Where to Look? Guide to Online Dating Sites
— -- Setting up a personal profile on a dating Web site can be a stressful, intimidating process. With so many sites to choose from, how can you tell which will help you best find a friendship or someone to date?
The mainstream sites allow you to search for singles in specific age ranges and geographic locations, but there are also plenty of sites catering to singles who share an ethnic background, a hobby or a sports interest. And if you decide to go online, give the subscription rates a careful glance. While many sites welcome you to post a profile at no charge, the free subscriptions offer limited services. You might be charged if you want to send messages and use more advanced functions on the site. Here's a sampling of some of the dating sites:
Golfdates.com: If hitting the green is your idea of a great first date, try one of the dozens of golf dating sites, such as golfdates.com or dateagolfer.com to find a daytime golf date. If all goes well, you can head into the clubhouse for a snack.
Fitness Singles.com: Looking for a water polo fan? Enjoy windsurfing? Or perhaps you want a mate who enjoys cycling or hiking? This site allows users to search through profiles based on dozens of sporting activities.
Match.com: Let the site do the work for you. A membership here gives you the chance to search among the 15 million members, and request that appropriate matches be e-mailed to you.
AmericanSingles.com: This might be a good option for a first-timer online. The site caters to members of all different interests and provides a hotline inviting you to speak with customer care consultants for advice about your profile, how to meet someone or any other question that might arise.
Yahoo!: The popular search engine offers two versions for online daters: Yahoo! Personals and Personals Premiere, which takes things a bit more seriously and is focused on helping people find committed relationships. The site also has an extensive offering of dating information and provides users with the chance to submit questions via e-mail to a relationship expert.
World Singles.com: Specializing in serving a range of ethnic communities, this site connects users with specialty sites for ethnicities including African-Americans, Armenians, Italians, Greeks and Arabs.
Click2Asia.com: Serving the nation's Asian population, this site has been around since 1999. Members are invited to post profiles, instant message prospective dates or attend one of their speed dating events in select cities.
Jdate.com: Touted as the world's largest Jewish singles community, this site has also expanded beyond the virtual world, hosting parties and volunteer events where singles can try for a match in person.
Christiansingles.com: Marriage-minded Christians who are just as committed to pursuing their faith as they are to pursuing dates might want to try this site, which stresses religion and promotes Christian business services to its members.
Lavalife: If you don't want to wait for a first date to meet someone, try out the live video function on Lavalife. Members can send instant video messages to other folks who are logged on at the same time. The search categories are divided to help you find someone with similar goals: dating, relationship or intimate encounters. The site also gives you the chance to catch someone's eye during special movie nights -- Lavalife's Click at a Flick events include happy hours before movies in Boston, New York and Chicago.
Eharmony: Tired of sorting through hundreds of profiles? Let the experts have a try. On Eharmony, users fill out an extensive personality profile and submit it to the site. Then their relationship experts try and match you up with a suitable companion.
Hurrydate.com: The popular speed dating organizers are now helping people meet online. Like other dating sites you can post a profile, or visit the bulletin board to respond to a specific inviation. Users post messages when they want a date for a sporting event or concert.
Rightstuff.com: For those who are proud of their Ivy League heritage, this site will connect you with other elite graduates. You must show proof of your education before signing up.
Literary Find: Ayn Rand fans can search for love on the site, Theatlasphere.com. This unique dating site is intended to help fans of Rand's philosophies, as espoused in her novels like "The Fountainhead," to connect and pursue a future together.
Political passion? To find a date who shares your views about federal budgets, foreign policy and domestic strategies, try Democraticsingles.com or Singlerepublican.com. With a partisan approach to dating, at least you know you'll have something to discuss on your first date.