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

Another look at "The Nightly Show" with Larry Wilmore

After its first week, I gave The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore a B+ grade. While I didn't think the show appeared to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination, I also liked the Daily Show  meets Politically Incorrect vibe I got from it, and thought, with the proper adjustments, the show would indeed provide a great fill-in for The Colbert Report . In the show's succeeding weeks, however, I've been less impressed by it and think that if it doesn't make certain adjustments, it could be in jeopardy of losing many long-time viewers of the show's time slot. One major issue I think the show's had to this point is a lack of direction. It's been unable to decide whether it wants to be a comedy show with serious conversation sprinkled in or a serious show with comedy sprinkled in. It's almost as if the show's writers want to give The Nightly Show a Real Time with Bill Maher feel. The problem with that idea or format is the fact Real Time is an hour lon...

My first book review of "Penetrating the Heart of Life: Ambiguous In Thought, Ambivalent In Feeling"

Well, I received my first book review on this poetry-compilation book I completed and published late last year, but have finally gotten around to marketing now. The reviewer gave it 5 out of 5 stars and said: "I enjoyed the poetic journey the writer has taken me on. From darkest days and hopeful optimism to the conclusion of hope realized. The visual images that the poem titled "Room Temperature" elicits, made me think of the song, "Horse With No Name" sung by the band America. In a similar manner, another poem – "Deafening Sigh-lence" reminded me a great deal of Simon & Garfunkel’s song, "The Sound of Silence". There are so many poems in this book that I related to, that I felt a connection to the author and felt that we were traveling on this journey together." http://www.lulu.com/shop/craig-rozniecki/penetrating-the-heart-of-life-ambiguous-in-thought-ambivalent-in-feeling/paperback/product-18677501.html

Book Ranking Update

Three of my four books are now in the top 100,000, including one of the new two: "The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck (censored version)" (2011) - 149,246 "The Kind-Hearted Smarta*s (uncensored version)" (2011) - 96,347 "Seasons Come, People Grow: A Poetic Journey" (2006) - 57,336 "The Serious Scale of Sarcasm: More Balanced Than a Drunken High-Heeled Clown On a Tight Rope" (2007) - 39,666 Let's keep those numbers going in the right direction, meaning down, I suppose! (http://www.lulu.com or can be purchased elsewhere)