Are Free Dating Sites Worth It?

   

Maybe you’ve always believed that the best things in life are free. Or maybe you subscribe to the school of thought that you get what you pay for. Either way, if you’ve been considering internet dating, you’ve probably thought about joining a free dating site.

Most online dating sites are free to post a profile and do a basic search, but all other “premium” services, including contacting any other members, will cost you. On these sites, a free membership rarely leads to any dates. Having a single subscription on a pay-to-play personals site is usually very reasonable, but if you want to increase your chances of meeting someone, you’ll probably want to use multiple sites, and that may quickly get cost-prohibitive.

But there are online options for meeting people without breaking your bank account. There are a few traditional-style free dating sites out there such as OK Cupid, Plenty of Fish, and Match Doctor. These sites work in much the same way as paid sites except that they are primarily supported by advertisements. Some of them even offer free chat services as well as free profiles and free email.

The primary downfall to using these free sites is that when you’re not paying for a service, you’re much less likely to cancel your membership once you no longer need it. You are more likely to find profiles that are out of date, and people who are no longer checking their messages. There is nothing more discouraging than finding a profile of someone who seems to be everything you’re looking for and finding out that they’re no longer on the dating market. Also, be aware that the profile pool will be somewhat smaller than on traditional sites due to lack of an advertising budget.

Another option is to use a social networking site like Myspace or Friendster. Although they are not exclusively dating sites, you can use them to meet people with similar interests in your area for free. Even better, because they are primarily networking sites, you can browse profiles of people that your friends already know, enabling you to get some background on your potential dates from people you already know and trust.

Of course, not everyone who uses a networking site is single. Be sure to carefully check the marital status in profiles before getting your hopes up. Also, many single people who use networking sites aren’t interested in meeting people for dating, so another place in the profile to check is the reason they’re on the site. If it just says “networking” or “friends”, it’s probably safe to assume that they’re not interested in dating at this time.

Still, as far as risk versus reward, free dating sites definitely come out on the side of worthwhile. They allow you access to a whole new group of people who, like you, don’t want to have to pay in order to meet people. The only thing you’re risking is your time with a free dating site. So if you’ve been disappointed with your results with a traditional pay to play dating site, perhaps it’s time to give those free dating sites a chance.

I think the Fuji S5100 is a great camera and I highly recommend it