Okay or alternately everything i know that you could possibly want to know about some dating sites.
Then it gives you an explanation box so you can provide more info - this is really helpful when none of the matches really match how you feel. Some of the questions are much deeper/personal about your religious beliefs, political beliefs, and even what kind of sex you like.
Till next time,
Let's start with Bumble since i have a bee in my bonnet. Oh just a note, all of the subscription prices for multiple months must come out in one payment! This can get very expensive! You will note some of them don't even have 1 month subscriptions so you have to shell out 3 months before you know if you really want to pay for the service!
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Bumble is an app and does not have a computer interface. It works on the same swipe left/right premise as Tinder. You see a picture (you can review additional pictures by scrolling up and you can read the small profile by clicking on the banner with their name and age) and then you swipe left to say "no thanks" and you swipe right to say "I am interested".
The fun part about Bumble is that the girl has to make the first move. If I swipe right on a guy and he has also swiped right then I have the opportunity for 24 hours to reach out to him. If I don't reach out to them then the match is broken and they won't see my picture again. They have 24 hours to write me back or again the match is broken.
It suffers from the tinder effect (guys who just sit and swipe right on everyone), which i totally experienced today. I swiped right on a...lets say 6 out of 10 and it was a match. I wrote him to say hi thinking what the heck and he wrote back and said:
Hi...oh my is this what i clicked on. I click on everybody
PARDON ME...WHAT??? last time i checked i was a who not a what. Besides, wtf dude...your not so f$^#&* AMAZING...I was totally offended...what a super rude brush off.
What happened to manners, i mean i get i am not everyone's cup of tea....but no need to be a jerk!....Okay I digress
When you go to bumbles website there is a store where you can buy all kinds of cute merchandise which kind of has nothing to do with online dating but okay!
Bumble has a paid add on called Bumble boost which you can use to see users who have matched with you but you may not have seen them or swiped right on them. You can also back track if you accidentally swiped left and it will also give you the option of renewing any expired matches if you forgot to write them in that 24 hour period.
Bumble charges in USD and its subscription prices are:
6 month subscription - $5.99 per month
3 month subscription - $7.99 per month
1 month subscription - $9.99 per month
1 week subscription - $5.99 per week
They also have Bumble BFF for finding friends, and you can choose Bumble everyone, Bumble men or Bumble women depending on what your preferences are.
I actually like bumble - for the most part if I guy is doing the loser thing uh swipe right trick they just don't reply and they fall off your list of messages after 24 hours.
I paid for 1 month of the boost to see if it was worth it. I did contact a few people off the ones i hadn't swiped right on and I did renew 1 expired match. I would not pay for the boost again though.
Bumble is a great app if you have a hard time as a woman reaching out first, the chances of rejection on this site are pretty low. I have only had 1 rude response and 1 guy who was sexually aggressive. The rest have been really nice or not said anything back which is also totally fine.
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POF or Plenty of Fish is the one everyone seems to know about. It has an app and a computer interface. POF has added a number of new quizzes etc to try and give you a better match (like match or E-harmony). This site hasn't changed that much since the early days; you put up some photos and you write up a profile and if you're cute enough someone will message you.
There is a Meet Me Feature which again works on the same swipe principle but if you want to see who wants to meet you, you have to pay. You can see who mutually wants to meet you, but not who you have not seen. This site is MASSIVE and the paid feature may help in weeding out who to message. I didn't bother because 90% of the guys on POF seem to just want hookups or FWB's (for you old people that is friends with benefits and if i have to explain benefits you should probably stop reading my blog).
The subscription rates are:
12 Month Subscription - $7.12 per month
6 Month Subscription - $8.93 a month
3 Month Subscription - $12.39 a month
There is no single month trial for POF. This subscription gives you an ad free experience, an increase in your mail box, the ability to see if your emails have been read or even deleted. You unlock everyone's extended profile (so you could learn more about them) and it increases your visibility on the site. I could possibly see paying for this site if you were super serious about finding a marriage match.
You can also pay for Tokens ($2.09 each) - these tokens will give you the opportunity to boost your profile or force a match with someone you think is cute through the Meet Me by clicking on "Super Yes". You can also use them to make your message go to the top of someone's mailbox, which i guess is good if you are messaging super hot guys/girls who might get a million messages.
The search features on POF are fairly limited, but you can search by common interest words. It's not my favourite site, but it could be effective for meeting a lot of people from our city.
I know several people who have had very successful relationships and marriages from a POF match.
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MATCH actually only held my attention for the 3 day free trial. There is an app and computer interface. There is literally nothing you can do on this site without paying. There is nothing special about this site, it asks similar questions to POF but at least POF has unpaid functions.
Match prices are listed in USD:
12 month subscription - $17.99 a month
6 month subscription - $19.99 a month
3 month subscription - $23.99 a month
For your subscription you will get email read notifications, first impressions, highlighted profiles and the ability to actually see who is liking you and messaging you.
I would not recommend this site unless you want to shell out money and see if maybe you have matches.
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E-Harmony is another paid site with very limited function without paying. You can see basic profiles and it will show you your compatibility but you can't see photos and you can't message each other. I decided to pay for 1 month after i got an email from a match and i really was curious about what it said.
It's kind of smart to force people to consider matches without pictures, but lets be honest; physical chemistry is still sort of important. Let's get to the numbers first:
12 month subscription - $26.95 a month
6 month subscription - $33.95 a month
3 month subscription - $57.95 a month
This is a HEFTY price to pay. Before i paid (which I did....a promotional 1 month just to see) I got an average of 22 matches per day. The moment I paid, I got 4....over the entire month! 98% of the people on E-harmony were from the states and since I am not jumping back into that boat, that reduced me to basically nothing!
The questionnaire is extensive but...i have to say the people that matched with me were really really great matches. We had tons in common, the look was appealing and they seem like great guys!
I do know one couple who met and married off of Eharmony and again if you are super serious about getting married this could be a great site. If you are just dating or not sure what you are looking for don't shell out the money on this one.
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OKCupid I have to admit this site might actually be my favourite. Simple site like POF, upload photos, fill out a profile that has prompts to help you write sections and then if you like you can answer all these questions. The questions fall into either Sex, Religion, Ethics, Lifestyle, Dating or Other. The more questions you answer the more likely you are to get a stronger match with someone.
By everyone's name on their profile is the % of how much you two match and if you hover over the match number it will actually tell you the enemy % of that person as well. When you answer these questions you rate how important they are to you. If the other person answer in a way that is unacceptable to you especially on a very important question it can up their enemy amount.
Some questions are harmless like:
Choose the more romantic activity:
- Kissing in paris
- Kissing in a tent
so you choose your answer and then you choose the answers you will accept being one or both of the answers. If you choose both it doesn't weight the answer it calls it irrelevant. If you choose one it asks you to choose if it's important, somewhat important or very important.
Then it gives you an explanation box so you can provide more info - this is really helpful when none of the matches really match how you feel. Some of the questions are much deeper/personal about your religious beliefs, political beliefs, and even what kind of sex you like.
These questions are super helpful in weeding out things that a normal profile does not. However it does take some time to review the questions. You can, however, choose to see all the unacceptable answers, what you find important or even what they find important. It's a pretty fun feature.
Their search function is pretty good and if you have a subscription it can get really good; including the ability to pick three questions and make sure they answered them the way you want. So for example...i can choose the "which body type do you prefer" and then click on "i don't care, fuller figure and curvy" and then i only get matches that like my body type. cool right!
Okay down to the money....there are two levels A-list and Premium A-List.
A-list gets you ad free, ability to change your user name, more search options (super handy), see the list of who has liked you, be invisible on others profiles, a bigger mailbox and more message filter options. While premium gives you all that plus a boost per day, ability to see peoples answers before you answer the question, you will be seen by more matches and your message goes to the top of the pile.
A-List Basic
6 month subscription - $4.95 per month
3 month subscription - $7.95 per month
1 month subscription - $9.95 per month
Premium
6 month subscription - $19.90 per month
3 months subscription - $22.90 per month
1 month subscription - $24.90 per month
I have paid for A-List and I love it. I have gone on several dates from this site and I have a few more next week I will tell you about later. I think if you are a cutie skinny mini you probably won't need to pay for the subscription. I however appreciate having the ability to know who to bother contacting so I am not wasting my time or setting myself up for more rude remarks.
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So there you go....There are lots of other apps and sites....Tinder (hookups), Grinder (male hookups), Elite singles (educated professionals and those wanting marriage), Zoosk (similar to POF) specialized sites for every possible want (BBWCupid, christian mingle, seeking arrangements, ashley madison, asiandating, interracialcupid, senior dating, singleparentmeet, life mates, easysex.com and on and on)
This website is super handy for breaking down the details (including demographics) on popular sites
Happy dating!
Till next time,
T
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