Years ago I was a member of Match.com and guess you could say I had a fair amount of success. I actually dated a guy for about 6 months and then a couple months later I met a guy through the site who I ended up dating for almost two years. Obviously, since I'm blogging for you here and now, those relationships ended. Not that I'm blaming Match.com by any means.
However when I decided to take the leap into the on-line dating scene again I went with Eharmony.com. Although I've heard some people express some frustrations with the way Eharmony.com works vs Match.com I think these differences *fingers crossed! will ultimately match me with someone who is better in the long run.
Match.com lets you search through other member's profiles and freely converse with anyone who you find interesting. This is the key difference - Eharmony on the other hand has you fill out a good sized survey FIRST, along with profile questions that are visible to matches, and then they send you profiles/people that their computers say are truly matched to your personality and relationship needs/wants. You cannot search through profiles on Eharmony.com. Which is the biggest frustration I hear from other women when I bring up "Match.com or Eharmony?"
Another difference is that you can't just dismiss profile "Joe-Schmoe" after just browsing. Eharmony.com has "guided communication" and the first step after you are sent a match and you review their profile is to send them 5 questions that have multiple chose answers. This allows you to start to get to know the person a bit more before diving into full conversation/emails. This may seem annoying, ie; the guy who puts his car and one of the 5 things he can't live without. I want to close that match right away. How boring! No creativity & no fun! However I can't just dismiss him. I can do nothing & just leave his profile in my list of matches, but I can't close the match until I at least exchange those 5 questions/answers with him. I think this method is actually really good when you think about truly pursuing a long-term relationship. I can't immediately dismiss a guy because I'm not overly attracted to him or I think he's too literal for putting "car" or "oxygen" in his "Can't Live With-outs". Eharmony thinks we have a lot in common so it's worth asking him some questions (that you don't even have to think of yourself) to see if he makes you laugh or you do have more in common that first appeared. OR if there are more red-flags in his answers/questions and then you can decide to make the educated decision to close the match.
Sure I dated two guys from Match.com but we were not well-matched in MANY different aspects of the relationship. We were attracted to each other in the beginning but long-term we weren't right and didn't want the same things. I'm only 3 days in to Eharmony, but I've got high hopes for their methods. To be continued...
