Just finished reading through the existing reviews. I have some thoughts that differ from some people's points of view, and wanted to share my opinion.

I do agree Lavalife has issues like other sites with fake profiles, and their credit system set up the way it is. However with that being said I do think you will find that many of the fake profiles people refer to are simply profiles people put up for giggles, I do not think by Lavalife themselves'. I have known of people that have added profiles just to see how many people they can get to smile and message them. They treat it as a game - which proves to be unfortunate for those of us that actually try to use it as a different means of finding someone with whom you are truly compatible with. The advantages and of course there are disadvantages as well to online dating, is that it gives you an opportunity to match up with people with whom you have many things in common and get a sense for a person without necessarily having to meet them for a few hours to determine as such.

I have met eight women off that site in the last year and a half. Three were relationships that lasted more then a couple months but nothing long term obviously. Some of the advantages to such are that once you make initial contact with someone and can start communicating through msn and then over the phone something similar, you can find out more about someone in a week of talking to them through msn and on the phone then you usually do in about five or six dates. Likewise as a rule if you don’t feel a connection with someone through the phone, chances are you would not in person either. There is a sense of security in being able to ask almost any question much sooner then you would otherwise feel comfortable simply meeting someone for a couple dates, and sometimes gets things out of the way upfront and allows you to decide its not going to work without a lot of invested time and frustration a couple weeks down the road. Also Lavalife and other dating sites in general allow you the opportunity to speak with people in which you may not otherwise meet during your day to day activities. I am in my mid-twenties and work for a living. I find as I get older I find it harder and harder to meet people in which I truly care to have more to do with then just a simple friendship or one night stand.

You do have to keep something like Lavalife in context though, and in turn treat it appropriately. Being an online thing you are always going to have those hot twenty-something’s that are nothing more then over-weight 46 year old trailer trash with four kids and a motorhome with an identity crisis. There are always unknowns but its your responsibility to wade through the crap.

Like someone else mentioned below, due to the male-to-female ratio on that site, from a man’s perspective I feel you are better off to write a genuine profile with a decent picture explaining what you are looking for and let women come to you. That way you are not barking up the wrong tree…so to speak. If they find what you have to say enlightening and truly interested enough to contact you, then you have a good starting point – if you find them equally attractive, obviously.

The one downside to lavalife I have discovered though, is the women that send you a smile, most times if you JUST smile back nothing more will come of things, so you end up needing to take the initiative many times and message them. However with that being said I have experienced numerous occasions where I would/have received smiles from someone in which our profiles were similar in match and in turn I would think personality wise, only to spend the credits to message them with contact information, perhaps a quick conversation starter and never hear back again. And its not like they have fallen off the face of the planet because you can continue to see their online status over the next little while. That is one thing that does disturb me. Seems lots of girls or women go smile happy and just fire off a butt-load. I do have some concerns about Lavalife’s lack of letting some things slide in your profile, as well as their credit system. I have not experienced many other online dating sites because I could care less to devote much time or expense to them, but I would consider Lavalife to be a step above many – aside from that fact that the ratio and lack of being able to more specifically narrow down search criteria.

All in all though I have had decent success, and as mentioned above having the opportunity to use something like lavalife has proved beneficial from a standpoint of meeting genuinely interesting people in which clubs/bars/many social gatherings does not always allow for the same opportunity. Besides I no longer visit bars or clubs, just no longer my idea of a good time – and tell me, honestly – how many true long term relationships do you know of that have come from meeting someone in such a joint? It seems far and few between that you actually meet people anymore with whom you find you have a lot of true interests with until after four or five times of going out you realize its not going anywhere, you could have discovered this before hand. However atleast it does allow for the opportunity to get out and about.

All in all I would say I have had decent success with lavalife. It does have its draw backs, and so long as you do not become obsessed (as I have heard of people doing) and treat it as simply another means of meeting people and keep it in context then what is the difference of spending twenty dollars on fifty credits and meeting maybe four or five people (online of course) or spending 20-40 bucks on a meal, gas and whatever for a date in which after one date you realize there is nothing there with that person anyways?!

Just my thoughts.