Dating Services

In Hollywood, everyone wants to be on the A-List. It means invites to the best parties, schmoozing with the biggest celebrities, and being showered with the most expensive swag.

Much to my dismay, the OkCupid A-List doesn't involve quite as many sexy movie stars and free Chanel clothes. Instead, the OkC A-List offers:

• Ad-free browsing
• Extra photo albums
• A-List only forums
• Enhanced search features
• Username change
• Anonymous browsing plus the ability to see who viewed your profile
• Unlimited message storage
• Protection against scammers, trolls, and fake users
• Private photos attached to messages
• Increased visibility on the site

The service launched in 2009 to mixed reviews. For those with very specific needs, A-List membership comes with useful perks. But for the majority of OkCupid users, A-List membership comes with nothing but a question: "What's the point?" The features are far from essential, and some users feel that the additional elements detract from their online dating experience.

On the plus side, there are a few genuine advantages to using the A-List service. The site can become a more effective matching tool when you can specify a search radius lower than 25 miles. Anonymous browsing means you can check back on a profile to remind yourself who someone is without looking like a creepy stalker. The advanced search features can come in handy, as can the increased mail box size for those who are prolific writers. The most intriguing benefit of A-List membership is the ability to change that stupid username you chose before you realized there was no going back.

Other A-List features are a little odder. One feature allows an A-List member to send email to a user whose mailbox is completely full. Another gives feedback from A-List users priority over feedback from free users. A third allows for the creation of adult photo albums.

On the negative side of things, A-List services hardly provide any extra value and may come with unwanted baggage. Harsher users may assume that anyone who pays for A-List membership is creepy, desperate, or needy. That's a big price to pay for something that doesn't offer much in return.

In the long run, A-List seems to be a needless expense. Deleting messages from a full inbox is hardly a chore, is it? Why add features that make your online dating experience more complex instead of simpler? And with so few differences between A-List memberships and standard memberships, why pay for something that you could get for free?

For more on this dating site you can take a look at our review of OkCupid.

Don't you wish online dating came with an instruction manual?

Oh wait - it does!

Well, sorta. If what you're looking for is "a complete step by step guide on how someone would seduce you," then yes...online dating comes with an instruction manual. It's called the Seduction Style Guide, and you can find it (where else?) on POF.com.

Get those grains of salt ready, and let's dive in...

The first section of the test is called "Flirting." Choose up to three of the listed flirting styles that appeal most to you, and up to three that don't interest you. Do you prefer your dates "Playful," "Confident," "Coy," "Charming," or "Prim and Proper?" Then answer a question about your communication preferences. How would you like a date to ask you out? By phone? By email? In person at a dating event?

Section three delves deeper into your personality. Read each statement and indicate the degree to which it describes you: "Strongly agree," "Disagree," "Agree," or "Strongly agree." Statements to rate cover topics like humor and spontaneity:

• I enjoy trying different kinds of ethnic foods
• I brood for a long time in an attempt to solve some fundamental problem
• There is humor to be seen in just about everything

Of course, it wouldn't be a Seduction Style test without questions about seduction! The next sections ask questions about your first date habits and your sexuality. Again, you must rate the accuracy of words used describe your sexuality. Are you the "Sultry" type? Or maybe you're better described as "Adorable?"

The test wraps up with a free response section and the most salacious section of all. The free response questions inquire about what you most and least enjoy while on a date, and your turn ons/offs. Answer each with three responses, all in your own words.

The final section...well...let's just say it's a pretty intimate look at your favorite kinks, fetishes, and fantasies.

Put it all together and you get POF's take on how best to woo you. Got that salt ready?

The results page is surprisingly detailed. First, there's The Big Picture. Apparently people like me "tend to love life with zeal, often living in the moment and trying not to let experiences pass them by." (All true, as far as I'm concerned...perhaps POF knows me better than I would like to admit.)

Then there's the three step seduction plan: Approach Me, How To Date Me, and How To Sexually Seduce Me. Much to my surprise, POF also manages to sneak in some genuinely useful information amongst all the silly stuff. The report includes info on favorite dating conversation topics, online dating safety, preferred dating activities, and do's and don'ts.

To show others your results, send the link included at the bottom of the results page (and consider sending some salt with it).

To find out more about this popular dating site you can take a look at our Plentyoffish review.

The online dating industry is booming, but there's a dark cloud lurking on the horizon. For users, a successful stint of online dating ends in meeting a match and no longer needing a dating site. But for the dating sites themselves, business success means retaining customers and keeping them coming back for more. Clearly, there's a conflict of interest. Houston, we have a problem.

eHarmony may have the answer. While some dating sites are developing products for couples in order to remain relevant in users' lives, eHarmony is taking a very different approach.

With 565,000 marriages under its belt so far, eHarmony now plans to expand from the marriage market to the job market. eHarmony vice president Grant Langston says the company will launch a service to match employers with job seekers in the U.S. in June, followed shortly afterwards by a launch in Canada.

"We've seen indicators that 60 to 65 per cent of people are unhappy with their jobs, whether or not they are actively searching for new ones," Langston says. Expanding into the job market is a natural progression for eHarmony, he believes, given the company's extensive research into habits, desires, and personality types.

The typical hiring process is driven by employers, who ask a series of questions and evaluate potential employees' skills to assess suitability for the position. eHarmony's approach to hiring will look a little different: employers and employees will complete extensive questionnaires focused on culture to determine whether they're a good match for each other.

"When employers post a job on eHarmony, job seekers in the database will be matched to that job and both parties will be notified," TheStar.com reports. "They can review each others' profile and communicate online before meeting face-to-face."

Research agrees that the eHarmony approach to job hunting might be more effective. In December of last year, an issue of the American Sociological Review reported on a study of the recruiting practices of over a hundred professional service firms that found that applicants and employers with similarities in experiences, hobbies, and personal appearance made the best matches.

Langston is confident that the idea has a future, but acknowledges that there may be a few bumps along the way. eHarmony plans to allow for a year to iron out the kinks in the new service, and hasn't ruled out purchasing an online job board that can be combined with existing matching services. To date, there is no word on who will pay for the service or how much it will cost.

I had a bit of a laugh today when I was reviewing a few senior dating sites. What do these 3 pictures have in common?

Senior FriendFinder

Senior People Meet

Single Seniors Meet

That's right each one uses the exact same photo of a senior couple! Single Seniors Meet and Senior People Meet actual used the photo at the exact same time back in 2010 before they switched to different photos. Also Single Seniors Meet has gone through a few name changes which is a little confusing. They were called Prime Singles at one point and are now called SilverSingles.com. The site is also run by Spark Networks who also owns Christian Mingle.

I was surprised to see Senior FriendFinder join in on the party and use the same photo of the couple (it is at least a 3 year old photo). There is either very few good photos of happy couples in their later years or ... heck I am not sure why they are using it ... 🤔

OkCupid has always been known for its cutting-edge approach to online dating. That edge became even more cutting earlier this month when The Coinbase Blog made an exciting announcement:

We're proud to announce you can now find true love with Bitcoin by using OKCupid! This is one more step forward for bringing Bitcoin to the masses - one date at a time.

That's right, OkCupid has just become the latest company to accept the controversial digital currency. The site's 4 million active members can now use Bitcoin to pay for "A-List" extra features, making OkCupid one of the largest sites to accept Bitcoin in the world. The real price will continue to be displayed officially in dollars on the site, and will be adjusted for Bitcoin users in real time to reflect the present exchange rate from Coinbase.

Coinbase is a Y Combinator startup that calls itself "the simplest way to buy, use, and accept Bitcoin." The platform to buy and sell the digital currency will keep a 1% transaction fee from all dealings with OkCupid.

OKCupid CEO Sam Yagan spoke to Ars Technica about the company's big news. "Our plan is to liquidate our holdings daily and turn them into US dollars," he said. "There's an open question as to how much liquidity there is. I think there's going to be a tremendous amount of volatility. One of the reasons why we want to be early in the mix is so we can learn."

OkCupid users had shown little interest in incorporating Bitcoins into their online dating experience - the number of requests for Bitcoin integration barely reached double digits - but Yagan is determined to keep OkCupid ahead of the pack.

"There's no question that these digital currencies are going to be the future," he said in a quote on Forbes.com. "Whether it's actually the form of Bitcoins or evolves into something else, we want to be out in front. We want to be the ones who have the experience. There's a lot to learn."

It is, without a doubt, a move in an interesting direction. There's certainly a degree of irony in an online dating site - where trust is a big factor and users are often concerned about scams - adopting an anonymous currency as a payment option. But it's a massive win for Bitcoin, which has already been enjoying a boost in mainstream attention and legitimacy.

OkCupid users: How do you feel about using a digital currency to pay for A-List subscriptions?

eHarmony's free communication weekend in May is happening right now for the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It is running from today, Thursday May 23rd to the end of day on Monday May 27th (Happy Memorial Day!!! 😊).

During this free event eHarmony allows users not only to use the guided communication process for free but to send and receive email messages as well. This makes it an ideal time to try out this dating service to see if it is the right fit for you. All you need to do is become an eHarmony member by creating an account and answering the profile questions. This process will take you about 30 to 45 minutes to complete. Remember to answer the questions truthfully since eHarmony uses their complex matching algorithm to send you matches based on your answers. There is no cost to become a member of eHarmony or communicate during this FCW event. Features not included are photos, secure call (calling members through the site from your phone) and skipping the guided communication process to go to straight to mail.

To find out more about this dating site and to read user comments about the service you can take a look at our in-depth review of eHarmony. There last free communication weekend happened in April (see Story).

For singles in the UK (who also have a Holiday weekend) you can read our eHarmony.co.uk review to find out more information, as the site is a bit different from its North American cousin.