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Dating Services |
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Dating over the internet is an extremely luctrative business that offers its subscribers the ability to meet people that share similar interests. People have the ability to pick and choose what kind of a person they are looking for, and where that person comes from. Almost every major city today has some sort of dating service associated with the city that allows its users to find a partner in the surrounding area. This invention has changed many people's lives, some positively and others negatively.
There are many positive aspects of internet dating. Heidi Muller from AskMen.com, regarding positives of internet dating, writes, "The screening process is much more elaborate. You can go through a dating service, find a person based on your criteria, see their picture, and get a lot more information on your prospect than from the personal ads in your local newspaper (AskMen)." Each of these positives holds true for most people. Because a person is able to pick and choose who they wish to attempt to meet, the instances of choosing wrong are considerably lower than if a person were to simply pick a name from the newspaper. Not only are the people able to pick who they wish to meet, they are able to chat with that person prior to meeting them. This can be a very positive aspect because it saves people from going out on a date with someone who they have never seen seen or talked to. By being able to chat first, a person can decide if the person they are talking to would truly be someone they would like to meet with. It also allows for people to form relationships based on their personality rather than just what a person looks like. By forming a bond prior to the initial meeting people are able to bypass much of the uncomfort associated with blind-dating.
Like everything else in life, there are some negative aspects to online dating. It is often difficult to tell if the person you are chatting with on-line is really who they say they are. Heidi Muller writes, "Not only can we hide our true identity online a lot more easily than in the real world, the pressures of spontaneous conversation, looking our best and cracking funny jokes don't exist (AskMen)." Because people are able to hide their true identities online, safety becomes an issue. It is never a good idea to meet with someone that you've never met before at your home or their home. It is nearly impossible to tell if the person is who they say they are. Women are especially at risk. Not only is safety an issue, but those who have difficulty in social situations will never have to confront their fear. If everyone were to start dating like this, the interaction between opposite sexes would decline. People could become too dependent on the internet to meet women, causing a decline in social skills of a culture.
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Below are links to some of the more popular online dating services. Click on the links below to be taken to the corresponding website |
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| American Singles |
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American Singles is one of many dating services online. This service allows users to look at eachother's profiles and pictures without having to actually contact that person. You are also able to search their database according to city and state. You are also able to specify exactly how far away from you, you wish the database to search. You must become a member in order to send messages to others online. This website also has a live ticker that shows exactly how many people are online on the site and any given time. |
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| eHarmony |
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eHarmony is not a free website. To become a member the user must pay a fee depending upon what sort of an account they wish to have, and how long they wish to have an account. They do offer a free personality profile that allows the user to see exactly what kind of a person they are according to this website. Like other dating websites, this site allows you to search for a mate depending upon region and interests. |
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| WebDate |
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Of all of these dating services listed, this one has the most free options. Not only is it free to view the website, but it also offers: Free Online Dating, free e-mail, free live video, and free instant messaging. This website is one of the largest of the online dating services. |
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| Yahoo Personals |
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Yahoo! Personals is another of the large dating services available online. It is free to create a profile, and there are many people who use this service. Of all of the searches I did on these websites, this one yielded the most amount of people. From this I personally believe that this is the most widely used dating service of the four I've talked about. |
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