The site is real. I have been married for 20 years. Two years ago I decided it was time for a little spice in my life. After sending out more than 50 messages, then re-reading them, I decided just to be a little humorous, respectfull and if the answer wasn't a 'No', then I was semi-persistent. I ended up meeting a wonderful married woman. We get along still to this day and the sex is just amazing.

The key is not to be a bone head. Pretty simple. It is really deflating to a mans character though, as these woman seem to only want to choose the cream of the crop because they are getting bombarded with messages. The ones that lower their expectations a little, like the woman I've been with, make AM a possibility for the average to above average guy to be able to hook up.

Site works for me. Been on 1 year.,spent maybe $400 total for credits over this year. Met tons of women and had sex with them even when I was was on travel for work from San Diego to NYC.

I didn't use the traveling man as I think that is a waste. I changed my zip code on my profile to whatever city I was headed too. Yes it cost money for guys to send messages but the relationships I built thru the site is worth every penny to me. You will send messages and get no responses, it happens a lot so don't get discouraged. For me it comes and goes as I know how to weed out who is less likely to respond. Don't email anyone who doesn't have a photo on the site. They will likely not be on there for long. If you see a photo and profile that sounds and reads as to good to be true, more than likely it is. If it's real of course that person is getting tons of emails from every tom, dick and Harry. So unless you have something profound you will get ignored.

The site is definitely legit. That being said you need to pay attention. If the profile is weak without much information and the pic is of some smoking hot chick than red flags should be going up in your head. Unfortunately that's usually a real person who is trying to scam you in some way. Report the profile immediately if that person asks you to leave the site for Skype and never do video chat. Unfortunately these women are indeed hot, will indeed video chat and then they will record you and black mail you with it. Never happened to me but I wondered why so many wanted to go to Skype and researched it and this is what I came up with. It doesn't happen as much on Ashley Madison but they're still out there.
The reason I say it's real is that I met someone using and unlike any other site I've tried, been rejected by some. If every girl you reach out to is interested it means the site is a scam. Scammers will never reject you. You have to learn the ropes and realize that you are going on to a site full of immoral people by its very nature. That includes you lol. Be careful, don't disclose too much too fast and don't be a pervert and your chances are good.

My concern is not so much fake profiles from women, but fake profiles from women who may be affiliated with Ashley Madison in some way. The payment model works for me. After a few days of following all of the suggestions, I have had no luck. That's OK as long as A.M. is not sponsoring the profiles I spend my credits on. I am pressing them pretty hard in support about what their policies are. I have asked for credit refunds on profiles I think were fake and may have been affiliated in some way with A.M.

Is there any hard information on how many fake profiles A.M. sponsors and whether the marking opt out actually works? Think back on the two chats I had with a 30 something with no pictures who contacted me, I could have been talking to an AI. I sent her credits and begged her to just acknowledge she was a real person and did not get a response.

Wow... I'm a woman and I'm real!
Be respectful, read the woman's profile if she spent time on it. Let her know what you like about her profile and what interests you about her. Be interesting and interested. There are various reasons why a woman signs up on AM. Hopefully you'll find someone or a few that are compatible with the reasons you signed up. I've noticed there are a variety of different types of men. Some are actually looking for real relationships. I've only been on AM for a few months and my experience has gone way beyond what I'd hoped for. Each encounter helps me learn more about who I am and what I'm truly looking for in a relationship. That being said, I also move to the 'women seeking women' section from time to time and have experienced the frustration of woman winking or making me their favorite. It does feel like they are enticing me to contact them. In that section of AM woman pay for the contact. So I understand why some of you may feel like you are being taken in. I believe that if you write a respectful interesting message and pay to have it sent that you deserve an answer back of some kind. Saying 'no' to someone is hard though. Happy hunting.... it's fun!

So my concern is I send very respectful messages to women roughly my age. As part of the message I respectfully request that they respond. I send gifts so they have credits to respond if needed. So far not one response.

That is the basis of my concern there are a lot of bots out there. These profiles appear and disappear in online status. That is why I think there may be A.M. sponsored bots involved.

It's real, I'm sure lots of planted profiles. My now ex-wife used it to hook up with some D-bag on there.

The site should burn in hell.

I think AM works great for women, less so for men. The first issue is the chat bots. For new users, they can be pretty convincing. Allowing men to spend money on a computer program is just evil.

I did get a response to some of my innocuous support questions. So far there has been nothing on the chat bots.

So for a woman, it is a great experience lots of attention from real people. for men not so much. Especially for average looking men.

At this time, I am still convinced there are a lot of fake profiles put there by Ashley Madison personnel. I don't see why a real women would be so rude as to no not at least acknowledge a polite message. Since my first pose, I have received two acknowledgements. I don't see any reason for anyone else to post a lot of fake profiles.

OK, not a scam as nearly as I could tell.

The one really scummy thing they do is send out messages that say they are from a particular women but they are not. I my case, this led to a HUGE misunderstanding with a lady.

There are a lot of scammers on Ashley Madison - mostly young. I called Ashley Madison with a list, but then discovered all of those accounts had already been deleted. Credits I had spent on those deleted accounts were refunded to me.

AM is very coy about the male female ration. I counted women and men 50-59 and 60+ in my area who had logged on in the past 7 days. 50-59: 196 men to 26 women. 60+ was 195 to 10 women! Not good odds for the only OK looking guys.

I sent out a lot of nice notes to women asking for a response of any sort. Less than 20% (maybe 10%) responded. So that is why I am not sure about the fake profile thing.

Having been on that site for three years, and having mot met a soul, I'll tell you what I think:

Most of the women are fake, unless they are the ubiquitous BBWs. The winks are just to get you to waste money. Ditto requests to chat.

There may be an occasional real person, not fat, who is intelligent and not a paid escort, but they are extremely rare. You're better off with Craigslist.