[{"bf_titre":"Online Dating Sites: Pick Your Poison, Part 2","bf_description":"{{attach file=\u0022226980890612x612.jpg\u0022 desc=\u0022\u0022 size=\u0022big\u0022 class=\u0022center\u0022 caption=\u0022image 226980890612x612.jpg (38.8kB)\u0022 nofullimagelink=\u00221\u0022}}\n[Last week we looked at the \u201cBig Three\u201d online dating sites](https:\/\/lafabcoop.org\/lebahutdestransitions\/?OnlineDatingSitesPickYourPoison): Match.com, eHarmony and Plenty of Fish. Today we\u2019ll go down a level to sites that aren\u2019t as well-known but offer more places to cast your line. They range from the small and cool to the large and, well, minimal.\n\nTo repeat my recommendation from last week, try a few sites to see which one fits your style and offers the best selection, then focus on one site to begin with, branching out to others if your time allows. Use the free trials many paid sites offer, or start with a completely free site like Plenty of Fish or OKCupid. Starting next week I\u2019ll help lead you through the process of writing a great profile, getting your photos up and contacting women.\n\nFirst, though, let\u2019s round out the top dating sites:\n====SinglesNet====\nMonthly cost: $25\/mo or $90\/yr.\n\nThe folks at SinglesNet proudly trumpet \u201c#1 Visited Dating Site!\u201d Then the small print reads, \u201cDec. 2008.\u201d Last year, though, Forbes put SinglesNet at fifth place, behind True (which I won\u2019t recommend, for reasons I\u2019ll get into later).\n\nI\u2019ve got to say, I\u2019m completely unimpressed with SinglesNet. The first time you go to the site you\u2019ll see an option to search for women in your area. Try it and you\u2019re presented with search results\u2014which you can\u2019t access because they\u2019ve overlaid a sign-up screen. A bait-and-switch like that only sets you up for the disappointment within.\n\n\u0022\u0022\u003Ccenter\u003E\u0022\u0022[Dating In South Dakota](https:\/\/www.loveawake.com\/free-online-dating\/United-States\/state-of-South-Dakota.html) | [Massachusetts Local Dating](https:\/\/www.loveawake.com\/free-online-dating\/United-States\/state-of-Massachusetts.html) | [Missouri Free Dating](https:\/\/www.loveawake.com\/free-online-dating\/United-States\/state-of-Missouri.html) | [Free Online Dating In Oklahoma](https:\/\/www.loveawake.com\/free-online-dating\/United-States\/state-of-Oklahoma.html) | [Pennsylvania Dates And Chats](https:\/\/www.loveawake.com\/free-online-dating\/United-States\/state-of-Pennsylvania.html) | [Virginia 100% Free Dating Service](https:\/\/www.loveawake.com\/free-online-dating\/United-States\/state-of-Virginia.html) | [Connecticut Dating Site](https:\/\/www.loveawake.com\/free-online-dating\/United-States\/state-of-Connecticut.html)\u0022\u0022\u003C\/center\u003E\u0022\u0022\nThere is no matching technology on SinglesNet that I can see. Searching is extremely simplistic: Age, location, and ethnicity. Age is even approximate: \u201caround my age or younger,\u201d \u201caround my age or older,\u201d \u201caround my age\u201d or \u201cany age.\u201d You\u2019re basically getting a list of random women in an approximate age group, sorted by how long ago they last logged in. If you have the time to manually go through the profiles you could find a catch here, but I wouldn\u2019t see myself paying $8 or more a month to manually sort women.\n\nYou\u2019ll also want to shut off all e-mail alerts, because every time someone views your profile you\u2019ll be sent an \u201cinterest\u201d message. And the reverse is true: every time you click on a gorgeous face that turns out to have the profile of a career criminal, she\u2019ll get a message that you\u2019re \u201cinterested.\u201d There\u2019s very little online help, but with not much to do you probably don\u2019t need it. And be careful to treat the women you meet here right, or they\u2019ll put your handle up on the \u201cscams\u201d message board.\n\n====Zoosk====\nMonthly Cost: $30\/mo or $120\/yr.\n\nZoosk has positioned itself as the most social-network friendly of dating sites, and that\u2019s great if you want your Facebook friends to follow along with your online dating exploits. It also allows you to give \u201cgifts\u201d just like Facebook (\u201cOooh, how sweet, he sent me a picture of flowers!\u201d), and has you earning \u201ccoins\u201d that presumably pay for the gifts. Looking and \u201cwinking\u201d is free but you have to pay to contact, like most other sites.\n\nProfile information is sketchy: no personality-based matching, and no body type information. Most of your work here will be on the essay questions. But there are a few extras: if you like comparing your Netflix queue or Last.fm playlist you can link to them. Searching for local women can be done using any of the multiple-choice answers and any age range, but there isn\u2019t any matching technology here.\n\nOne Zoosk-specific feature might just be money: you can invite your friends to write \u201ctestimonials\u201d to talk you up to the ladies. Hit up a couple of your best wingmen and craft testimonials for each other. It can\u2019t hurt (as long as he doesn\u2019t bring up the part about the projectile vomiting last weekend) and can certainly help.\n\nAgain, I wasn\u2019t impressed with the selection of women here, compared to Match or Plenty of Fish, but what I did notice is that women on Zoosk seemed much more playful and tuned-in. If that matters to you, give it a try.\n\n====OkCupid====\nMonthly Cost: Free (extra matching features $10\/mo)\n\nThe OkCupid logo is a beaker, which is your first clue that this site is about science! In fact, in complete opposition to the above two sites which use virtually no matching technology, OkCupid is almost entirely about matching. You could spend weeks on all the questions and tests that get you just a little more finely-adjusted matches.\n\nNot to mention it\u2019s fun to find out more about yourself, and explore the various traits of women you\u2019re interested in. See if she\u2019s earned the \u201cMore Kinky\u201d badge, or find out her \u201cLover Style.\u201d You can search on a number of criteria, but matching is always at the heart of OkCupid. You can improve matches by answering more \u201cmatching questions,\u201d about everything from politics to TV shows to your fingernail-grooming habits. OkCupid also tracks (anonymously) the habits of its users and also does independent testing, and can tell you that those shirtless photos do work.\n\nBest of all, it\u2019s all free. Okay, nothing in life is really free \u2013 OkCupid makes its money selling something called the \u201cA-List Subscription.\u201d This gives you more search features (sort profiles by personality traits or popularity), messaging features (attachments) and visibility (\u201cA-List\u201d profiles appear in a special section on search pages\u2014this would seem to defeat the point of matching, but whatever). Also, paid users don\u2019t see ads, although they\u2019re already the least intrusive of any site.\n\nSince basic matching and contacts are free, you\u2019ve got nothing to lose.\n\nThe Others\nThere are dozens, maybe hundreds of other places to find an Internet mate, from the simple-but-free DateHookup.com to the \u201cintimate dating\u201d site Mate1.com to ethnic- and religion-specific sites like BlackPeopleMeet or JDate. Match started up Chemistry.com to win some of the personality-match market from eHarmony. Some long-time standbys like Lavalife and Date.com still exist. If you have the time, check a few out.\n\nThere\u2019s only one site I\u2019ve had trouble with: True. Billed as the \u201csafe\u201d dating site, they certainly offer a number of matching options. However, the price to contact other users is prohibitive ($50\/mo or $130\/yr). And what\u2019s more, the \u201csafety\u201d apparently ends outside the walls of True, as I was relentlessly spammed by them. I couldn\u2019t turn it off. I tried sending them e-mail but it didn\u2019t gain a response. I had to take the radical step of training my e-mail provider to treat them as spam. I\u2019d like to go back there and check them out for you but I just won\u2019t take the chance again.\n\n====And Then There\u2019s Craigslist====\nIf Craigslist is the Internet version of want ads, their personals are the Internet version of alternative-weekly personal ads. The people you meet will be a mixed bag, and there\u2019s no searching or matching. Just either write up an ad or go look through the \u201cWomen Seeking Men.\u201d The beauty of Craigslist is that no matter what you\u2019re looking for, you just might find it. The downside is that you might find a lot of what you don\u2019t want as well.\n\nI could do an entire series on using Craigslist personals, and I just might, but for now let\u2019s stick with some structure.\n\nYour mission is to try a site or two. Sign up for free and explore, and let me know what you like or don\u2019t like about the sites you check out.","bf_date_debut_evenement":"2022-09-24","bf_date_fin_evenement":"2022-09-24","bf_site_internet":"","bf_adresse":"","bf_code_postal":"","bf_ville":"","id_typeannonce":"2","id_fiche":"OnlineDatingSitesPickYourPoisonPart2","date_creation_fiche":"2025-09-24 12:54:08","statut_fiche":"1","imagebf_image":"","fichierfichier":"","date_maj_fiche":"2025-09-24 12:54:08","bf_geolocation":{"latitude":"","longitude":"","geometries":""},"user":"185.107.162.250","owner":"","html_data":"data-bf_date_debut_evenement=\u00222022-09-24\u0022 data-bf_date_fin_evenement=\u00222022-09-24\u0022 data-id_typeannonce=\u00222\u0022 data-id_fiche=\u0022OnlineDatingSitesPickYourPoisonPart2\u0022 data-date_creation_fiche=\u00222025-09-24 12:54:08\u0022 data-statut_fiche=\u00221\u0022 data-date_maj_fiche=\u00222025-09-24 12:54:08\u0022 ","url":"https:\/\/findeserie.ovh\/fds\/?OnlineDatingSitesPickYourPoisonPart2","-is-external-":"0"},{"bf_titre":"Sortie Culturelle","bf_description":"La culture, moins on en a, plus on l\u0027\u00e9tale!","bf_date_debut_evenement":"2024-05-30T18:00:00+02:00","bf_date_fin_evenement":"2024-05-30T20:00:00+02:00","bf_site_internet":"https:\/\/www.yeswiki.net","bf_adresse":"Avenue des Champs Elys\u00e9es","bf_code_postal":"75000","bf_ville":"Paris","id_typeannonce":"2","id_fiche":"TesT2","imagebf_image":"TesT2_presence-photo.png","fichierfichier":"","date_creation_fiche":"2024-04-02 16:25:51","statut_fiche":"1","date_maj_fiche":"2024-04-02 16:48:20","user":"WikiAdmin","bf_geolocation":{"latitude":"48.8659085","longitude":"2.3197651","geometries":""},"owner":"WikiAdmin","html_data":"data-bf_date_debut_evenement=\u00222024-05-30T18:00:00+02:00\u0022 data-bf_date_fin_evenement=\u00222024-05-30T20:00:00+02:00\u0022 data-bf_adresse=\u0022Avenue des Champs Elys\u00e9es\u0022 data-bf_code_postal=\u002275000\u0022 data-bf_ville=\u0022Paris\u0022 data-id_typeannonce=\u00222\u0022 data-id_fiche=\u0022TesT2\u0022 data-date_creation_fiche=\u00222024-04-02 16:25:51\u0022 data-statut_fiche=\u00221\u0022 data-date_maj_fiche=\u00222024-04-02 16:48:20\u0022 data-owner=\u0022WikiAdmin\u0022 ","url":"https:\/\/findeserie.ovh\/fds\/?TesT2","-is-external-":"0"},{"bf_titre":"Super \u00e9v\u00e9nement \u00e0 Bordeaux","bf_description":"Un \u00e9v\u00e9nement autour du vin, c\u0027est pour cela qu\u0027il est \u00e0 Bordeaux...","bf_date_debut_evenement":"2024-04-10","bf_date_fin_evenement":"2024-04-12","bf_site_internet":"","bf_adresse":"","bf_code_postal":"","bf_ville":"Bordeaux","id_typeannonce":"2","id_fiche":"Bordeaux","fichierfichier":"","date_creation_fiche":"2021-06-21 19:33:56","statut_fiche":"1","imagebf_image":"","date_maj_fiche":"2024-04-02 16:17:09","user":"WikiAdmin","bf_geolocation":{"latitude":"44.841225","longitude":"-0.5800364","geometries":""},"owner":"WikiAdmin","html_data":"data-bf_date_debut_evenement=\u00222024-04-10\u0022 data-bf_date_fin_evenement=\u00222024-04-12\u0022 data-bf_ville=\u0022Bordeaux\u0022 data-id_typeannonce=\u00222\u0022 data-id_fiche=\u0022Bordeaux\u0022 data-date_creation_fiche=\u00222021-06-21 19:33:56\u0022 data-statut_fiche=\u00221\u0022 data-date_maj_fiche=\u00222024-04-02 16:17:09\u0022 data-owner=\u0022WikiAdmin\u0022 ","url":"https:\/\/findeserie.ovh\/fds\/?Bordeaux","-is-external-":"0"}]