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Plenty of Fish
- By Lily Eastman
- Published 06/15/2008
- Dating Sites Reviews
- Unrated
Lily Eastman
Lily was born in the back of a station wagon to traveling circus performers. They left her at a rest stop in Polk County when her fear of tigers made her a nuisance. A nice family adopted and tried to make her feel welcome, but sometimes, late at night, when the bullfrogs called, she wondered if she might be different. Not really, she sleeps like a rock, so she never heard the bullfrogs. She now plots world domination. And takes naps.
View all articles by Lily Eastman
A friend told me about Plenty of Fish. Oddly enough, it was a guy named
Rick who I met through my craigslist personal ad (see craigslist
article). He called to say hi a few weeks ago and asked if I was seeing
anyone.
"No," I answered, then with a little embarrassment, "I did join eHarmony though. I just don't meet a lot of people around here. But eHarmony is really expensive."
"Oh, don't do eHarmony! Go to Plentyoffish.com. It's totally free, and there are more young people on there, not desperate old men like eHarmony."
Well, I hadn't met any desperate old men on eHarmony, but I sure didn't want to. So as soon as we hung up the phone, I dove into Plentyoffish.com
Like many other dating sites, your first step is to create a profile. While eHarmony only lets users display a few choice statements about themselves, Plenty of Fish allows you to pretty much ramble on. Some people, I saw, had
embedded songs or music videos in their profiles.
After establishing my profile, I took a brief personality test (much less intense than the mind-probing one from eHarmony), and then I got to see my matches. Additionally, you could take a "needs" survey that gauges what you need in a relationship and can match you up with compatible partners. They measure how much physical affection, personal space, and interaction with others you need.
PoF displays your match as a little thumbnail of his picture, his screen name, and what he's looking for (e.g. "Dating," "long term," "just friends"). Unfortunately, many of the user pictures were tiny and blurry (do you really have to use both your cell phone AND your bathroom mirror to capture that wink?) You can filter matches by age, distance, race, education level (or "SMARTS"), and what they're looking for. A feature I really appreciate was at the bottom of the page, where you could define exactly who would be allowed to contact you. For example, I selected "must not be married," "must not do drugs," "must not have messaged other users looking for intimate encounters," and "must have picture." I haven't gotten any gross mail this way! Hooray!
"No," I answered, then with a little embarrassment, "I did join eHarmony though. I just don't meet a lot of people around here. But eHarmony is really expensive."
"Oh, don't do eHarmony! Go to Plentyoffish.com. It's totally free, and there are more young people on there, not desperate old men like eHarmony."
Well, I hadn't met any desperate old men on eHarmony, but I sure didn't want to. So as soon as we hung up the phone, I dove into Plentyoffish.com
Like many other dating sites, your first step is to create a profile. While eHarmony only lets users display a few choice statements about themselves, Plenty of Fish allows you to pretty much ramble on. Some people, I saw, had
After establishing my profile, I took a brief personality test (much less intense than the mind-probing one from eHarmony), and then I got to see my matches. Additionally, you could take a "needs" survey that gauges what you need in a relationship and can match you up with compatible partners. They measure how much physical affection, personal space, and interaction with others you need.
PoF displays your match as a little thumbnail of his picture, his screen name, and what he's looking for (e.g. "Dating," "long term," "just friends"). Unfortunately, many of the user pictures were tiny and blurry (do you really have to use both your cell phone AND your bathroom mirror to capture that wink?) You can filter matches by age, distance, race, education level (or "SMARTS"), and what they're looking for. A feature I really appreciate was at the bottom of the page, where you could define exactly who would be allowed to contact you. For example, I selected "must not be married," "must not do drugs," "must not have messaged other users looking for intimate encounters," and "must have picture." I haven't gotten any gross mail this way! Hooray!