on the basis that it appeals to a particular demographic, and reduces the number of men to sort through. If a site appeals to a particular group who have characteristics you find desirable in a mate, that has to improve your chances of finding someone compatible. That, and when I've previously tried a couple of the bigger dating sites, they either 'matched' me with someone completely inappropriate (I'm an opera singer with multiple degrees who loves to read and debate, enjoys skiing, jazz and country walks - obviously my perfect match is a plumber who left school at 15, has a rottweiler and lists his main interests as football, rap and death metal...!:noway: ) , or there were just too many people and it was too time-consuming sorting through hundreds of profiles to identify those who really were of interest.
What's wrong with a plumber?? With out them we'd have **** running rampid!! Although his interests are pretty basic... the world needs dudes like him!!
Nothing wrong with a plumber - I'm eminently glad they exist - but this chap was not an obvious match for me, in any way, shape or form, as we had absolutely zilch in common (and I have no interest whatsoever in any of his listed interests). As he was the 'best' match that site was offering, I felt it was not the site for me - as Patrick said, there must have been an algorithm that really didn't work in there somewhere!
Do you know what else it used to determine a match... I wonder if distance, height, weight or any sorts of things like that came into play. I know when I was dating, I would find awesome matches 100 miles away and that always sucked.
He was a long way away - to be honest, he was from somewhere I'd never heard of, but I seem to vaguely recall googling it and discovering that it was somewhere in southern England (I was living in Scotland at the time). Judging from the photo (he was a visibly-tattooed skinhead, so it made an impact!!), I don't think weight had much to do with it. Maybe height - I don't remember how tall he was - I suspect I probably took fright too fast to notice! My best guess is that we had both ticked 'music' as an interest, but the programme hadn't registered that it was very different types of music...:laugh:0
