RapiDating OnLine Dating

MegaFriends.com definitely has a homespun spirit. Although I wasn’t exactly dazzled by the presentation on this site, I definitely had the feeling that one could meet genuine people here—individuals more serious about meeting someone and less concerned about merely garnering attention from being all flash and no substance. If you’ve dated as long as I have, both off and on the Internet, you always risk becoming slightly jaded and sounding bitter. This relatively plain personals page was exactly what the doctor ordered to cure me of my worn out perspective.

Now, when it comes to members, I have to say Mega Friends is doing pretty well, boasting over 600,000 members. What I think is more impressive is that from what I can see, the profiles seem to be of much higher quality than I’ve seen on other sites. Like I said before, it’s not glitz and glamour here, so it seems like you find only “real” profiles compared to other places where I have more than a mere suspicion they’re peppering the membership quotas with fake model pictures. Everyone is welcome here, whether they’re straight, gay, bisexual or a couple. Your profile can include a voice/video introduction, although I didn’t find many subscribers taking advantage of either.

“Browsing is free for anyone but if you go gold then free members are able to respond back to you…”

Getting to know people first is always important to making a successful connection. Mega Friends let’s you use several ways to do just that. Login to chat, video chat, instant messaging, e-mail or send a “gift” to someone. The gift service is really more like a system for sending electronic greeting cards. The graphics are pretty amateurish; they remind me of the Valentine’s Day cards we used to exchange in elementary school. You remember the ones – came in a box of 100 and you sent one to everyone in the school whether you liked that person or not. It’s a cute idea and a simple way of sending a simple message when maybe you’re no Shakespeare. I appreciated the ones telling someone I’m not interested, mostly illustrations of people running away—very subtle and sensitive. There are also forums where you can post advice or read stories from other subscribers.

The biggest plus with this site is that you can do a lot without paying. You can take part in group discussions, read and reply to mail from gold members and search for people really close to your home, as opposed to having to search by some broad and unrealistic distance. You can even see when members last logged in, which is important when trying to determine how many people come on frequently in your area.

If you want unlimited access to sending and responding to messages then you need to upgrade to Gold. You’ll also gain access to subscriber photo albums. Chat and instant messaging, which times out after 10 minutes as a free member, will no longer be an issue. Browsing is free for anyone but if you go gold then free members are able to respond back to you, otherwise they can only send messages or gifts. To increase your contacts and allow for total freedom on the site, it’s definitely worthwhile becoming a premium subscriber.

True, this dating site is certainly not as popular as others on the market, but it’s certainly a great choice for people new to online dating and those seeking a littel extra exposure. Visit Mega Friends if you prefer true value to simply superficial style.

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.