Plenty of Fist

That was supposed to say "fish," but I find my typo humorous.

It can be indicative of my mood, though. Perhaps a Freudian slip? That's in regard to communication, which is what we're looking at today.

As opposed to a site like eHarmony which utilizes mediated communication, PoF allows users to directly contact one another through its internal email. Some of the benefits this method offers are that the user can see who has not read, read, and/or deleted their email. I find this helpful. That way, if I'm not being responded to, I can see that perhaps it was never read. For those worrisome types, this would likely help calm nerves and self-confidence issues.


There is also a "favorites" option. I didn't understand what it meant at first. I still don't, really. But as best as I can gather, adding someone as a "favorite" is kind of like a smile from across the room. It is an invitation to open a conversation. The user is alerted when they are made a favorite, and can check the person's profile, deciding if further contact should be made. I guess it's a modern spin on an old-fashioned idea - the guy can be the initiator. At least that's what I'm sensing. Feel free to suggest your own opinions on that matter.

Finally, there are attachable gifts, much like the ones found on Facebook. One friend who also joined the site sent me a steak, which I found hilarious. So the gifts can be used as a clever ice-breaker.

That's plenty of background. I'll try and update some personal experiences, should I happen to have any. And I'll see if I can coerce my friends on the site to share their experiences as well, since they are in dialogue with potential matches.

Plenty of Fish, Part Deux

There are several ways to fish.

First, there's the basic search, which is by city or region. It basically lets one choose male or female, an age range, and a distance from the epicenter (aka... the person who wants a date). Find matches and see who comes up.

Then there's the advanced search. This allows the person to choose race, religion, smoking preferences, children, etc. It narrows down the field a whole lot. In the case of someone like me, who is looking for a Christian, it weeds out all those whom I wouldn't even have a chance with, and vice versa.

There are two other interesting options. First is by chemistry. It matches your entrance quiz answers with those of others, trying to match compatibility that way. Apparently the whole idea of these quizzes is to match compatibility, and then if that's there, chemistry. Pretty decent method if you ask me. eHarmony is really cashing in on that one.

The other search mode is "find someone like..." Basically, if you find someone who is interesting, but for some reason you're not interested enough, or you just want more people like that, you can click that option. The benefit is that you are able to find people that don't seem to come up on the normal search. On the flipside, when you use this function it tends to throw out some of the essentials (i.e. religious preference, children, etc.).

These are all the methods you can use to search on PoF. Next time, communication!

Plenty of Fish

I'm in the pond.

At least that's what we've been calling it. I don't know what everyone else says, but I think it's very appropriate.

Let me back up a step.

A week ago, I sat at my computer, checked my MySpace, and was confronted by the plain-text, horribly lackluster advertisement for PlentyOfFish.com (hereby PoF). It's an ad for a free online dating service.

For years I have been interested by the idea of online dating services. It was just a curiosity of the unknown. Recently I have had at least two friends who have had some success with online dating sites. Last week I decided that I would scratch my curious itch by signing up for a free account. My roommates said they wouldn't think less of me, which was helpful.

For those of you who don't want to do it, but are curious to know how they work, here's my PoF experience, so far:

Upon signing up, the first thing you do is fill out your information: Age, sex, location, seeking male or female, type of relationship (dating, hang out, intimate encounter, activity partner, etc.), number of children, current relationship status, religious preference, etc.

Second, you make your profile, which lets you upload pictures, includes a headline, your interests, and lets you describe your idea of a good first date.

Finally, there is a questionnaire which they use to try to calculate your chemistry with other people. (I thought that was kind of boring.)

Then... you go fishing! More on that later.