Reviews of Match.com

Gentlemen...Just a brief follow-up to my post below. What you will also find is that once you do get past the initial stage of attraction, and begin communicating with someone, you will begin to see reasons why women (and men) can't find someone. Perhaps flaws in their personality such as anger, frustration, nasty attitude etc etc which is keeping them from finding someone compatible. Look out!! Cheers and good luck to everyone.

You're supposed to be able to light a fire with a match, right? Well, from what I've experienced so far, it's not happening. I'm in my early 30's, have a great job that pays very well, and have been told that I'm pretty. I don't want to meet men at bars or clubs and most of my friends are already either married and/or have kids. I've also been in a few serious relationships and I met these men through normal channels such as through friends or at the gym. None of them were "the one" - so I decided to sign up for this thing a couple of months ago - pretty typical reasons for most women who try this venue.

Of course, when you're the newest profile du jour, you get a lot of responses and winks (ugh). So I've corresponded with a few men and went on a few dates.

WOMEN - here is a Lesson Learned: Do NOT go a long time corresponding via e-mail or telephone with a man. By too long, I mean don't go beyond two(2) weeks of computer or telephone talk. I think what works best is one week of e-mail, the second week of telephone conversations and by the third week, you should meet face to face if interested. Even if you've exchanged photos, do NOT take too long to meet face to face. What I've found is that the "build-up" is great and even fun, but then the actual meeting can be less than what you expected and I don't think we're all here to be pen pals.

Not to be superficial, but some people are just great writers; hence, they have great profiles and can correspond really well. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. And although a benefit of Match is that it allows someone to shine via a keypad, but if that's all there is -online chemistry - it's not good enough. Again, not to be superficial, but physical chemistry is a MUST. I don't mean physical as in just appearance, but I mean having full on chemistry with the person as a whole. And it's a lot harder to be witty or charming or sound intelligent face to face than it is on-line when you have the time to craft a great e-mail.

I've decided that you have to take this thing for what it's worth. It's just another method to meet people. That's it. Period. Do NOT have high expectations from this thing or from the people who are on it. The lesson learned from above is not a new one. I think if it's used in addition to meeting people through other ways such as through friends or being involved in activities, then it's healthy. If it's the ONLY way you meet people, then you're kind of stuck and limited. Do NOT depend on Match as your only source of dating. And you don't want to (or do you?) want to become one of those PIDs (Perpetual Internet Daters) as referenced in some earlier posts.

I give it 2 stars since it's just another method to meet people. However, if I were Ebert or Roeper, I wouldn't give it two thumbs up, I'd give it half a middle finger up. It doesn't even deserve the full middle finger.

I think a lot of people are not realistic regarding their expectations from these websites. I have many female friends (couple are drop dead gorgeous) who use online dating websites and they all say the same thing. Many guys post the same "CRAP" about..."Oh, I like to hike, my friends tell me I am nice, run, lift weights, fish, boating blah....blah...blah...Someone please tell me what exactly is remotely interesting about all those activities and why a girl would be the least bit interested in that?? Women see that "CRAP" on hundreds of profiles.....Change your strategy. Just don't merely put down what you like. Tell these women what they can look forward to on a date with you. Describe in "DETAIL" what you will do. For example, you should write something like this....I'll take you to this beautiful local country farm and vineyard. We'll walk through an apple grove, pumpkin patch and listen to live jazz into the evening while drinking local wine. Gentlemen....women "LOVE" this stuff. Be sincere in what you write. Be creative. My female friends tell me that men online LIE LIE LIE. For those of us who are honest about who we are, they are making it hard for us. Don't say nonsense about I will fly you to Paris....Women can see through this. All I can say is that it works well for me. I am averaging 10 responses per week. Try it and post your results here on this forum. I would be curious to see results of some.

Match.com is perhaps the most ineffective way for a man to hook up with a woman anywhere near his league, that I have come across.

I'm 6'6" tall, very fit, make a six figure salary, and am presentable enough in real life to have successful, nice looking women ask me out. I sent more than 20 emails to women whose profiles were fairly similar to mine and failed to receive a single response.

I think we have a basic case of the law of supply and demand. A woman receiving an endless supply of emails from successful men is likely to throw out any emails that lack the marketing savy of the smoother members of the site.

I have had some luck on Match, but for the most part it has been a let down. I just canceled my subscription for the third time. The first was because I did meet someone. It did turn into a good relationship. I am still very good friends with this person today. We now go out, just as friends. The second two times have been because of lack of responce. I seem to have the email thing down, as most women, who I email, do seem to look at my profile, but that is where it seems to end. I have had several people look at my photos, and my profile and they have said that it looks good. It just seems that a lot of the women on match, just really are not that interested in meeting someone. I do get a couple of return emails a month, but after we talk back and forth a few times, it seems to fizzle out. I have been told that the reason may be that the women I am talking with, are most likely talking to several people at once, and they just reeled in one of the other guys. I really think that the window of opportunity to meet someone is open for a very short period of time. Your very lucky if you can catch it. I don't know if I can blame match for the let downs I have had, I really do believe it is the people that are on it. I think they are looking for the perfect person, and will not settle for less. I believe that sometimes less is sometimes more. It would be nice if some of the other people also felt this way. All I can say is, don't give up, it has worked for me before. I guess that is the reason I keep getting sucked back in.

Less than 1 star. I have had absolutely NO success with Match.com. My complaints are generally that most men in my age range (admitedly middle age) want to date women 15-20 years younger and they are unwilling to travel any distance at all meet anyone. There was one man who said he was looking for a mate with 11 miles of his zip code - how did he come up with that??!! Also, there are many men who do not post photos and a lot who say they will not respond to anyone who does not post a photo. Match.com makes it easy enough to look at the website without being a member, that I know first-hand of a group of people who work in the town hall here who get on the internet during their lunch hour to laugh at locals on Match.com. Not a very comforting thought! When Match.com sends me a group of matches, they seem to pay absolutely no attention to the preferences I took the time to input - like age, ethnicity, religion, marital status, whether or not they want kids or have kids living at home, like pets or smoke. Two thumbs down on Match.com!

Okay, no one pushed anyone to sign up, it was everyone's personal decision and we are all grown up people. Yes, matching sites definitely not for everyone. I personally know one couple who got married and they met on internet thru some Jewishsingles.com but not match. And I also know now that it's not for me, but that just my personal opinion. When you get acquainted in a network. It is necessary to be very accurate and cautious. Especially, nothing can replace to us meetings in real, nothing. Frankness for frankness. Sitting at our own computer, in silence of the room, the person solves their own problems. The person thinks of itself: the Internet is such very artful tool for self-knowledge. And somehow not so it would be desirable, that you will be used for the decision of someone's internal problems. To which I personally have no attitude. In fact I too have went to Internet to solve my personal problems. But, strange business, people are very trustful and transfer the internet dialogue laws, to the dialogue in the real world. Though once again I repeat they are two different planets.

Because virtual attitudes rarely bring a good result. We fall in love not with the real person, and that image which develops according to our own internal installations, all our previous experience, propensities-bents and predilections. Why do we expect from someone to tell the whole truth, when we personally do not. Have you seen people put their problems into their profiles, their real needs. There are so many good books written on how to help yourself, how to listen to yourself, and etc. Listen to your intuition, do not become desperate just because something did not work out and you see internet as an exit, an open window for an opportunity. And before any choice that you might make. Ask yourself: Who you are? What you want? Whom you want in reality for going thru life with you and be thankful to each other? Whether you search for a relationship or friendship from need, despair, for fear before loneliness. You will poison all attitudes, before you do not recognize your own value, until you do not recognize there is advantages in yourself. And good luck, either if you searching the net for the one or trying to approach people face to face.

Match.com is an over priced Matchmaking Service that makes you create a Long Profile and then Charge you $25.00 per Month for a service that only allows you to see a few members of their database. I was searching and found a Personals Site that will Blow Match.com off the map. Its " www.atlanticpersonals.net " this site has more features and also has a Anti- Harrassment Policy to protect it members from harrassment as well as the Ability to Purchase Criminal Backgrounds Checks on your future mate. This site is free for a Limited Time until the membership reaches 100 members. They will allow you to meet 100% of their Database . So Check them out!

Having been a paid member on several occasions over the past 6 years, it was a great disappointment to find that they now eliminate the possibility of knowing WHO is interested. I made the mistake of paying for a membership, only to discover that the messages were from a woman in Russia, one in China and one wanting to lure me into some sort of multi-level marketing scheme. It's a major pain to drop membership for a refund ("No Risk" by Match's account) that involves Certified Mail, within 3 days for the "Free" trial period and anytime for a partial refund on full membership.

This site was the leader, with innovation and good service. Now they are following General Motors' lead in becoming greedy and relinquishing quality, not looking at the future in their decision-making.

Personally, I have moved my profile to American Singles, the only other one that seems to have any variety of women in this area.

I first used this site about two years ago, and while I didn't meet a whole lot of people, I met one woman who I did eventually end up dating for a while. Given how many more men than women use these sites, I wasn't expecting much more than that, and I'm certainly not going to start ranting about how much the site sucks just because I don't have women beating down my door.

However, what really annoys me is the site's decision to prevent non-paying members from even SEEING e-mails sent to them. The first time I used it, I at least knew that if I e-mailed someone and didn't get a response, she had decided she wasn't interested. Now, I send out e-mails and have absolutely no idea if they've even been read, because there's no way to tell if the recipient is a subscriber. On a few occasions now, I've gotten "winks" back from people but the correspondence just ends there, because unless both people are willing to pay, there's no way to make contact. Under the old policy, with only the sender needing to be a paid member, there were a lot fewer obstacles.