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Our Favorite Dating Sites |
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Top Dating Categories |
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MatchMaker: 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 MatchMaker |
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URL
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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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may be what most other online dating websites aspire to become. With over 8 million members worldwide and an excellent reputation for high-quality member matching, really performs. The beauty of the site is its purity - there aren't a lot of bells and whistles like newsletters, travel opportunities or get-togethers scheduled for various cities - but has taken all that extra energy and poured it into perfecting the online profiles, functionality and matching capabilities.
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Number of Members
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8,000,000
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Overall Rating
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is easily one of the best sites around. If you are purely looking for online dating, don't go anywhere else. If you want some of the extras like newsletters and Speed Dating, still register for , but join a second site as well.
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MatchMaker Categories & Features |
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Relationships
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Alternative
Friendship
Marriage
Pen Pals
Romance
Three-some
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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
Photo Gallery
Search (Advanced)
Search by location
Search (Quick)
Smart Matching
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Contacting Members
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E-mail
Instant messaging
Online Chat
Voice Communication
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MatchMaker Dating Service Review |
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The Company
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is owned by TerraLycos, a massive global internet company that owns and operates such giants as Lycos, HotBot, WebMonkey, RagingBull and Sonique. Established in both North and South America with solid financial backing and enormous resources, the savvy TerraLycos conglomerate backs every one of its companies with strong support. Their knack for predicting trends in internet commerce and placing themselves first and foremost in the path, then paring down their own sites like to meet the most essential needs without all the "clutter" that sends so many other sites is nearly legendary.
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Site Navigation
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's navigation is easy and fast. No extraneous links, no elaborate paths to follow. takes you where you want to go and lets you get on with why you're there - to find other members. It's direct and clear.
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Site Response Speed
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Fast
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Sign-Up Process
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If you want to sign up to quickly, you can. It's easy and you can fill out as much or as little as you want, so they do allow you to get out there and search quickly if that's what you want. To be fair, it can be a time-consuming process if you fill out all 23 of the essays and all 100+ questions, but if you're serious about using , it's worth the time. Believe me; other members will be much more likely to email you if you take the time to fill out your profile completely. Of course, you can always do the short-and-sweet version now and go back and update your profile whenever you get a chance.
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Breadth of Services
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Breadth of membership is a definite WOW! There are communities for everything - from seniors to swingers, Mormons to Nudists. You can be looking for marriage, a long-term relationship, chat buddies, friends to hang out with, another couple to swing with or a date for this weekend and you'll find it at . You won't find newsletters or events, however, so if you're into the extras you should look elsewhere.
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User Base
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Outstanding. Nothing else to say.
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User Experience
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was a lot of fun and the members I corresponded with were all interesting and had positive experiences. The chat rooms were fairly active in the evenings, especially on the weekends. Email worked extremely well and itself runs like a well-oiled machine, which is more than I can say for my own computer. It was great running the different searches and I loved the fact that I could create so many different MatchMarker searches, and then have those icons show up as quick-reference guides on profiles I looked at.
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Customer Service
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was a bit slow to respond to customer service issues, but helpful. They answered questions in detail with suggestions and referred me up the line if they didn't have an answer.
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Customer Service Hours
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Email via Webpage
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Registration Options
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Registration Procedure
FREE to register
Quick registration
Online help
Send photos by mail or email
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Additional Services
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Automatic renewal
Hide profile option
Money back guarantee
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Long Description
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Let's face it, most people who sign up for an online dating service are primarily there to take advantage of three features: browsing, email services and chat or Instant Messaging. After that, most people will take it to the next level themselves. has tweaked their profiles until they are arguably the best out there and the email service is simple and easy to use. Instant Messaging onsite and the opportunity to record a short voice greeting add a personal touch without having to go through complicated procedures. is a streamlined online dating site that ensures you can get right down to what you really want to do - find people who may be a good match quickly and learn a lot about them in a relatively short amount of time. By answering 's 23 essay questions, you're making a commitment just by going through the free registration and you can bet that the other members aren't there just for kicks if they've gone through the process, too! The questions range from thought-provoking (What is your insight into spirituality and how do you practice this belief?) to whimsical (What superhero power would you like to have?). These can be great conversation starters when you send your first few emails to other members.
Search for dates on in various ways
is set up for ease of use and has a smooth, upscale look and feel to it. There aren't a lot of links and banners cluttering it up and it's easy on the eyes. Cranberry, blue-gray and olive give a nautical, professional look and the site is refreshingly free of cutesy icons like hearts, flowers and cupids, which can make it more comfortable for guys who may break out in hives at the whole "hearts and flowers" schtick. When you're ready to search, provides four different methods: basic, advanced, matchmarkers and 1-click match. A basic search is just that - you narrow by age, gender, distance, and last time visited. 's advanced search can be as detailed as you like, with you selecting from over 100 criteria you want to narrow your search by and you can save these searches to use over and over. A particularly nice feature for searching that is unique to is the "MatchMarker" system. You can build a search around specific criteria from the profiles and give them key names and then assign them an icon. For instance, if you only want matches with a college education or better, create a Matchmarker search called "educated" with a book icon and save it. What about looking for only those matches who like to drink a few beers? Create a Matchmarker search called "Drinker," assign a beer mug icon and save it. Now you search for these individually. Or, when you do any other search, these icons will pop up below the photos of any members who match these criteria. In other words, you will immediately know that the member called "Idaho642" is not only college educated, but he likes to hoist a few on the weekends - all without having to read the profile! Finally, there's the 1-click match system, which provides an automatic quick-matching system through the 's own system. This is a good way to start up, but once you've registered it would be silly not to take advantage of all the great search features offers. When you do a search, you will also see a rating of one to four stars on each member, rating how well he or she matches you. These aren't scientific, but are a good starting point if you want to weed out those who probably are just barely a fit.
Personals among the best
The look of 's profiles are exceptional. The photos are crisp and clear and larger than you usually see on an online dating site, and you can upload up to ten, many more than most sites. After you've browsed, you can add notes on the right-hand side of any interesting profiles for future reference in the "Note to Self" area. This is a great way to keep track of observations about their emails, what you think of their profile or an impression you got based on IM. Finally, has more options than any other site out there for communities or niche markets. You can find communities that you can search within for the military, gay/lesbian, wingers, Catholic Singles, Mormons, Jewish, Asian, Big & Beautiful....you get the idea - if there's a niche, can provide you a way to find it! If you're a member here, you can choose to join a particular community but search outside it as well to increase your odds. gives you the best of both worlds and is efficient and respectful of varying beliefs and attitudes.
focuses on the matching, not the extras
If you want extras, you may want to check out a few other online dating services. doesn't have a newsletter or offer articles on dating and socializing. It also doesn't offer travel discounts and get-togethers in cities around the world. But then, it doesn't really have to. is a meat-and-potatoes site that is solidly placed and packed with members. If your goal is to meet people online and learn lots about them in order to start a correspondence and perhaps meet somewhere down the line, is the site for you.
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MatchMaker Pros & Cons |
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Pros
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Excellent profiles, one of the broadest ranges of community groups out there and an exceptional set of browse and search options.
With the most highly evolved Hot List features out there for tagging and sorting members of interest, gives efficiency and depth.
The sheer magnitude of the communities to choose from and 's membership numbers (8 million!) means you have serious issues if you can't find some great people to correspond with.
Being able to keep notes on profiles means you will be able to refresh your memory at a glance.
The Matchmarker icons simplify searches.
High level of activity and huge traffic and the most comprehensive, interesting profiles around.
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Cons
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No newsletters or events.
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MatchMaker Plans Offered |
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Pricing
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1 month for $14.95
3 months for $44.95
6 months for $74.95
1 year for $99.95
Send your own emails
Chat room
Blocking features
Ability to rate member profiles and photos
Instant messaging
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Site Freebies
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Full browsing of profiles
Respond to all emails you receive
Post complete profile with up to ten photos
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