RapiDating OnLine Dating

Big Church is one of the most popular dating sites that specialize in catering to people of faith. Some may recognize the look and feel from the Friend Finder family of sites. Friend Finder has a very big-name and they have the resources at their command to reach a broad body of people. We took a look inside Big Church to see what it was all about…

Dating sites are usually made or broken by the size of their membership base — or just about. The more people you see online, the more people you can reach. Big Church scores well when it comes to popularity. This has a lot to do with the marketing network that they have in place, and the fact that they’ve been around for years. This means that no matter what follows, this dating site is probably worth a look.

Having said that, the worst notch against BigChurch.com is that they won’t let you see full profiles until you’ve paid for a membership. How can you tell if a dating site is worth the price of membership if you can’t see the members? Big Church is asking for a big leap of faith in this regard. We recommend that you proceed with caution but keep in mind that even though you can’t see profiles, Friend Finder is a large company with the resources to put a decent dating site on the market.

“…if you’re looking to meet people who share your beliefs, this isn’t such a bad place to start.”

Being able to see the date that a given member last logged in is equally as important as being able to read a profile. On this point, the site delivers. The last login date is easily visible in search results. Even if you can’t read profiles, at least you’ll be able to see how many people logged in during the past day. That’s usually a good indication of how popular a site is in your area.

When it comes to conducting searches, Big Church gives new users a few options. The first two, allowing you to search by country or state, aren’t really all that helpful if you’re looking to rate this site on the amount of members in your area. The third option is to search by zip code, which is a little more useful – but only for US residents. The site could clearly do more for new users in this regard.

If you wish to communicate with other members, there are a number of options available to you. There is a chat board where you can take part in various discussions and an instant messaging client for those who prefer the immediate connection. The site also allows users to create their own blogs and take part in groups. One of the other nice features on this Christian site is that it allows users to search by denomination so you can make sure to connect with people that share your beliefs.

Pricing starts at about $16 a month or you can buy three months for $30. This is less than the average cost of a dating site and there are a lot of features that you get for that price. They do offer a premium membership that gives you preferred placement in search results and gives you extra storage for your mail folder. This will run you about $20 a month.

Overall, BigChurch could be more user-friendly for those who have never seen or experienced one of the Friend Finder sites before. I’m always skeptical when I can’t see members’ profiles. It’s easier for dating sites to pad the database. However, as I’ve said before, BigChurch.com has a big name, so if you’re looking to meet people who share your beliefs, this isn’t such a bad place to start.

Ebony Friends is a dating site that looks to create a community where black friends and singles feel at home. They’ve put together a total-package site that seems to suit the needs of anyone looking for love online. We took a closer look to see if it was worth the price of admission.

The profile quality on Ebony Friends is decent. They don’t ask for much information when you first sign up so you can get in and start your tour of the site quickly and easily. The vast majority of the questions are multiple choice. There aren’t any extensive essays to fill out or complicated matching systems to contend with. Once in, you’ll find that most of the members are black but Ebony Friends isn’t a completely ethnic-specific site. There are lots of profiles with pictures, too, so feel free to window shop all you want. You will find people of other races online and many who are looking for interracial relationships.

“Ebony Friends won’t let free members run searches for people closer than 100 miles.”

Search options can make or break a site for new users. This is where you get to find out who’s online in your area and that can determine if you want to go ahead with a full membership or not. EbonyFriends.com lets you search for love but puts limits on your ability to filter results. You can search by country or by distance from your zip code. Searches by zip code are pretty standard these days. The farther you’re willing to travel, the more people you can possibly meet. However, closer is always better, but Ebony Friends won’t let free members run searches for people closer than 100 miles. If you want to pay, you can search within 50 miles, but until you do, you’re stuck sorting through the throng of ads that will undoubtedly be returned. One of the nice features is that you can search for men and women, no matter what your sexual preference may be. If you pay for membership, you can tailor your searches to a wider range of criteria. You can then sort by ethnicity, body type, religion, marital status and many other options. Some of these would be very helpful for free members but it’s just a case of Ebony Friends using a big carrot at the end of the stick. They want you to pay and they plan on making it worth your while.

Most dating site will let you try before you buy – at least to a certain extent. Sending smiles to members is a commonly feature and Ebony Friends certainly allows you to do this. You can send a smile with a number of canned text messages that allows you to indicate your degree of interest. You are encouraged to post messages on profiles such as general comments about person. You can do this for free, too, as well as take part in message board discussions. That’s about where your free access runs out. If you want to send a message to someone, you have to pay for at least a months worth of access.

EbonyFriends.com seems to be a site that’s gaining popularity but it doesn’t have nearly the numbers that more general dating sites have. The inability to search within a small geographic radius is one of the biggest drawbacks. That, coupled with the fact that it won’t tell you when a specific profile last logged on, makes it difficult to be sure of how busy the site is for any area. We recommend caution, but it never hurts to browse!

SoulSingles.com advertises itself as a cool, hip place to meet Black singles. Its somewhat corny catch phrase is “keepin’ it real.” I’ll start off right away with a criticism about some missing features that I think of as being crucial to any site that decides to specifically target a cultural group. It is imperative that there be some sense of community when you are aiming your service to just one group of people. On this site there are no message boards or live chat and I think those types of options make members feel like they’re participating in a real cultural exchange. Unfortunately, connections are limited to one-on-one conversations here.

Soul Singles requires you enter a decent amount of information to complete your profile. I was impressed with the number of truly high quality profiles I saw that included photos, so I have to give it a 9/10 for profile quality. Another great thing about the profile process is that you can add a video introduction to really personalize your description in a more effective way than just words.

A free profile doesn’t give you too many options. You can send the ever-popular free flirt to show interest like you can find on pretty well every other online dating site. For any more options, you’re going to need to spring for the premium membership. Once you become a paid subscriber then you can send and receive email, initiate instant messaging conversations and see who has checked out your profile in the last two weeks. The only feature that’s really special on this site is instant messaging. You can do more than just send a simple text message. Soul Singles lets you create voice and video instant messages, too.

“There is no way to verify the total number of profiles since search results to not display the total number of matches found, so it only gets 6/10 for members’ stats.”

The search options earn a solid 10/10 on Soul Singles since they include a close proximity option based on postal/zip code and even a keyword search feature. You can display your results as a photo gallery and you can also save your searches for quick reference as new members join. There is a simple My Matches section that looks up subscribers real time based on the answers from your profile about your ideal partner. Your matches aren’t emailed to you, so you have to be sure to check back on a regular basis.

There is no way to verify the total number of profiles since search results to not display the total number of matches found, so it only gets 6/10 for members’ stats. However, the membership fee is under $15 US so even trying it out for a month to see if you can make enough connections doesn’t represent much of gamble money-wise.

Soul Singles is the place for people of soul to meet one-on-one. It’s inexpensive and easy to use.

If dating is more of a gray area when it comes to gender then BiCupid.com might just be the type of niche dating site you’re looking for. In a world where dating sites are fragmentized by any and every possible niche market you can imagine, some appear rather redundant. For example, if you’re looking for an Asian man or woman, you can tailor your searches on most of the major dating sites so that they only show Asian members. However, none of the sites that we’ve reviewed up to this point offer options for bisexual men and women. It’s with this in mind that we begin our review of BiCupid.

Off the top, there are a number of substantial down sides to what BiCupid has to offer. First off is a lack of traffic compared with more major dating sites. This is to be expected considering that it is catering to a smaller area of interest than other general dating sites, but it still deserves mention. Localized searching is limited for non-paying members to a distance of 100 miles or greater. This means that if you’re really only looking to connect with people in your immediate vicinity, you will have to sort through those that live further away, too. The problem with large search radiuses, such as 100 miles, is that it makes sites look busier than they really are. However, the most disturbing aspect of this site is that it won’t show you the last login date of a member until you’ve paid for at least a one month membership. If you can’t tell when a user last logged in, then you can’t tell how many members in your area visit the site each day. You need to be able to see this stat in order to make an informed decision on what a site has to offer but BiCupid chooses to leave bisexual men and women in the dark.

“…bisexual men and women get poor service on the major dating sites so this may be a good choice…”

For as many down sides as this site has, it also has its good features. One of the best is that paid members can contact guests. This means that you can be browsing the site and find an email in your inbox from a member that you can respond to without having to pay for a membership. However, paying has its privileges. With the price of a membership, that runs at around $20 a month, or less if you purchase multiple months, you can access additional features. Off the bat, you will be able to see when a member last logged in and conduct searches within a radius of 50 miles. You will also be able to see who has viewed your profile, who has you on their favorites list and see a list of new members. And of course, you will be able to send unlimited emails and instant messages to members and free members and have them be able to respond to you.

Although a site really only has to let you conduct localized searches and provide you with the ability to contact members to serve its ultimate purpose, a dating portal should go the extra mile and create a place that is as tailored to the target market as much as possible. BiCupid seems to put forth a pretty solid site but could do more to address its niche. Nonetheless, when it comes to underserved markets, bisexual men and women get poor service on the major dating sites so this may be a good choice if you can’t find another site that suits your needs.

LargeFriends.com is a site that specializes in catering to the dating desires of heavyset men and women. Unlike some other sites that find a good name and publish a site to reach a market without really looking into the needs of those people, LargeFriends.com has clearly taken its time and made a site that’s as big and beautiful as the people it serves.

The profiles at Large Friends are well done. They contain a decent amount of information and give you space to write a few words about yourself. However, they lack the depth that some other sites are able to reach with more questions to fill out. Add to that the fact that even if you go through the trouble to fill out what they do ask, only paid members can search by more specific criteria.

Speaking of criteria when it comes to search options, Large Friends has a mediocre offering to base your selection on, most of which are only available to full members on the site. However, you can search for people within a 100 mile radius, which isn’t bad, but the 50 mile radius option is blocked until you’re ready to join. Photo-only searches are also limited to those who’ve paid for a membership. Bonus marks are given for a keyword search that helps balance out the fact that you’re not required to answer 100 questions before you can join.

Quick contact is only available for paid members and is limited to instant messaging. This isn’t so bad because if you’re just looking to get a conversation going, they do have a chat forum.

You should find free membership to be enough to get your feet wet at Large Friends. You can show interest in someone by sending a wink and members can email and send unlimited messages if you’ve caught their interest. You can also chat in the forum for free, so don’t be afraid to go in and yack it up! You will constantly be reminded of the features you’re missing out on with messages on the benefits of full membership, but that’s to be expected with any site that costs money to run.

You’ll also find quite a decent amount of people have joined this site. Searches turned up members from all over the globe, but North America has the largest amount of subscribers, by far.

LargeFriends.com offers a few nice extra features that members can benefit from. Once you join, you can post comments about others on the site and check to see who’s visited your profile. You can also read their selection of daily plus-sized news. Members also get priority placement in search results. In this case, joining does have its privileges.

If you’re BB woman or man, or even just an admirer, Large Friends does deliver the goods. Take the free tour and search for others in your area for the best measure if this site suits your needs!

BBWHarmony.com is an online personals service bringing together big, beautiful women and men. In this day and age of borderline anorexic models and actresses, it’s nice to know that there is still a solid appreciation a real men and woman. It’s equally reassuring to see people that have remained true to themselves rather than caving in to stereotypical ideals of the perfect body. Ironically, a few of the men and women I saw on the site seem barely overweight, but it does give them a chance to meet others that aren’t so obsessed by the weight of the person they’re dating and more interested in person being themselves and having natural beauty.

BBW Harmony’s profile process has a reasonable amount of mandatory information to fill out when creating your description. As with other member sites from the same company’s network, there are many good quality profiles. Many have photos and most are well written. You can also add a video introduction to attract even more interest in your advertisement. I didn’t see too many videos added yet but it normally takes a while for a newer option to catch on.

“One notable feature regarding the instant messaging is that it’s more than just plain text interaction.”

Your free membership gives you limited access to the site’s services. As is commonplace with online dating sites, you can send a free “flirt” to demonstrate interest in any profiles you find. For any other way of initiating contact, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid membership. Once you become a full subscriber you can start a one-on-one conversation with other members online by using the instant messaging program, have access to sending and receiving email and be able to checkout who looked at your profile in the last couple of weeks. One notable feature regarding the instant messaging is that it’s more than just plain text interaction. You can send voice and video instant messages, too.

Search Options on BBW Harmony are substantial. Beyond the ability to conduct localized searches based upon zip/postal codes, there is even a keyword search option. Results can also be shown as a photo gallery. You can save your searches so you don’t have to keep re-entering the same options over and over. As far as a compatibility system, there’s a very straightforward ‘my matches’ section that finds members in real-time based on the replies entered in your profile describing the perfect partner. With no automatic e-mailing of matches here, you have to keep checking back to the ‘my matches’ page to see any changes.

Niche sites fight an uphill battle when it comes to membership numbers. This is a big worry for BBW Harmony because it seems that the number of active members is rather small. However, membership costs less than $15 US, so you’re not risking a lot of dough to give the site a full tryout.

BBW Harmony is an opportunity for real women to meet genuine men in a friendly and safe environment.

ChnLove.com is not your regular online dating site. Instead it is more along the lines of the now old-fashioned concept of mail order brides. I say such a concept is outmoded merely because things have come a long way during the last 10 years as far as to how a man can meet a potential wife from halfway across the globe. This site works in conjunction with 17 local marriage agencies in 13 major cities in China to facilitate connections via the Internet between Western men and Chinese women, many of whom would not otherwise have the computer skills, language knowledge or access to computers and the Internet to meet someone online. There seem to be many stories of successful matches that have led to long-term relationships and happy marriages.

As a man, the profile process is relatively brief. However, you will be required to provide personal information that you normally wouldn’t on other dating sites such as your real full name, home address and telephone number. The site promises that this private contact information will be held strictly confidential and will only be used with your permission when you engage one of their full services.

“ChnLove is for Western men who want to meet sincere, marriage-minded women from China.”

Currently there are over 3200 profiles of Chinese women looking to meet Western men for long-term relationships on ChnLove. In China, the affiliated marriage agencies which the women make initial contact with forward a photo and personal details to the website. They provide the women with help in translating their descriptions into clear and precise English, so the online information about each female member is well written and easy to understand. It definitely seems to help create a more complete idea of each woman beyond merely a pretty photograph.

On the Western side of things, ChnLove offers several unique services. You can have flowers delivered to the woman that interests you if she lives in one of the major cities serviced by the company. The affiliated marriage agencies will also forward your emails to the women by phone or by standard post after translating them into Chinese. The agencies will also collect the women’s reply and translate them to English and email them back to Western men. Additional services available include advice on helping your new love immigrate to your country from China and help with planning a visit to China to meet your potential partner in person.

Some services, like sending flowers, have a specific additional cost associated with them but most of the communication options are charged against a system of credits on a per-use basis. For example, it costs one credit for each mail sent or received through the marriage agency phone/post mail forwarding system. Credits cost between $4.25 and $6.25 depending on how many are bought at one time.

ChnLove is for Western men who want to meet sincere, marriage-minded women from China. It offers a different way to make lasting connections online.

KoreanFriendFinder.com is specialized in joining singles who enjoy all things Korean together. Here you’re going to find people that share at least a modicum of interest in Korean culture even if they themselves are not Korean. I must emphasize that not only is joining not limited to your being Korean, but there appears to be lots of members who have already joined that are neither Korean nor living in Korea. There are lots of individuals living in Korea who want to connect in a safe and secure way. Also many people who have moved from Korea or who have previously visited the country seek to reconnect with its culture. Others simply yearn to explore something new. The beautiful Korean people offer a special exotic style and unique Asian charm as individuals.

Sign up for free and you’ll immediately be able to look through the ads and even zoom in on few of the ones you like the most. On the search page you’ll always have the option to at least send a wink to let that preferred person know that you are interested in a profile. If you add the description to your hot list, an e-mail will immediately be dispatched to that member’s inbox so your stamp of approval becomes evident. Free contact otherwise can be limited, although you can always e-mail a few individuals and some subscribers pay a special extra fee so they are reachable from any level of membership. Otherwise, in the FriendFinder Network tradition, if you post a truly popular profile you may receive exceptional membership rewards, which could allow you free access to premium services.

Now for the online communication options available to you. First of all, let me mention that Korean Friend Finder is available in Korean as well as English. All links have been translated and anything produced by the site itself has been transposed to Korean, however a lot of subscriber submitted information is in English. You’re going to have the chance to enjoy live chat, post messages in the Groups section and read those from others, and check out an online magazine with articles written by fellow members. Keep up-to-date daily with your favourite real-life personalities by checking out the “blogs” page. If you see an interesting visitor in the online gallery you can send him or her, an instant message for free.

You’re going to make loads of new friends, Korean or otherwise, so you need to have an easy way to keep track of them all. Enter the Network, which is you personalized list of members with whom you want to stay in regular contact. As a group you’re going to be able to share bulletins and special private photo albums. Your online buddies can also add special commentary describing how wonderful and interesting you are right onto your individual profile.

Upgraded memberships of either Silver or Gold provide many advantages beyond the obvious one of unlimited contact with other members. You treated as top in search results and priority queues for customer service and profile approvals too. Gold also offers a unique opportunity to search the member galleries based on keywords. The number of subscribers is less than on some other less specialized sites, so the monthly rates are a slightly lower on Korean Friend Finder.

Visit Korean Friend Finder where everyone who enjoys the uniqueness of Korean culture is welcome.

Asia Friend Finder is a total-package site, but you have to hand over the money before you really get to see what it’s about. This can make anyone new to the online dating scene cringe, but Friend Finder has a track record of producing high-quality, member-driven sites and Asia Friend Finder is no exception.

The profile quality at Asia Friend Finder is extremely high. There are more questions than you could ever need and opportunities to fill out profiles to a greater or lesser extent as you please. The one problem is that you can’t see what other members have written about themselves or what other pictures they’ve posted until you pay for a membership. The only other profiles you will be able to see are those of paid members, but even these have been handicapped in certain ways, such as the inability to see larger pictures, to encourage you to pay for a membership.

Asia Friend Finder looks pretty solid from a visual perspective. There’s a lot going on at times as far as what’s on the screen, and the designers didn’t shy away from highlighting it all through color. The blend of choices doesn’t sit perfectly with my taste, but it’s a subjective area. No matter what your tastes are, however, you won’t find that the presentation gets in the way of your search for love and romance.

“Asia Friend Finder is a quality product at an acceptable price.”

The site scores full points when it comes to local searching. The most accurate local search you have at your disposal as a free member trying to find users in your area is by zip code. Zip code searches should be enough to give you an idea of who is online in your immediate area. You have more options available if you join, such as searches by city, which can be helpful.

It might be surprising to some that a site with so much going on can end up scoring a zero in any category. Asia Friend Finder proves the case by not allowing guest members to view profiles in detail. This is something that usually sets off warning bells. Our criteria says that any site that hides profiles gets an automatic zero as it usually signals a shady site operator. However, in this case, it just isn’t an accurate reflection on reputation. The Friend Finder network has proven itself to be dedicated to providing first-class sites. Preventing guests from viewing other profiles is just an unfortunate quirk. Still, if you’re new to online dating and don’t want to take the chance, this is the time to bow out.

Asia Friend Finder has a very large following online. What that means is that there are enough members on this site to make it worth your time to sign up for a free membership and run some searches for people in your area. That’s the only sure way to see if any site is worth your time.

If your searches on Asia Friend Finder turn up enough results to make a membership worth your while, you can be assured that there’s more fun to be had once you join. The site has built a digital community and included elements such as chat rooms, an online publication, groups and blogs to ensure you’re entertained.

If you are still reading and looking for Asian connections, take a look at the site. Asia Friend Finder is a quality product at an acceptable price. It will take a leap of faith at the beginning, but you shouldn’t be disappointed once you find your footing inside AFF!