So, Wanna Chat Some Time?
By Jim Trageser

Two weeks ago, we looked at the ongoing growth of online dating services. Today we take a look at the online dating outlets we haven’t yet visited.

Community Plus Dating

Tickle (http://match.tickle.com) isn’t just a dating service (it presents itself as a “lifestyle site”), but it does offer online personals with a pretty good-size user base. There are plenty of categories for helping you find someone you’d click with, and more quizzes to help define your personality than anywhere else. Again, as with all the online services, you have to pay when you want to contact a potential match.

Tickle also offers a more serious tool called Happy Marriage (http://web.tickle.com/marriage), for folks looking to settle down.

Fark.com (www.fark.com), which is an alternative, hippie kind of online community not so different from Craig’s List (www.craigslist.org), also has a singles’ area—using AOL’s Love.com engine and interface (but returning results only from Fark.com).

More Big Players

On the same level as many of the other large dating sites we’ve visited in past columns is AOL’s Love.com (http://love.com). Built to interface with AOL’s AIM instant messenger client, Love.com is a fun, breezy social setting, geared more to people who enjoy the single lifestyle than those looking to settle down.

In direct competition is LemonTonic (www.lemontonic.com), which is built around Microsoft’s Instant Messenger. LemonTonic is also both a bit of a throwback and a touch cutting-edge, by using video profiles streamed over the Net—yeah, like back in the 1970s and ’80s when you would go to real-world services.

Udate (http://udate.com) uses the same comprehensive approach as Match.com and Yahoo! Personals—trying to meet the needs of both casual daters and those looking for marriage. This service allows you to sign up for e-mail alerts when new potential matches sign up.

Dating.com (http://dating.com) is also in this same niche—you can sign up for Dating, Romance or Intimate. When you browse potential matches’ profiles, you can click a button marked I’m Interested, and then they’re sent a message and can respond if they like. If you’re both interested, then you both need to subscribe so you can communicate.

DreamMates.com (http://dreammates.com) is part of the same Relationship Exchange as Dating.com, and apparently uses the same engine.

Just Having Fun

There seems to be more online dating services for the casual dater than the person looking for a lifetime commitment. But that’s not so different from real life, is it?

Among the services geared more to the crowd that’s single and loving it is Lab621.com (www.lab621.com). This is pretty similar to the previously visited LavaLife—quick, breezy entries with photos that let you quickly find a prospective date. Want to contact? Have to pay.

Getting Serious

Occupying the same niche as eHarmony and True is PerfectMatch.com (www.perfectmatch.com). This is for folks looking to settle down. Its matching system is built around personality types, although shared interests and values also are asked for and are presumably in the mix.

Lycos’ MatchMaker (http://matchmaker.com) is probably a notch below eHarmony, True and PerfectMatch. The questionnaire focuses more on stuff like interests rather than personality type. But there’s a free trial period, and there seemed to be a pretty good-size user base.

DatingResults (http://datingresults.com) is powered by American Singles. Not sure what sets it apart, other than a different marketing spin. It does have a larger and active user base—got dozens of results in my area, most of which had been online in the past few days.

Kiss.com (www.kiss.com) is powered by the uDate engine, but is marketed more to those looking for a serious relationship than is uDate.

Still More

PlanetOut (http://planetout.com) is a full-on community, like the religiously oriented sites we visited two weeks ago—but aimed at gays and lesbians. In addition to personal ads, the site offers forums, shopping, news and more.

Finally, there is Great Expectations (http://ge-dating.com) — the old-fashioned dating service that has managed to survive the onslaught of online dating services. While Great Expectations allows you to fill out a profile, you don’t search online, nor do other users search your profile. Instead, a Great Expectations representative contacts you to see about enrolling you in its dating services. It’s an interesting use of the Web to maintain a traditional business model.

Jim Trageser can be contacted via his Web site: www.trageser.com.