Skip to main content

There's a reason why they're free...

Largely due to health complications, I've been out of the dating game for a while. I just recently decided to put myself out there once again courtesy of a pair of dating sites. When deciding which dating sites to peruse, I thought to myself, "Why waste my money on the Match.coms and eHarmonys of the world when I can get the same service for free on OKCupid and Plenty of Fish?" Now that I've been on the latter-mentioned sites for 4-5 weeks, I'm starting to think there may be a stark difference between these free sites and the pricier ones.

Of the two, I prefer OKCupid by leaps and bounds over Plenty of Fish. However, there are three major problems with OKCupid: 1) The site is virus-prone, 2) It seems as though half the members are affiliated with porn sites, and 3) There's a decent chance you'll get temporarily suspended for nothing at all.

I'm lucky I have security on this computer, for if I hadn't, I would have contracted a virus via OKCupid. My security program has blocked at least 20 viruses on the site and I had to uninstall and reinstall Google on my phone 3-4 times due to similar problems. If you're going to use this site, please be certain you have a reputable security program installed.

Then when looking through "singles" in the area, approximately 50% of them are half-naked and include a link to a porn-affiliated site. Once again, if you're going to join OKCupid, be sure you have updated security to block adware and malware.

Lastly, in just 4-5 weeks, my account got temporarily suspended 3 times. While I contacted the site each time this occurred, asking what had happened and why my account had been flagged, I never received a specific answer and was just told that it had been temporarily suspended, but should be up and running again.

Yes, a temporary suspension once per week (or so), half of the search results being affiliated with porn-sites, and 20 some odd viruses being blocked, and this is the superior of the two sites. Let that sink in for a moment...

On Plenty of Fish, there are fewer singles, fewer options, fewer interactions, and fewer reasons to possess an account. The upside? Fewer suspensions, fewer viruses, and fewer porn-site-related accounts.

So if you have good security on your computer and/or phone and feel the need to give a free online dating site a gander, OKCupid is hands down better than Plenty of Fish. If you don't possess that kind of protection and want to give such a site a try, perhaps you'll have better luck with Plenty of Fish. In my humble opinion, though, there are many reasons why these sites are free and you'd probably be better off forking over some money to join another site.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Boycotting jukeboxes because of TouchTunes

I love music and enjoy hitting the bar(s) over the weekend, so naturally, when the mood strikes me, I've never been coy about playing some songs on the jukebox. This past Thursday, a friend of mine turned 50, so several friends of her's, including myself, all met up to celebrate the occasion. At around 9:30, a friend of mine and I both chipped in $5 to play some songs on the jukebox. Four hours and 231 skips later, we gave up on hearing the songs we had selected, and went home knowing we had just wasted $5. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to me (and many others), and due to that, I'll be boycotting jukeboxes. Why? The scam known as TouchTunes. You see, here's how the plot typically breaks down. A person (or group of people) downloads the TouchTunes app on his/her phone, consumes one too many adult beverages, and due to this, has less care for spending extra money to hear the songs of their choosing right NOW. That's the thing with TouchTun...

The difference between "looking" and "checking out"

I may be way off with these numbers, but it's my approximation that at least 75% of individuals whom are involved in a serious relationship feel it's perfectly acceptable to "check out" members of the opposite sex they're not involved with. Meanwhile, approximately 25% either don't feel this is acceptable or aren't sure about the matter. I hadn't thought about this matter for a while, but since I've been dating a woman for about 8 months, the topic has been pondered about some. When reading or hearing others discuss this very issue, I often times hear comments similar to the following: "It's human nature to look." "There's nothing wrong with checking others out. I'm sure he/she does it too!" "It's fine to do it. Just don't tell your boyfriend/girlfriend about it or do it in front of them!" "It's natural to find people attractive." When observing the array of comments, I i...