Online Dating

This blog-style landing page links to lots of news and information for those interested in online dating, including reviews of online dating sites. The reviews feature a rating, a brief description of the… site, costs and what's included in the membership, the target audience and what's different and unusual. However, it's not clear if Albo signed up and tested these services herself. (Note that ConsumerSearch and About.com are owned by the same parent company, but are not affiliated editorially.)

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Though discussion is brief, Bonny Albo, the About.com Guide to Dating, lists what she considers to be the top six free dating sites. She writes that her picks were "carefully chosen," but criteria aren't… otherwise discussed. The top pick is OkCupid.com, which is a "mix of social networking, compatibility-testing and online dating." Casual Kiss is excellent for younger users with most members under the age of 40. (Note that ConsumerSearch and About.com are owned by the same parent company, but are not affiliated editorially.)

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Over 40 online dating sites are briefly profiled by the editors, and also get user ratings on a scale of one to five. Interestingly, eHarmony.com gets one of the lowest scores among users, just 1.5 out of… five stars. The editors' profiles list positive and negative features, costs, relationship types, search parameters and an overview, but don't render any opinions about which sites are best. There are also articles about dating and the latest news in the online dating industry. In addition to the user ratings, most of the dating sites also get a handful of detailed user reviews. Many of these are eye-opening.

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Both Joe Tracy, the publisher of the site, and users rate a few of the major sites. Tracy gives lengthy detailed reviews of six sites, discussing their best feature, most annoying feature and other pros and… cons. eHarmony.com gets the highest rating. Match.com follows. Although the reviews for Match and eHarmony are nearly five years old, the other four sites reviewed have been reviewed in 2008. The user-written reviews are much more recent, but almost half are about eHarmony, which does not do particularly well.

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Six dating sites are briefly described, then rated by consumers. Lavalife.com is the top pick of visitors, but with only an average score. Most other sites do poorly as well, and some have hundreds of… comments (eHarmony has more than 1,500 reviews). Most of the recent complaints on Lavalife are about the change in pricing -- moving from a system of buying credits to a monthly membership fee -- and a reconfiguration of the website that limits the use of certain browsers.

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