And fellas? Enough of this "girls have it easier because they have sooo many guys to choose from" malarkey. Choosing between fools and clowns isn't much of a choice; if you're a good, sexy man among nasty little boys and your ad reflects that you'll stand out, trust me 🙂
Well, having used both free and paid dating for the better part of a decade, I have to both agree and disagree.
I'm not ugly. I'm college-educated, literate, successful, and write ads that are funny and smart. (I'm not just tooting my own horn, here; both respondees and people I've run the ads by agree that they're leagues better than the average ad).
And yet, it really depends on the site. I was on Plenty of Fish for the better part of four years - I got less than one date a year. I did better on OK Cupid, in that people actually wrote back to me once in a while. I have the best luck on Craigslist, but even then it's still pretty hit and miss; the best ad in the world will often get you twelve porn bots and maybe two tentative responses, and of those, both will most likely disappear once you send them your picture. And that's not even taking into consideration they may not be
your cup o' tea!
Way I see it, if no one is interested in you it doesn't matter how good your ad is. I honestly think neither sex has it 'better' on dating sites; women get tons of hits, but the signal to noise ratio is ridiculously low. Men get few to no hits at all, so ultimately it evens out in that no one is actually meeting anybody.
That said, despite being really hit and miss, sometimes you
do hit the jackpot. I met an absolutely amazing woman last week on Craigslist. She's gorgeous, she's smart and funny, she's into tickling, she loves that I have a foot fetish, and we're totally diggin' one another. As obnoxious as it sounds... persistence. And the occasional bit of self-improvement and self-reflection doesn't hurt, either.
Unfortunately, I have to say that I will
never pay for a dating site. The online dating biz is absolutely overloaded with scams, generally aimed at men; if you think about it, their business model is aimed at keeping you there, not actually matching you. Sites send fake winks, don't delete dead profiles, and use misleading advertising. Then, once they've got your credit card, they make it nearly impossible to cancel. It's not even remotely worth it. Several sites were sued for deceptive practices last year, although I don't know what the outcome of the cases were.
