Archive for January, 2007

Review of DatingHappy.com

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admin on January 21st 2007 in Dating

Review of Great-Expectations.com

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admin on January 20th 2007 in Travel

Review of emode.com

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admin on January 19th 2007 in Dating

IWantU.com

IWantU.com let’s you run the gamut from romance to alternative encounters, all under one roof. If you’re like me I prefer to keep my options open at all times. Generally I am more interested in very casual encounters but who knows maybe someday that special someone will be lucky enough to take me off the open market. Having a place where my face can land me one night or many is definitely a plus. This site let’s you maintain in one interface your main personal attributes and add specific written essays to each section to let you score a long-term relationship, a casual intimate encounter or something completely different from the norm. What a great chance to cover all three bases.

Once you’ve set up one, two or three profiles, depending on what prospects interest you, you know that there has to be a way to speed up the process. I mean waiting around for someone to take notice and respond to your ad isn’t the most productive way to make connections. I Want U takes care of getting you noticed by letting you communicate several ways with your fellow members. You can post in an online forum for example. Trust me; a talented poster can always attract loads of responses from all kinds of readers. If you need to garner your desired attention in real-time then you can always enter an online chat for your live audience of admirers or detractors. Both these options are free and effective.
If you had someone more specific in mind for a point of contact then you can send an “I Want U” flash or simply add the profile to your hot list so the desired member receives an e-mail notification of being added to your short list for hot action. If you want to be a little more direct in confronting the object of your unfettered desires then you will need to upgrade to send and receive customized e-mails.

Becoming a premium member will bring you so much more than just full-sized profile details and e-mail capabilities though. You can start taking advantage of all the extra features that make the site so much fun. Have Aphrodite the online love goddess send you updates on exciting new subscribers that will fulfill your secret sexual fantasies. Watch online live Web cams without interruption, exciting men and women who want to flaunt and tease you into a frenzy of desire. Browse through member-submitted galleries full of hot naked and suggestive photos. Play special VIP online games and be eligible to win prizes too. Announce special events for other members in the VIP Parties section.

My only negative feedback on I Want U is that even if you sign up to a VIP membership, different individual features still cost “tokens” out of the allotment you receive with your subscription. It isn’t really clear what the purpose of the system is since it states in the site advertising that a VIP member can ask for more tokens at any time. Monthly subscriptions run at about $25 a month, which is fairly standard in the industry so the additional pricing system seems mostly like a minor and unnecessary annoyance.

Visit I Want U to meet the love of your life, enjoy the love of just one night or find that kinky love slave you always wanted.

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admin on January 19th 2007 in Asian

GreekSinglesConnection

If the dating world is all-Greek to you, literally Greek to you, then here’s an opportunity to meet other single Greeks online. You don’t have to be Greek to join, but GreekSinglesConnection.com remains one specialized singles site that seems to attract mainly Greek members. What a great opportunity to make connections with a nice Greek man or woman. It certainly can’t hurt to try it and the online personals route lets you avoid those awkward blind date setups by family and friends. It’s better to be the master of your own destiny than leaving it up to your Aunt Aphrodite. Goddess of love she’s not.

Start by filling out a profile. Although, I have been at times critical of sites for not making enough fields mandatory, I found on Greek Singles Connection that enough people were conscientious about filling out their details. Although, you still run into the occasional Curious George who randomly typed in a bunch of meaningless characters. However you choose to present yourself, you can always go back, add more details, and even express your true colors by taking a personality test that will color-code your account based on your type of character.

“I always say you need to be able to try any of these specialized sites out before you commit”

Fill out the information in the site’s matchmaking system and when completed, assign a percentage value of importance to each individual factor in comparison to all the rest. For example, you might think you’d like to meet someone with blue eyes, but that might be only two percent of what you need in someone ideal, compared to him or her wanting a large family, which might rank as 25 percent of the ideal package. Once your answers are in place the system will email you resulting profiles that have a high-level of compatibility with the criteria you’ve selected.

I always say you need to be able to try any of these specialized sites out before you commit, as is the case with GreekSinglesConnection. Visitor numbers are lower than other mainstream sites. You can browse through all the member descriptions, send free flirty smiles or ecards showing interest in someone. You’ll be able to read all the message boards, which definitely give a taste of whether this virtual community is for you.

If you see that it’s right for you and take the plunge, when you sign up to the premium membership you can chat live, send and receive e-mail, participate actively on the message boards as well as use instant messaging. Greek Singles Connection has perhaps seen a decrease in site traffic since both parties need to be paying members in order to communicate. At any rate, the monthly fee has remained quite competitive.

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admin on January 18th 2007 in Adult Dating

Amateur Match

It has been a long time since our first review of Amateur Match. Out of all of the dating sites listed here on Cupids Reviews, this one is one of the most active as far as users comments go. Is there any truth to what’s being said? Is Amateur Match a scam or a paradise for digital hedonists? This review explores the pros and cons of this controversial sex dating site.

I’m not a huge fan of the layout of AmateurMatch.com, but it is professional and easy to navigate. There are a lot of third-party ads for webcam shows and porn sites, but that’s to be expected when the dating site is run by a company that does so much business in adult entertainment.

“…if your goal is to make sincere, intimate encounters, you’ll probably find this site lacks…”

With the stage set, I moved to check out who was online in my area. I clicked the search button and was faced with the usual questions. I answered that I was a man who was looking for a woman. I left the many different kinds of intimate encounters you can specify blank, meaning that I’m open to any and everything. I entered the age range I was looking for but then I ran into my fist major issue with the site. It only allows you to search by country. If you are on a sex dating site, you are usually looking to find someone who is within driving distance—not someone on the other side of the country! Why would a sex dating site not give you the ability to narrow your searches? I immediately suspect that the reason is that there just aren’t enough members and making you search by country helps to fill up the search results. This isn’t a good foot to start on.

I run the search and get a full range of thumbnail pictures with short descriptions. Most are wearing skimpy clothing while others are bearing it all. It’s an interesting mix so I find one that interests me and click into the profile. The profiles do give you a number of options to really fill out what you’re looking for when it comes to sex. There are a bunch of questions and answers that I’m not too embarrassed to say made me blush. You’ll get all of these questions when you first sign up so be prepared to give your needs a thorough going-over. When I’m done checking out what this person has written, I move to check out the picture on this profile, but I can’t see it. There looks to be a problem with the image. (I also find this on a number of other profiles that I check later on) On the next profile I visit, you can see the photo but it’s a bit blurry so I click on the “more photos” option. That’s when I get the next big disappointment. You can only see extra photos when you’ve paid for a membership. This ensures AmateurMatch only scores five points for profile viewing.

Amateur Match comes with a lot of features you would expect from a porn… I mean “sex dating” site. For example, there’s a live cam section where you can see girls get naked at different showtimes. These are girls you can see but not touch! There’s also a galleries section where users can post pics. If you’ve ever been a member at an adult site, you know what kind of galleries we’re talking about. There’s also a chat room staffed with pretty girls who are willing to go into private chat and cam with you. Again, this is where you can look but not touch and I suspect runs you extra, too. There’s a videos section full of amateur porn videos and a games section with such titles as Jizz Ball and Cockgobbler. Okay, the secret is out. Amateur Match is more of a porn site than it is a dating site.

Overall, if you’re looking for some sexual entertainment, then AmateurMatch.com may not be a bad bet. However, if your goal is to make sincere, intimate encounters, you’ll probably find this site lacks what a more mainstream dating site may be able to deliver. It is a very popular site by our ratings standards but that could simply be because there are a huge number of male subscribers. If there are a small number of women on here that actually are looking for sex, as opposed to the ones looking to take money from you, the everymen among us will probably come away feeling a bit shortchanged.

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admin on January 16th 2007 in Adult Dating

Review of PerfectMatch.com

PerfectMatch.com uses a personality test very similar to the Myers Briggs Type tests you might have taken at work or college. Myers Briggs developed a set of tests to help them create seating charts of their big dinner parties. The results were dinner tables that had a great conversation and were well balanced.

I’m not totally sold on PerfectMatches’s system, but those of you who have read some of my other reviews know I don’t put a lot of stock in any of these matching systems. For me, it boils down to age, location, chemistry and communication. However, PerfectMatch.com system isn’t all that bad, it took me about 30 minutes to get through it all and complete my profile. I was a little concerned when I finished it took me to a subscription page $99 for 4 months, with no clear navigation to “skip it” for now. I finally clicked on the PerfectMatch logo and it took me to the home screen. $99 for 4 months is tough to caugh up before you look at their inventory.

I have to admit, I was very happy with the results I received. Perfectmatch has a very strong community of single women in the southern california area. I found the profiles to be completed, many had multiple pictures and the detail in their profile was better than most sites I’ve used.

The site has one of the strongest “ice breaker” systems I have ever used. With ice breakers you can send someone four (4) one line question with multiple choice answers. It really is a functional way to flirt!

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admin on January 11th 2007 in Adult Dating

Review of MyCountryMatch.com

MyCountryMatch.com is a niche online dating site. From the first time I looked at the home page, I realized, this is totally different from any site I had visited. What caught my attention first was “Nice people, fewer games”, then I read “This site is dedicated to down-to-earth singles with country values”. Clearly, the site was making a statement, that statement being “Players need not apply.”

After getting hit on by my share of married men on AmericanSingles.com, I was ready for a change. Would MyCountryMatch.com be any different? Lets find out.

I decided to click on their “Be our Guest” link and I was even more surprised to see I had to answer a few questions before I could even gain access to the site. “Why are they making it so hard to join” was my first thought. The first question, “Are You Married?” You’ve got to be joking, an online dating site that qualifies its members? I answered “No” then was asked to take a pledge to be truthful.

These qualifying questions remind me of “Gated Communities” which have become very popular here in southern California. MyCountryMatch.com actually sets a unique code of ethics for their dating site. It is clear, they’re catering to a different type of person.

As I filled out the standard profile questions, I was pleasantly surprised that they asked me to define the word “Gentleman”. I hadn’t been asked that question in years and I knew right away, men reading my profile are going to be in for some real insight if they happen accross my personal ad.

MyCountryMatch.com uses different software than I have experienced on any other site. They actually break the profiles essay questions into sections and each section is assigned a “Trust Level”. As you meet people online, you decide if you want to grant them additional trust: from none, to Basic, Mid-Level or High. The more trust, the more information they get to read.

What I found exceptionally cool is you can assign all of your photos to a Trust level, so men have to actually read a little before they get their feeding of visual stimulation. Yes baby, I want you to fall in love with my mind first, body second! MyCountryMatch.com allowed me to really crank up the volume on my essay answers, only the bravest men need reply. I really like this feature and wish more dating sites allowed you to decide who gets to view your picture.

MyCountryMatch.com gives you the chance to join for free, browse profiles and even flirt with members on the site by sending “canned” glances. If you find someone you want to actually exchange email or chat with - you need to join. As a girl, I actually prefer this versus some of the free systems I’ve tried, I tend to get a lot of crude messages from guys looking to score - since they didn’t have to take out their wallet. Free usually brings out the immature child I have found. MyCountryMatch.com was more serious - real people, looking for real connections.

As I read through Men’s profiles on MyCountryMatch.com I got to not only read about them and what they’re looking for - I also got to read each of their definitions on the word “Romance”. Yes, of all the questions to ask a guy - this one hits to the heart of the matter. I can tell you, I passed on some pretty nice looking photos because of some pretty lame written responses to that one.

MyCountryMatch.com has this really cool “Introduce Me” feature. Basically, as you’re viewing profiles if you find someone attractive you can select “YES” I’m interested. If the other person shows interest in you as well, you receive an email stating you matched. Very cool.

MyCountryMatch.com is well designed, easy to navigate. However, putting the technology aside for a minute, I want to talk about some of the guys I met.

MyCountryMatch.com has some of the nicest guys I have ever met online. I didn’t have any guys asking me if I put out on the first date. I didn’t have one guy tell me he was married or fail to volunteer where he worked or his home phone (which is always a tell tale sign they’re hiding something). Yes ladies, I ask and no, I won’t give them my home number or office information. I have to worry about security and the rules are different - any guy who doesn’t get that, doesn’t have a chance at a first date with me. I didn’t have any of the guys on MyCountryMatch.com even blink at my screening questions and most of them hadn’t even seen my photo yet. I hid it until we exchange 3 emails (using the built-in email system) or online chat. The men on MyCountryMatch.com are different and I think it is because of the screening process they use.

The site does have a country feel. They have a whole section dedicated to a “Country” theme. What type of country music you like, type of country dancing (I can two-step!), etc…

I did see a bit of a trend among some of the men I exchanged email messages with. All of them like NASCAR and all liked animals (dogs over cats).

Now - what I didn’t like about the site. First, they need to tell more people about the site. They simply didn’t have a lot of guys in my area. The site is new, but still I just wish more guys knew about it. Their chat system is a little on the slow side, it could have been my cable modem, but it seemed slow. Finally, a lot of their profiles are not filled out. I think they should require people to fill out more of their profile before they can join the site. I was turned off by the number of men who didn’t take the time to fill out their profiles.

Finally, I should disclose, I do know the owners of MyCountryMatch.com. I think if you try the site, you’ll agree with everything in this review. If you don’t, I know you’ll write and let me know.

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admin on January 10th 2007 in Other Dating Resources

Review of ChristianCafe.com

Christian Cafe has become one of the more popular places for Christians to meet. Their detailed profile is pretty extensive with both multiple choice questions and 11 essay questions, which is more than most. It took be 45 minutes to complete my profile.

This is a great theme site and one I would recommend. However, there are several things I didn’t care for about the site, so let me get those out of the way:

1) You can’t search my zip code. Only state and regions. This is dumb. You should be able to search within 50 miles of where you live. It appears they have a lot of members outside of the United States which explains why they don’t do a zip code search. But in my opinion, they should have it for those of us in the United States and Canada.

2) You can’t search people with photos only. I only want to see profiles with pictures! I’m visual!

3) Search results aren’t saved. I have to click all those boxes each time. It’s a waste of time.

4) Their quickmatch feature is simply too limited to be useful in my honest opinion.

5) Site is slow.

6) When viewing search results, you should be able to return back to the search results page without needing to hit the back button a couple of times.

7) When viewing people online, by region, you should be able to select gender as well.

Ok, now that I got that out of my system, let’s talk about the things that really matter. I found the women on Christian Cafe to be great. More spiritual then religious if you know what I mean. I dated a couple of really great ladies who were a blast to spend time with. No, I didn’t find my match, but I’m just picky. I did fall head hard for a blonde in Australia!

They don’t offer online chat to trial users, but that doesn’t bother me a lot. I’m not a fan of online chat. When you purchase a membership you’ll gain access to the various chat rooms. You can send a wink, which is just that, a wink. Only one type of wink is offered.

They have a prayer message board which is a nice touch. It lets you know what is going on in some people’s lives. Also, they keep track of profiles you viewed and remind you which is a nice feature.

If you believe in a higher power and want to meet singles who are grounded and faith believers, then you should give Christian Cafe a try. Despite the technology shortcomings of the site, the people are real!

When I tried Christian Cafe they offered a full, no nonsense, 10 day free trial. I was able to use the site; send and read email messages and meet people without paying them a penny or giving them a credit card. It was a nice way to try the site and meet some nice people. If you do decide to purchase a membership after your trial period, expect to pay $50 for 3 months which I think is fair.

Christian Cafe is a site worth the time to try out. It’s free trial offer is a win-win for everyone.

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admin on January 9th 2007 in Christian Dating Sites

positivelove

Finding your perfect match is hard enough without throwing complications of sexually transmitted diseases into the mix. That’s where PositiveLove.com hopes to come into play. Although it may have noble interests at heart, it does little to reassure us of the product it’s trying to provide. Read on for more on how this site rated . . .

Dropdown menus are handy when it comes to the profile creation process but only when there can be only one answer to a particular question, such as when you state your gender or date of birth. Positive Love’s profile creation screen is a mess due to poor usage of these menus. For example, when you come to the point where you can state the type of relationship you’re looking for, you have options such as choosing by disease or by how serious you are. To put it another way, you can’t be looking for a serious relationship with an HIV positive person but you can be looking for a serious relationship or an HIV relationship. One of the key points to any date is age but Positive Love drops the ball by asking you to enter it as opposed to entering your birth date, which could automatically change your age on the appropriate day. Also, in the sections where you can choose multiple options for questions, you need to CTRL-click to select different ones. The site doesn’t tell you that. When it comes to dating sites, little things often make the difference between a job done and one that’s well done.

Also problematic for this site is the nature of STDs. It can be an uncomfortable subject to talk about and be associated with and yet online dating is all about your picture. Well, maybe it’s not all about the picture, but it’s certainly the easiest and most common way for initial interest to be generated. Positive love has a lot of profiles without pictures and this hurts the overall usability of the site. What may work is a graduated photo system whereby you can’t see other photos until you post one or a couple of your own. This might provide a little more security for those who are uncomfortable talking about their STD’s online. Unfortunately, for now there are a lot of faceless names and profiles that lack the depth that you would expect on more traditional dating sites.

“If Positive Love hopes to make inroads against other dating sites, it needs to offer more for free.”

One of the strong points on this site is presentation. It looks professional and very slick. Whether or not this suits the target demographic may be a topic for later discussion, but Positive Love’s presentation score secures a perfect ten.

Search options also take a beating on this site. Although it did ask for my zip code, there were no options to take advantage of geographic searches by radius. There are no options available to help narrow the search based on the many details asked during the profile creation process and another downfall to this site is that it’s really only geared towards US residents.

Free access is really important to see what a site has to offer and Positive Love just doesn’t make the grade. First off, you can only send and receive messages if you’re a paid member. You can’t access chat forms or the discussion section or instant message. To boot, you can’t even see when any given member last logged on. Perhaps these features will come with time but for now, free members are out of luck.

Member stats are also very important as they give you an idea of how busy a given site is. At this point, Positive Love has very little traffic and members when compared to the larger dating sites. Niche market or not, you need members for a dating site to grow and this site has a long way to go.

If Positive Love hopes to make inroads against other dating sites, it needs to offer more for free. Right now, it’s a risky choice at best but look for this site down the line to be a leader in the very narrow field of STD dating.

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admin on January 9th 2007 in Adult Toys and DVD Shops