Based in Dallas, TX, Match.com got its start in 1995 and has become a global online dating service that, while free to join, costs plenty if you want to use more than a basic search and nudge. The home page has a modern, clean look, while the website in general is well laid out, with good use of color and layout.

Pros

• Large member base – Match.com claims to have over 15 million members in 37 countries. That’s a lot of people! To put that into perspective, the population of New York City is just over 8,000,000.
• Six month guarantee – Their guarantee is that you will “find someone special in 6 months, or we’ll give you 6 months free”. There are a number of rules and conditions that must be adhered to, but it is good to know that they stand behind their product.
• Easy to sign up – to create an account takes less than 30 seconds. The profile one must create can take a while to fill out though (it took me over 20 minutes) so best to give this some thought prior to completing it.
• Changes to your profile and account settings are easy to do and if you run into problems, the help section is easy to find, well laid out and contains answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Cons

• You HAVE to create a free profile before prices are disclosed. Match.com fees range from $16.99 per month with a minimum six month subscription to $19.99 for a three month subscription and $34.99 per month for a one month subscription. Even using the most cost effective route, that comes to over $200 per year. Ouch.
• Automatic membership renewal. Watch out for this one. If you don’t cancel your account before your membership expires, you membership is automatically renewed and your method of payment charged. There are no prorated refunds, so if you cancel your membership in the middle of a period, they keep the dollars.
• It took a bit of searching to find out how to contact customer service. “Contact us” can be found at the bottom of most pages, buried amongst the links to the Privacy Policy, Terms of Use and other legal stuff, in text so small it’s easy to overlook.
• If you’re not a paid subscriber, paid subscribers can email, nudge and IM you BUT you can only view who has nudged you. You cannot view or reply to email or IM until you have purchased a subscription.
• Dressed in what looks like a nightie with only the barest hint of breasts, the “Lolita” on the home page is disturbing and distasteful. This photo does not belong on the front page of a dating service that one must be 18 years of age or older to join.

Match.com is well put together with a global presence, but get out your credit card, ‘cause it’ll cost you plenty!

There’s no arguing that Plentyoffish.com is one of the most successful free internet dating services in the English speaking world. The question remains does a site that is so successful have to be so unappealing? The owner of the site says he runs the whole thing out of his apartment and claims to have one employee.

The Pros:

1. It’s free. Like Datepad, Plentyoffish is 100% free. Once you’ve created a user name and password, the only “must” for using the site is the completion of the two page registration form. Depending on how well you know yourself, this shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.
2. There are plenty of members, as well there should be. Having launched in 2003, the owner has had more than five years to perfect his business.
3. Mail filters are easy to use and give a certain peace of mind in that you can block users meeting specific criteria from communicating with you. For instance, you can choose not to be contacted by anyone who has messaged others for an intimate relationship. It’s a good way of ensuring that you will only be contacted by people looking for the same type of relationship as yourself.
4. The forums are standard in design but have tons of posts, you can really spend a ton of time searching through plentyoffish’s forums.
5. New matches sent on a weekly basis. Great if you’re lazy and don’t want to do any searching yourself. The email is clean and easy to read, no logos here just a text email.

The Cons:

1. There has been very little thought put into the design and layout of the site. Plentyoffish.com is a jumble of text and advertising that makes it necessary to read every single piece of text on a page to figure out where to go next. Very annoying and unnecessary.
2. Navigation is painful. Again, due to the layout of the site, it can be very difficult to figure out where you need to click to get to a particular page.
3. The mail system is cluttered and unappealing. Before you can get to your mail, you have to scroll through a list of Plentyoffish get togethers and social events and pictures of members who live within 50 miles of you. It can be difficult to find your “sent messages” because of the jumbled site layout. I only found it by searching the page for the word “sent”!
4. The Help section needs an overhaul. Once again, the layout of the site is amateurish and content appears to have simply been added onto the back of what was already there. The use of different sized fonts makes it hard on the eyes.

This site has a good backbone and a large user base. If you can get past the lack of design for the layout, it can be a lot of fun to use, but please bring your patience as you will need it.

What a start to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, and it’s only Day 6!

As Datepad continues it’s quest for Internet Dating Gold (Queue the bong) I thought it would be poignant to discuss the amazing story that is Michael Phelps. While most of the discussions surrounding the Olympics has been around China’s human rights record, the insane air pollution and of course China’s dominance a top the podium for me Phelps’ performance in the pool is the big story.

Let’s talk about the numbers first and let’s keep in mind these are going to change fast so before you comment please take a look at the post date and time.

He has already won 5 gold medals and while winning them broke 5 world records. He now has a total of 11 gold medals and 13 medals overall to date. He is on route to winning a record 8 gold medals at this Olympics alone breaking what has seemed like an unbreakable record of 7 gold’s set by Mark Spitz.

What truly amazes me Michael is only 23 he will compete in at least one more Olympiad. The all time record for medals at the Olympics is Larissa Latynina of the former Soviet Union she won 9 Gold and a total of 18 medals. Phelps will be at 16 when the Beijing Olympics are over he will, assuming setbacks happen, surpass her amazing record in London UK.

Michael Phelps could easily be the greatest athlete ever to compete in the Olympics.