Here's a new twist. I have an email account that I set up for AM and for AM only. I've never, ever, not once used to to communicate with anyone but AM support.

This morning, I got a Nigerian money scam email in my inbox. So either AM support's computers are infected with trojans, or their privacy statement has a couple of loopholes.

You do realize that email spammers auto generate their email addresses with common words, letters and numbers, it doesn't mean AM sold your address (why would they?). If you used an email service like Gmail or Hotmail the spammers are bound to generate a bunch of real addresses.

It is easy to try out. Just create an email address on Hotmail and not tell anyone. In a few days you will get spam from spammers who have guessed your email address.

I am fairly experienced in online dating. There may very well be few real people in the mix; but I share the same annoying experience many other people have talked about. I get several 'Winks' but when I write back, there's no response. After wasting like 300 bucks I have decided not to go back.

I hate to contradict some of the more adamant among you, but there are indeed "real" women on this site and, fortunately for members of the male gender, some of them do indeed know how to write. I happen to be one of them. I've met real people there (some all too real!!) and have been seeing a gentleman from this site for over a year now. I rarely respond to winks and messages, not because I am a bogus profile, but because the great majority of the males on this site too leave much to be desired. Some of us do have discerning tastes ... and are turned off by rated photos. ..................It's a matter of the needle in the haystack, my friends.

Or you could simply be another arm of the Ashley Madison marketing machine. There's no disputing that there are some real women on the site -- we men aren't the only imperfect ones when it comes to fidelity.

Your needle in the haystack analogy is applicable to so many aspects of the site. What we're really talking about here is ROI. If 1 in 10 of the people you meet are worth your while, your investment cost is 10x what it takes just to get in contact with someone.

If you happen to be male, multiply that by the ratio of AM-created bogus profiles to real profiles, at let's say 10-20 to 1, and you realize that it's going to cost on average 100x to 200x your baseline cost of merely contacting someone to actually meet a woman who's worthwhile. Put another way, if you buy $1000 worth of credits to spend on the site, only about $5-10 is money spent effectively.

Sure, there will be anecdotal comments about someone hooking up with three beautiful ladies. Even discounting AM staff making some of these, it's simple probability. Some will find someone with their first message. Some won't meet someone until they've sent 1000 messages. Most will be somewhere in between.

not a scam the people r real but they lie with there phots ... i know a few people who hooked up there

I've been using Ashley Madison for a week and a half and have already met up with 3 females, all three of which went well. Out of the 3 girls I met up with, 1 was someone I contacted first. The other 2 found me.

I'm a good looking guy who's in-shape, and have a profile pic which shows my physique but has my face covered (Saved the face for the private showcase), so that probably helps. Also, I live in a major city.

That said, there are a lot of bogus female profiles. I've noticed a few which seem to be listed online 24hrs a day. It's possible a few of them simply leave their computers on with that site open (Only the single ones, the married ones would be far-fetched to do that without getting caught).

I have received bogus winks and gifts. I'll get them from people out-of-state. I've also had chat requests from people out-of-state. It's possible a few of the chat requests are horny wives who want cyber sex, but I just assume it's a load of crap meant to take credits from me to chat.

I've also received 3 collect messages from girls in my area. Two were legit girls (One I met up with, the other is the person I'm describing in the following paragraph), the third seemed bogus as she read my message but didn't bother responding.

One of the people who sent a collect message was a woman whose profile pic had a girl's butt & legs (bent over) with panties, and she looked like she was in shape. She also had her height/weight ratio listed as someone who would be in shape.......Her private showcase pics, which showed her face, left me wondering, because her face looked kind of chubby.......Then I got her phone # & e-mail address, and I looked up her e-mail address on facebook. Lo & behold, she was obese.

For the most part, my technique has been simply adding people as favorites, or doing private showcase requests while granting a key to mine.......Then we start messaging one another, then trade e-mail addresses, and do further contact privately (Away from the site via e-mail). After a few messages via e-mail, I ask how they want to meet up, exchange phone #'s, and voila.

When I write a message, I'll make sure to read their profiles and write a message which relates to their likes/dislikes.......I've written maybe 3-4 out-of-the-blue messages to girls, but that's a risky way of going about it as you don't know whether she's interested, much less whether it's a legit profile, so you can easily waste credits that way.

With the girls I met up with, I talked sex with them, but not immediately. When I first talked about the likes/dislikes on their profile, I would talk about those sexual interests in a somewhat vague way, they'd respond, and eventually they'd open up and we'd talk openly about it, even going to the point of what their fantasies are, what types of things they've done, etc.....You need some tact before laying out the gusto.

Also, I try to avoid female profiles which have interests such as "Sugar Daddy" (Alarm bells should be going off on that one), "Fine Wine/Dining", "Romantic Walks", etc.....I'm not looking for someone to date, nor a new wife, nor am I looking to lavish a girl with money & gifts. I'm simply looking for some sex on the side, while also being cool with them and being friends, in a sense. I guess an accurate term would be f*ckbuddy.

It's not a perfect dating website, but if you don't fall for the BS, if you look good, and if you live in or near a major city, it can be used to your advantage.

I have a male friend who's not overly attractive, and he gave me access to his profile.......I saw most of the messages he sent to women were lame 1-liners, along with his e-mail address attached (Asking them to contact him there). I told him he needs to change his technique.

Also, was just looking at my AM profile, and I forgot to mention this.

I have around 120 females on my "favorites" list......I've only corresponded with around 10 of them. There's another 15-20 who I traded "private showcase" access with.

So, with all that, do the math.......I doubt the ones who didn't respond were all bogus profiles, but it's logical to surmise at around half of them are.

AM is NOT a scam. I have met many women on the site and had great sex with some 10s.
I also had one or two 4s, never again, lol. Posters down on the site are those who have a bad game to begin with. AM is not going to fix your poor attraction skills. Learn some pick up skills and use the site to the max. It does work.

What I don't understand...having just joined, is why so many of the women have full faced pictures of themselves as their public picture. Surely that is risking so much and makes you think that these pictures are either not of that person, or that the enjoy pushing the boudaries of getting caught higher...as in a bit of a turn on...