Okay okay, we've all seen the commercials for online dating sites. Even if you're in a relationship, you know you secretly wonder if Bob and Jennifer are really as perfect for each other as they seem on TV. The giggles and sentence-finishing all seems a bit too much. Because of a dangerous mixture of curiosity and skepticism, we at Campus Squeeze decided to highlight some of the major sites. What you choose to do with this information is your business.
OkCupid.com
This site is advertised as totally free, but let's say I've definitely seen ones I have more faith in. The "About Us" section isn't impressive. It had more information about the creators than the site itself than how it's supposed to pair me with my true love. I wouldn't rely on this one, but it does have some pretty entertaining quizzes you can take. I took the Dating Persona Test, which was longer than I thought it would be (60 questions) and is along the lines of an interactive Cosmo quiz. It was pretty funny though, and is worth the 10 minutes for the laugh. As for trusting the creators of this site with my future happiness/maintaining my status as stalker-free (as far as I know at least), I wouldn't go there. You get what you pay for.
This is an independently run website that allows singles to mingle without paying for the service. The site has between 250,000 and 350,000 daily users and one of the highest ranked free dating sites. The mission is impressive, as well as that a couple run the site by themselves, but I have a feeling that the mingling is more up to the individuals. It doesn't seem that this site pairs you like some of the bigger dating services do. From what I can gather it seems that the individual is left to look for people they are interested in. This is good and bad. It's allows people to have direct control over who they make contact with, but you have to assume that if the person was good at that, they wouldn't be using a dating site. Ah well. At least it's free!
This site looks a little different because instead of telling them all about you, you tell them about who you're looking for. They use the information to find people in your area that match that description. You still fill out a personal profile, but the other feature almost seems like it would be more helpful. You also get a special e-mail account for people to message you, and you are sent alerts when something new comes into your mailbox. This is a nice touch, because at least if there are any crazies, they won't know your primary e-mail address. Yahoo! offers a free week trial period, but after that things get more pricey. A one month membership costs $29.99, three months costs $17.99 per month, and a six month membership will cost you $13.99 per month. You're warned on the site that if you sign up for the free trial period and do not cancel before the end of the week, you'll be automatically registered for the monthly membership. Ouch. Aside from the price, this actually looks like a pretty interesting site, and it's affiliated with Yahoo! so it has some street cred.
It appears every online dating site with any sort of reputation has the support of a doctor. This time, it's Dr. Pepper Schwartz! She apparently co-developed (with who it doesn't say) Duet Total Compatability System, which analyzes the "whole person." From what I could gather, perfectmatch has some sort of affilation with Match.com, but still remains an independent website. The site provides a decent amount of information about the services offered, and a detailed list of Ph.D. endorsements. I couldn't find it spelled out, but it's safe to assume this site has some fort of fee because I'm sure they would be flaunting it all over the site if it was free. Nothing about it seems to set it apart too distinctly, but it has high user satisfaction ratings, so they must be doing something right over there.
What I didn't like about this site was that you had to sign in to get any info at all (I used a fake name, don't worry). This also seems to be the pricier road to love: a one month membership is $29.99, three months is $16.99 per month, and six months is $14.99 per month. Eesh. Wouldn't going out every weekend be just as expensive and a lot more fun? Because the friendly folks at Match.com would "rather you spend more time finding your perfect match and less time paying your bill" they automatically renew your membership when it's about to expire! Yay! Sneaky little bloodsuckers, aren't they? Anyway, they offer a number of ways to find possible matches, like entering MatchWords. MatchWords are little phrases like "darkbrownhair" that narrow searches down. That seems all well and good, but some of them get kind of weird/specific. Take "csi" for example. Obviously Cold Case fans are not wanted in that relationship. Match.com also offers a service called Chemistry.com, which allows people to remain confidential while being matched up based on "the scientific research of Dr. Helen Fisher...our Scientific Advisor and the author of "Why We Love.”" Well, it's doctor recommended, I guess. Apparently 20 million people have hopped on the Match.com bandwagon, you could be number 20,000,001!
Cue This Will Be (An Everlasting Love), Dr. Neil Clark Warren and couples playing ring-around-the-rosey. eHarmony is "America's #1 trusted relationship service" according to its site. They boast a patented "Compatiblity Matching System" which supposedly matches people based on their answers to their incredibly long and detailed 436 question survey people take when signing on. It's hard to say how well this really works, but according to cited statistics in a fall 2005 poll, an average 90 eHarmony couples get married every day. I didn't see that coming. There is an entire section where people can scroll through and view success stories. Some are more believable than others. For example there is a success couple named Jack and Diane, as in "a little diddy 'bout." Really? What can be said for eHarmony is it certainly has the most well developed website, which gives you some confidence your personal information isn't being sent to a few nerds with computers who snicker and proceed to match you up with random people. Supposedly it's free to sign on, but there are some costs associated after a month or so.I suppose if you were going to put your faith in something like this, this would be the way to go.
The Ashley Madison Agency
This is by far the ballsiest service because of who it targets...married people! How fun! Apparently it's been discussed on shows like 20/20, Dr. Phil, and CNN. As if poor married people don't fall victim to extra-marital affairs enough, this is a site to move that process along a little. You'll love the tagline: "When monogamy becomes monotony." Clever. Why should you use this site you ask? Well because it's the world's largest Married Dating Site (which implies that this is one of many) and it is completely confidential so your poor unassuming spouse can keep his or her head in the sand a little longer. How considerate! Here's my question, if you're really out on the prowl, why do you have to use a dating site? Can't you just go out and meet someone at the office to screw around with? This is not only shameful, it's shameless. And icky.