Reviews of Match.com

It should be noted that a female's opinion of match.com will vary greatly from a male's opinion. For Women, all it takes is a moderate amount of screening, and you can have a decent date every night of the week - no matter how unattractive you may be.

As a guy, we're lucky to get one response per week! Much less, a date per week.

It's funny that women complain about a bad selection, and men complain about NO selection. I have to agree with all the guys who are claiming that women subscribe to match.com to just inflate their ego. I think for the most part, half of the guys who replay to women are actually "in the same league" as the women they emailed. So, since women have an inordinate amount of messages from average guys, they decide to start waiting for that one email from the guy who's maybe.. a few leagues above themselves. But guess what? Reality won't have that, because those types of guys are the ones who are monopolizing on their looks/income outside of online dating services.

I have a feeling that if women would lower their standards when it comes to online dating, a lot more people would be happy (both men and women). And no, that doesn't mean women should start replying to the "sketchy" men who are 30 years their senior. I challenge women to start replying to those casual emails that the "average" guys send. Maybe then women will be able to meet better quality guys, who don't in fact, just want to sleep with them.

Regardless, it's still possible for guys to make out in the world of online dating - given you follow a few rules. I invite all the men here to check out a blog entry that I wrote a year ago. It's designed to help men who are attempting the world of online dating. See the link below.

http://onlinedatingwoes.blogspot.com/2006/09/male-rules-of-matchcom.html

I'm an average-looking girl in my early twenties; basically, another pretty-faced fat girl. After breaking up with a long-term boyfriend, I decided to try Match. My girlfriends warned me that it was a waste of money, but I figured I'd try it anyway.

Prior to Match, I'd been on some other dating sites, met a lot of guys, but didn't really like any of them. Many were just looking for fun or friends without benefits even, believe it or not.

Anyway. I've been on Match since November and met five guys, all of whom matched my base criteron (were in their twenties and lived close by).

The five guys I met on Match were of MUCH higher quality than on any other dating site I'd tried. Much.

One was an extremely good looking chess player who lived in a neighboring town, was a year older than me, and knew many of the same people I knew in real life. We'd even worked at the same mall in high school. We saw each other once a week, but I just didn't feel any sparks, and I ultimately stopped calling him after he told me he was moving three hours away.

One was a political pundit who was also a year older than me and lived in a neighboring town. Also good looking, and we had a lot in common. For reasons I can't explain, we only went on one date (it was a great first date) and conversation fizzled. I don't know if he didn't feel any sparks, but it sure seemed like he did on the one date we went on.

The third wasn't good looking at all, but was kind. He was short and overweight, lived in another county, and worked at a movie theater I was familiar with. He wasn't very intelligent, but was into big and expensive dates, and I allowed myself to have a good time. I hoped I would feel something for him, but never did, and ultimately stopped calling him.

The fourth was outstanding. Good-looking in a quirky way with longish hair, lived ten minutes from my house, was smart and interesting and fun. He would definitely be someone I'd maybe call The One one day, but I met another guy from Match that blew him out of the water.

The last guy I met, I have seen every day for two weeks and lives ten minutes from my house. We have tons of stuff in common and I really like him. He's a gem; always wants to know what I want to do, never pushes me to go too fast in the sex department, is funny and smart and appreciates things like my obsession with disco and board games. He makes me happy and is a great guy for me to be dating, especially since I'm pretty fragile right now, after having gotten out of a long and intense relationship in June. He calls when he says he will, never flakes out, is never boring, and even likes my family (and I like his).

My odds were iffy. Age was on my side (as I'm young), but I'm also fairly overweight, and I also don't have a driver's license yet. On average, I received about two new winks/messages a week (which makes me suspicious of stories of women receiving hundreds a day). I think an average amount for a woman to receive would be maybe five or six a week; at any rate, I don't know any girl in person who's received more than that.

Bottom line: if I can do it, so can anyone else. It's not a numbers game, and it only takes ONE person to change your life. And there are a lot of awesome people on Match; seems like people on Match are of a pretty good quality, especially compared to other sites.

The numbers don't lie..

As a full time employee who is busy with work and graduate school, I find it can be difficult to meet single women in my age bracket (20-30). So I decided to give this site a try, and give it my all. I'm not trying to sound overconfident, as I am a very humble guy, but to give you a better idea I'm a good looking guy, thin, humorous, great job/education/salary.. bottom line, logic dictates that I'm a great catch. I posted a short, yet creative profile that posted my interests and that I'm basically a good person looking for a good woman. To keep things fresh I would update my pics, facts, bio from time to time.

Anyhow, after using this "meeting tool" for 7 months I've decided to do a little math. On average I had to send out about 15 emails a week, since I received probably one response for every 15 emails I sent out. And these weren't generic emails, these were well thought out, outside the box, short and sweet, and genuine messages. I kept my expectations realistic and contacted women anywhere from below average looking to very cute, so long as they sounded half way decent. I completely passed on anyone that posed as a supermodel or a generic hot girl. 15 emails a week * 4 weeks in a month = 60 emails a month * 7 months = 420 total emails.

Now get this, since the vast majority of women never responded back or cancelled on me, I ultimately ended up meeting 10 women. So 10 out of 420 = 2% meeting rate. More importantly, out of the 10 who I met, only 2 resulted in first dates. So 2 out of 420 led to a first date (and nothing more by the way). That means I basically had a .5% that's HALF a percentage point's chance of making it to a first date. And by the way, with most of these girls the conversations went well, the 2 dates even went well, but ultimately I would never hear back and things would fizzle.

So there you have it, the numbers don't lie. Now I'm sure this madness works in a reverse, yet still negative way for women. I've spoken with women on these sites who get 100s of emails a week, so they must weed through the countless junk emails, then weed through the maybes, then weed through the strong possibilities, down to maybe the top 2 they might actually consider meeting. Ultimately the women get overwhelmed, and even though they might meet a decent guy, they are always tempted by the next SWARM of emails.

Bottom line, the numbers prove that finding a mate online is like hitting the lottery of love. Online dating is a weak tool that gives a guy a very slight chance of meeting a woman. And even though women have the opportunity to meet numerous guys (so long as they are half way cute, my heart goes out to the women not considered stereotypically attractive), they are left with a very slight chance of meeting a quality guy who strikes a strong sense of chemistry, so strong that it can ward away the temptation of moving on to the next 100 emails.

All these guys complaining about writing 100 emails and getting 5 responses are right about the odds of getting a reply. But I don't think it's because these girls are stuck up or necessarily looking for an ego boost.

The problem is THAT MAYBE 15% OF FEMALES ON MATCH ARE PAYING SUBSCRIBERS. Add on top of the IDIOTIC notion that BOTH members must be paying to communicate and you have a recipe for roadblock. Hotornot has the right idea where a paying member can communicate with anyone, even if they aren't paying.

This is why match fails. There are a LOT of cute girls on match. They just don't subscribe. But if match had a reasonable policy then there's no doubt in my mind they would respond. As of right now, I'd say save your money and go for a site with a good policy regarding messaging. OKCupid is a decent free site with a lot of fun tests, but most of the girls there are either hideous and desperate or gorgeous and not really looking to date.

If match didn't charge you to see if your mail was read as well as let paying members talk with anyone, then it would be an amazing service. As of right now it's just a big waste of time. I've got a few dates with pretty girls from match lined up but it took an inordinate amount of mailing and luck. And I have no doubt these girls have dates lined up with 1000 other dudes. I think I only suceeded because I wrote good opening mails and I'm quite attractive.

Average dudes with "hey whats up" messages are doomed to fail on any site. Average dudes will have better luck at a bar or club online. Yes, looks matter more online, unfortunately.

Wow! I was about to write a very negative review, but after reading so many of these reviews, my experience, although not great, was actually really good in comparison. But I still wouldn't say it was good.

Like a lot of guys, I had an honest profile with genuine photos, I sent out dozens of emails, only to receive no responses or generic rejection notices. These were not super-models that were outside of my age group and demographic.

But I did get a few responses. I ended up meeting up with a woman who was actually much better looking than her profile, and more importantly, turned out to be a fun, intelligent, and interesting person. We dated for quite awhile.

I also met up with another woman who was also a very nice person who I would have dated again had she not lived so far away.

Note that I am a short, bald, funny looking man!! :P Maybe I was just lucky.

Nonetheless, I've decided to give up on Match.com for now, and there's no way I'd try something like eHarmony. The problem with online dating is not just its participants. It's just a fundamentally flawed way to meet people; disembodied emails are simply inferior to face-to-face conversation.

Now based on my experience, I think online dating can work and has worked for some people. Hell, it worked for me to some degree. But there's a basic problem with the medium. The anonymity, the sheer excessive volume and selectivity, etc., encourage laziness, excessive fickleness, and dating ADD. None of those things is conducive to finding that special someone. I've decided my real problem is that I am too lazy and not social enough to get off my ass and get out more! On Match, us guys need a 6+ figure salary in a prestigious profession in addition to the appearance of male model. In real life, often all we need is a nice smile, a good sense of humor, some confidence, and the ability to talk a good game.

The three day free trial looks like to be a lie. I canceled my membership during the first three days and match.com at first refused to refund me. Then I threatened them by stating that I was going to contact consumer affairs and a lawyer. They refunded me my money but they did not admit wrong doing.

I give match.com 2 stars. I don't evaluate the site on the basis on the software/format, but more the users. I think the premise of the site is fine. But I strongly suspect that very few people actually are meeting face to face from match.com e-mailing. The format allows for an extreme amount of selectivity. I think the more likely scenario is that e-mails are sent out and never responded to. This goes from all the guys e-mailing ladies who don't respond and vice versa. I'm a single, 33 year old professional woman. About 5'5, nice athletic build. About 125 lbs. I'm cute, but I'm no supermodel. My profile id is sunndayo1974. You can look it up if you'd like. Judge for yourself.

Well the short of it is that very very very few guys I e-mail on match.com respond to my interest. And I've sent well over one-hundred e-mails/winks to all kinds of different guys. My e-mails never get replied to or I have received a plethora of the canned 'match.com' form rejections. These rejections come from guys older than myself and younger - even if I meet all 'criteria' specified in their profile. Age doesn't seem to matter. Body type doesn't matter. Similar Interests/education level/goals specified. None of it matters. I've rewritten my profile so many different times and ways that I could fill up the pages of War and Peace :) I've posted different photos. I've tried. I really have.

I think what it comes down to is that guys I e-mail who don't respond are looking for something elusive, something I simply can not meet. Even if I meet their 'match.com' category criteria. Probably they want someone younger no doubt if they don't come out and say it in their profile. And I see these guys who wouldn't take a chance on me with their profiles up month after month. So to all the guys out there who say the women are selective, I would agree with you that it's rough. I'm selective too - so you'd probably have an axe to grind with me as well. I'm probably just as particular as the guys who I write who don't write back. But I'm a woman who has had an equally challenging match.com experience. I've made way more attempts to initiate conversation on match.com than e-mails I've received. That I can vouch for by looking at my sent e-mail box in comparsion to my in box :) So guys don't feel bad you are not alone! In short, I think meeting the old fashioned way is the best way to go. I really think it comes down to luck/timing! Nothing beats meeting someone in the flesh - it's hard to feel chemistry through a computer screen! Good luck to you all!

I have been on Yahoo Personals and thought I'd try another site so I thought why not try Dr. Phil's choice. Well Dr. Phil how much did you get paid for the endorcement? That's what these online dating sites are all about...the bottom line, money. And how do they get the money....women. And once you meet the woman she tells you well sex isn't something I give freely. What did she think we're here for? Besides isn't sex a shared experience? Lets take back our manhood and dump these dating sites. Leave those bitches hanging in the wind like they leave us. Join the He-Man Woman Haters Club....LMAO. Why feed their ego.

Match.com is like all the others, including the free sites like plentyoffish. There are simply far more men than women, and as a previous reviewer noted, dating sites function first and foremost as an ego boost for women. Just check out a moderately attractive woman on POF, and at the bottom of her profile you'll find that she is on 100 (or more -- one there has over 600 fans) men's "favorites list," which means that she has already been contacted by 100 interested men! Must make her feel pretty good. (Note that match.com doesn't even show you this, but you can be sure it's the same situation.) Just imagine you are the 101st man to email our moderately attractive woman. I ask you, how quickly will she find a reason to eliminate you as a contender, when she knows she can always dip into the "pool of 100" if she feels like communicating? Answer: pretty darn quickly. I emailed one woman, asking how many responses she averaged, and she said 20-30 a day! Which got me thinking: what would I do if I got 20 emails a day, from women jockeying for my attention? Naturally I'd be as picky as the women are, and only respond to the top two or three. This is the problem with every dating site. Men are horny, and women think they have gold between their legs. Too many men, not enough sexy women. Bad odds online. In person, at least it's one on one for awhile....

Let me just say that I am among the young, ambitious, educated, attractive men in this site that is completely and totally frustrated. I am SO relieved that others feel as hopeless as me after about 100 no-replies. I agree that this website is little more than fodder for women who need a pickmeup. Match.com has done nothing more than make me feel helpless in the world of dating and I had worse self esteem than before I resorted to the somewhat embarassing world of online dating. It also Very relieved that I'm not the only one.