As a 31 year old single male who doesn't like to go to clubs or bars to meet women, I have joined the millions of people who have turned to online dating sites in hopes of meeting women. No, it's not only for fat, unmotivated shut-ins, it's actually become very popular and a great way to get past initial screening that could take 3-4 dates in person. I have used more than one website to do my searches. In fact, there are few I haven't tried. Eharmony, Chemistry, yahoo personals, Match.com, friend finder, and plentyoffish just to name a few. Each offer many different services and each has a niche as far as drawing clients to their site.

1. Match.com: Match is more or less, a pretty familiar model. It allows you to search and find your matches without paying a dime, to make a fairly detailed profile, and use advanced search option without subscribing. You know exactly what you are getting, and you know how many people you would or wouldn't want to talk to before ever paying anything. It's great for window shopping. In addition, it has lots of add-ons to the normal month fee such as mobile match access, ability to see when people are reading your emails, and ability to pay for the ability to  make it so people who aren't paying, can reply to you if you write them...which can be very handy compared to other services. More importantly guys, in my area, there are usually a fairly decent amount of matches in your areas if you live in a city. compared to a lot of the other sites. Getting those girls to write you back....well that's another story. There are a somewhat disturbing number of  "fake" profiles, however probably less than the average site, and administration does a pretty good job of pulling those profiles off the site once they are made aware of them.  There is a guarantee if you sign up for 6 months at once, but the fine print is a mile long and requires you to write so many people per month (if you are meeting anyone you like and are dating, that might be difficult to explain). If you are eligible for the offer, they will give you 6 months more free at the end of the first 6 month period, but no money back!

2. Yahoo Personals: Again, this company follows the old formula a lot like match does, but doesn't quite do it as effectively. Years ago, if you were a paying member, anyone you wrote could write you back, this is no longer the case and so this service is not nearly as popular as it used to be. There are some local girls, but more fake profiles than match.com, and less added services. You can still do advanced searches, and you can make your yahoo profile name visible see that someone can IM you on your yahoo account. But there really isn't much else.

3. Plentyoffish: Here, the main benefit is that it's free. Yep, totally free....no, i'm not kidding. Put your profile up, your interests, do your advanced searches, and write to whomever you want, as often as you want. It's totally free. It can be difficult to find as many people who are "serious" about dating because it's free, and the quality of women may be somewhat suspect at times because of that, but there are very few if any fake profiles, and you can always tell if someone read your email, and if they deleted it. You even have the ability to block people who irritate you and KEEP people that you aren't in, from messaging you by using their filtration options.

4. Eharmony:  We've all seen the ads, come by and get yoru free personal profile. Eharmony is obviously a very different service. A scientific view of dating...hmmm. The profile takes awhile, like almost an hour if you take it seriously. And,  you won't be able to see pictures of any of your matches without paying. They do run special 3 month promotions for $19.95 per month, but the monthly price is more than the other services. It allows you to use very stiff questions to ascertain compatibility beyond pictures, such as must haves and can't stands. You do get a fair amount of matches, but since you can't use normal things such as height and weight to disqualify someone, you will find more witches than princesses, so beware! And honestly though, as a guy, unless she seems psycho, if she is cute, are you going to close the match? Probably not right? If you and your match get through guided communication, then you can actually talk to eachother, woohoo! It can be cumbersome and take quite awhile to get through this process, but it definitely takes the pain out of rejection and makes you just basically forget there is a heart involved in the process. It definitely has it's pluses, but also it's minuses. Personally, it's not my favorite for the price, but if you get the email promotional offer for $19.95 per month for 3 months, it may be worth your time. They do have a guarantee, as does match, but the fine print make it unlikely that you would qualify, so don't sign up thinking you are getting your money back, because all they give you is more time free on the site, not your money back!

5. Chemistry.com: This site attempts to be a cross between eharmony and match, but the profile seems really irrelevant truthfully. They don't give you access to much without paying (similar to eharmony) but unlike eharmony or match, the number and quality of the matches simply aren't there in my experience. I tried it once and was very dissapointed in the quality of women that were matched, and how far away the few that were matched lived from me, despite my preferences to the contrary. The price is similar to match, and just pales in comparison in almost every conceivable way.

Each person can come to their own conclusion, based on what they think is important. From my experience (more than 5 years of online dating) the best girls to choose from, for the value is going to be either plentyoffish.com (because it's free) or match.com if you want prefer a site with more bells and whistles and don't mind paying $29.95 per month. Eharmony is worth a shot, but only at promo levels at $19.95/month. Happy dating to you...and well, to me too!