Best Dating Websites

What are the best dating websites?There are plenty of online dating sites out there.

They seem to multiply daily. You can get sites tailored to your skin color, religion, sexual preference, and so on.

I will give you a high-level view of some of the more mainstream sites:

Plenty of Fish

This is one of the best dating websites if you want something free.

Founded and still run by one guy out of his apartment with no employees; his vision was a completely free dating site.

Because the site is completely free and very user–friendly, it has quickly become one of the biggest online dating sites.

Advantages

You can learn a lot about someone’s personality by how they write and what they say in their unique profile. They are not just clicking on check boxes.

There are different tools you can use to find potential men to date, such as the advanced search, where you can search for men living in a specific geographic area, within a certain age range, height, hair color, ethnicity and even interests.

There are also dating forums where people post dating tips or questions. You can even have your profile reviewed to increase your chances of attracting other fish.

Disadvantage:

Because plentyoffish.com is free, the only complaint I’ve heard is that it attracts more blue-collar workers than white-collar professionals.

I don’t know if that’s true, and I don’t know if it matters to you, but I had to put something in the disadvantage category or my bias would be too obvious (-:

Lavalife.com

This site has been around for a while and is probably the most mainstream choice for casual dating.

You can use the “smile” feature to let people know you are interested without spending the effort or money to send an e-mail, thereby lessening the feeling of rejection.

No response to a smile is easier to take than no response to an e-mail.

A new edition to Lava life is Lava Prime, a service for mature singles, specifically set up for people over 40.

Disadvantages

Because of a predetermined format, less of your personality shines through and it’s more a matter of fitting into predetermined boxes.

e-Harmony.com

Advantages

This site does a good job of matching people through a lengthy questionnaire designed to determine what type of person you are.

My very brief experience (I don’t like to pay $50 a month to date) was that the matches were actually quiet impressive in terms of the personality types that were sent my way.

Another advantage is anonymity; your profile is not posted on the site, but is only shared with people who are your matches, and whom you have agreed to have communication with. If you are concerned about your staff seeing you online, for example, this site may give you more comfort.

Disadvantages

As amazing as the matches seem to be, you cannot calculate chemistry, regardless of how complex the screening and questionnaire process is.

This, coupled with a steep monthly fee, the most expensive one going, makes for an unbalanced cost-versus-benefit comparison from my viewpoint.

An alternate viewpoint is that only those very serious about dating are going to make this investment. Best dating websites and other dating tips