Is “Free” Safe?
I’ve been getting some responses to my postings stating that I am completely against pay dating sites and all that they stand for; this is not completely true as I don’t despise them, I only surmise that they are on their way out. Free online dating sites are sprouting up all over the Web, granted only a handful are worth joining, but it’s these few that will start paving the way of trust and loyalty with new and existing members. Pay sites do NOT offer members that are prettier or more handsome or more financially stable. Pay sites do NOT offer their members features or incentives that free dating sites don’t. If you choose to pay for something that you could otherwise get for free, that’s your prerogative, but before you decide to pay a monthly membership fee, I would first take the free online dating experience - because you have zero to lose.
How to free online dating websites make their money? Through advertisers and sponsorships. Many run Google ads like the ones surrounding this post or they’ll solicit a company to sponsor a category or section of the site. Depending on how much traffic these sites have each month, they can charge quite a bit. Let’s take PlentyOfFish.com as an example. This is one of the most trafficked sites on the entire internet, not just in terms of free dating sites. PlentyOfFish has over 1.4 Million members and at any one time can have upwards of 40,000 users on the site. This site earns over $10Million annually solely from Google ads running across the site. This works for everyone involved though. The members get better service and features, more members join because of the already bustling membership and the owner is more than happy to build, expand and better the site for its members.
Someone also wrote in to me about how great can the security be on a free online dating site, which may be run by some punk in their mother’s basement. Is it better than a pay dating site? Do they care as much about your information as a pay site? Encryption is far easier to come by now than it was just a few years ago, so securing a site is not very costly and can be implemented over night by pretty much any webmaster. The other side to this is that no credit card information is being passed through a FREE dating site, and personal information is limited to only as much as you want to enter. There is no reason to be afraid of a free dating site based on these reasons.
I welcome your comments and hopefully we can spark up some debate on this, which would give me more fodder for topics to post.
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Firstly, I would like to say I’ll be writing completely based on my experience and that I truly accept different points of view but this is how I feel about this issue.
What’s the main difference between free and paid online dating sites? For me, everything!
When one can register for free people are tempted to do it just for fun or just to look around. I tried a few ones and, inevitably, ended up chatting with guys that simply wanted to chat, to know how online dating worked because they already had a girlfriend or that where after a one night stand.
If I wanna meet new people online and chat with them I go to myspace, if already have a boyfriend I don’t waste my time at an online dating website and if all I want is a one night stand I go out.
Then there is the security issue. Anyone, I mean absolutely anyone, can register on a free online dating site! It’s the scammers’ heaven. If I had a penny for every time someone needed my help to transfer some huge amount of money… And what happened when I tried to denounce a couple of these persons? Nothing.
After tons of bad experiences (and only just a couple of good ones) I decided to become a member of a paid website. I cannot be a member of 6 of them at a time, I cannot put my profile online all over the place, that’s true, but you know how they say, sometime’s less is more.
Used the free trial period of some websites and decided to stick with lovebip.com. All profiles are screened, no explicit sexual content, no inappropriate behavior and if you come across anyone trying to trick you there’s someone who actually cares about it.
Besides, based on my knowledge, I honestly believe that people that register at paid websites are there for real. Sure, some of them might be fooling around, but they are a minority and only someone who is actually looking for a meaningful relationship is willing to pay for a quality service.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SAFE DATING SITE THERE ALL THE SAME FULL OF SCAMMERS AND WITH A BIT OF LUCK YOU WILL BE BLACKMAILED AS WELL DONT BE SAYING DATING SITE ARE SAFE WHEN THERE NOT I SHOULD KNOW BECOUSE I GOT BLACKMAILED SO YOUR TRYING TO SAY DATING SITE ARE THE BEST PLACE TO MEET WELL LET ME TELL YOU THERE NOT FULL OF FAKE PROFILES/SCAMMERS I HAVE BEEN ON A FEW SITES AND THERE ALL THE BLODDY SAME FULL OF WEERDOS /SCAMMERS/ASKING FOR MONEY/AND CREDIT CARD DETALS I DONT HAVE A CREDIT CARD I COULD NAME A FEW SITES ONE IS JUMPDATES BUT THERE IS A LOT MORE SITES SORRY TO SAY ON LINE DATING IS NOT SAFE ANY MORE FULL OF LIERS