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Our Favorite Dating Sites |
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Top Dating Categories |
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LargeFriends: Full Review |
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Pro Rating :
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User Ratings :
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Avg. Rating :
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About LargeFriends |
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URL
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Year Started
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2004
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Location
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United States of America
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Languages
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English
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Short Description
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targets those who are either plus-sized themselves or who are looking for a plus-sized friend, mate or spouse. The site lists all of the current terminology for plus-sized people, including BBW (Big Beautiful Woman), BHM (Big Handsome Man), FA (Fat Admirer) and FFA (Female Fat Admirer). You have to admire the goal of , but every indication is that this is a very small site with limited resources. ' pages are all slow loads and there is little offered with the free membership.
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Number of Members
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100,000
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Overall Rating
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is based on filling a need with a niche that gets short shrift elsewhere, but with the generally below-average quality of the site and limited offerings, it has a long way to go. When even ' front page has two spelling errors, it's obvious there is not much going on in terms of quality control or maintenance.
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LargeFriends Categories & Features |
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Lifestyles
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Big Beautiful Women
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Relationships
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All
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Religions
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All
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Ethnicities
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All
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Finding Your Match
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Automated Matching
Online indicator
Search (Advanced)
Search by location
Search (Quick)
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Contacting Members
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E-mail
E-mail (Anonymous)
Instant messaging
Online Chat
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LargeFriends Dating Service Review |
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The Company
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No way to know who actually owns from looking at the site or contacting them via email. Appears to be privately owned, but service seems to be at least partly automated.
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Site Navigation
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' red and orange color scheme isn't a great choice (just a personal observation) and the overall look is flat and amateurish. Simple tabs across the top make navigation seem simple, but some links are frustrating because several different ones take you automatically to the paid membership sign-up page. One broken link was found that hadn't been fixed three days later. Emails are "double blind" - they go to your own email address, but with your information not showing to the sender. Your emails will go directly to your match's home email address as well. This poses a problem. It's more likely that this information could be inadvertently displayed when you respond and the person could trace it very easily if they wanted to. There is no location on the actual site for storing your emails. Basically, is the go-between, with no actual, separate mailbox on-site.
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Site Response Speed
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Slow
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Sign-Up Process
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Quick and fairly simple for non-paying members, but little is offered until you pay. For paying members, it's still pretty easy unless you try to pay through PayPal, where you may run into problems.
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Breadth of Services
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offers very limited services and membership here, with average to poor quality overall.
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User Base
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' user base is limited. Mostly US citizens, with some Canadians and some members from the U.K. Difficult to say for certain though, because there are no statistics available and no indication of how many people are on the site at any given time.
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User Experience
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In a word, frustrating. has slow loads, confusing links and limited access.
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Customer Service
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FAQ's were fine, but customer service response by email was very basic, took two days and didn't answer all of my questions. also referred me back to a page with a broken link.
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Customer Service Hours
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Email contact: support@LargeFriends.com
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Registration Options
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Registration Procedure
FREE to register
Quick registration
Online help
Tips and examples
Send photos by mail or email
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Additional Services
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Hide profile option
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Long Description
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How long has been around is difficult to say, since there is no history and no dates listed on the site. When contacted via the customer service address with questions as to who owns and how long they've been in business, I recieved a general "thank you for inquiring" response that suggested I sign up to become a Gold Member. It had all the earmarks of a form letter and suggested I read ' FAQ's on the site - which I had already done, twice. None of them addressed my questions. That said, is a pretty bland site. So-so home page done in orange and red isn't all that inviting and has a flat look to it, with few pictures and no opportunity to learn much about the site. touts itself as the site "where plus-size singles feel at home."
Paid membership is the only way to experience this dating site
Free membership allows you to post a profile and photo and browse other members. You can't, however, read the complete profile unless you pay the membership fee and become a subscribed member. You will simply see a photo, their username, age, location and one sentence. You can't respond to contact, initiate contact or IM unless you are a member, making the site difficult to try out. The same goes for the "Daily Plus Size News," which doesn't always change daily as you would think. It also isn't accessible without a paid membership. One unusual feature to is the link for e-mailing singles in your area. This sends anonymous emails to all other singles that match your criteria who live "in your area." doesn't specify what that area is and you have no idea of how many are sent out. Unless someone responds, you also don't know who they were sent to, which seems a bit of risk without reading their profiles. In the chat room, several members were conversing one evening about the lack of response from these emails; most expressed disappointment that they had never heard from any of the area people they had sent their group email to. Another unusual feature is the "feedback" section, where you can post your comments about other members below their profiles. While most were inocuous enough, some were rude and there isn't enough control over this. After all, what stranger should have the right to comment on you based on a few emails and a profile? This feature needs to be rethought.
Explore your BBW dating options at
has tried to fill a niche that may very well need a site where members will feel comfortable, but until there are site improvements this won't be the first choice for Plus-Size Singles. ' Customer Service even announces its preference for paying members by dividing their customer service email links into "Gold Membership problems" and "Other problems." If the intention is to make Gold Customers feel privileged, it backfires by making potential customers feel like they are way low on the priority list. That kind of second-best treatment won't encourage others to sign up. The "Partner" page is basically a link to a web ring for other Plus Size sites, especially clothing sites and fetish-wear. also has a link to the Plus-Size yellow pages and the top cities for BBW Meetings.
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LargeFriends Pros & Cons |
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Pros
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If you are a plus-sized person and aren't comfortable on a standard dating website, is a good, safe spot to contact others.
It's also a treasure trove if you are attracted to plus-sized singles.
is an inexpensive site at $9.95 a month or less, so there's no real risk to trying out a temporary membership.
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Cons
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Relatively small membership numbers and poor quality pages that load slowly -- seems amateurish compared to most others.
' free membership is so limited it is off-putting rather than inviting.
The "extras" such as emailing others in your area are so anonymous and limited that they seem to be virtually worthless and the "testimonials" section is just not a good idea. Period.
' customer service sent only standard, pre-formatted responses to my questions and didn't directly answer them all.
There were some problems when payment via PayPal was attempted.
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LargeFriends Plans Offered |
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Pricing
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1 month for $9.95
3 months for $26.95
Full access - you can email and respond to emails and use ' Instant Messaging
Chat capabilities
Blocking features
The "invite others to post testimonials on you" section
Daily Plus-Size News section
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Site Freebies
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You can be a free member for as long as you want, but you won't get much this way. You can post your profile and a photo, but you can't correspond, IM or use the Daily News section. You're basically there, nothing else. The browsing may pique your curiosity, but without even the opportunity to read a complete profile, you don't learn much about the other members.
Limited browsing
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