JDate was highly recommended to me by many female friends. It doesn't seem to carry the stigma with it that other dating sites do, possibly because it doesn't necessarily seem desperate to be on JDate. It seems that most JDaters are either normal, attractive people who have just had a difficult time finding someone Jewish (not someone, period) or are financially successful and have been too busy pursuing careers and hobbies to have time to search extensively for mates in the real world. In my area, saying that you met someone on JDate is 100 percent acceptable, and actually less of a stigma than if you had met a goy in real life.

To describe me (because people's experiences seem to depend on who they are, for the most part), I am 23 and female. I have a pretty face, but am overweight. Not big enough for the plus-sized sections, but I could definitely stand to lose a few pounds. I'm college educated, come from a nice family, and am culturally Jewish, though define myself as an athiest in terms of religion. I decided to try JDate because I prefer Jewish men.

I met six or seven guys from JDate in the space of one month. Some of them were nice, but not my type. Others were less nice and less my type. Only one was an internet troll looking for sex alone. The others seemed to want relationships. I personally did not click with them, although they seemed to think that they clicked with me.

I actually found that the best part of JDate was the message boards; ironically, the people I ended up connecting with were not the men I was emailing and dating, but older women on the message boards who were filled with advice, support, and kind words. It was a great community; I would post on the boards and chat with women around the age of my mom and grandma, and they would connect me to their JDating daughters/nieces/granddaughters who were my age and experiencing similar issues, and it became a network of encouragement and support. I have not seen that on ANY other site. I found that the women on JDate were much kinder and more encouraging and even more intelligent then women on other sites. For that reason alone, I would recommend JDate to women of all ages. We talk to one another, pass along guys that weren't right for us (but could be right for you), and even direct other women to the JDate profiles of our brothers, sons, nephews, and even ex-husbands in some cases. One girl was even recommending her father to some women.

I don't think the male community on JDate is as closely knit for some reason, but I do know that many women on JDate either found someone or decided to stop dating entirely for awhile--but still went to JDate for the message boards alone. Many women I met talked about finding their best friends on the site, and go on vacations with their JDate friends.

Obviously, the site isn't necessarily intended for this purpose, but what a great perk it is. That being said, I would recommend JDate with some limitations. If you're an older man, you should have some luck on JDate; there is no shortage of friendly, attractive, financially stable, and intelligent older women on that site.

If you're a younger guy, it might be harder. The younger women tended to be a little more fickle and some seemed to have high expectations or weren't really sure of what they wanted at all.

For women, it's a mixed bag; certainly, men do outnumber women of all ages, but it's about the quality, not the quantity. Most of the messages I got were from men that were ten years older than I was, and I wanted someone in my own age group.

If you're in your early twenties, try Match. I've had MUCH better luck finding an attractive and educated guy my own age on Match. And there are plenty of other Jews on Match as well. For me, a guy being Jewish is a plus, but is not a requirement.

If you're in your thirties, JDate looks pretty good--most people I noticed seemed to be thirtysomethings who had been involved with their careers and never got around to getting married and settling down.

Forty-plus, I'd recommend it too. The community is great, and if you live in a JDate "Hot Spot" (ie, New York), there are plenty of events to attend that seem to mostly be populated with older people.

If you live somewhere like Tennessee, where there are extremely few Jews, you might try JDate, but are not likely to meet anyone that lives close-ish to you. JDate seems to be a good fit for people who are over thirty and live in an area that has plenty of Jewish mates to choose from (the coasts, Chicago, Florida to an extent).

The site itself is okay. The fees are high-average, the setup is easy to navigate. So that's what I have to say. I canceled my JDate membership and went over to Match, but if I was older, I'd probably have had more luck meeting someone I liked on JDate. Match is much better for the younger crowd.