DatingDirect.com
Although DatingDirect is open to international members, its roots are in the United Kingdom, where it enjoys the status of one of the largest national dating services. They boast over 4 million active members. The site is very easy to navigate. Simply input which country you are in, who you are looking for and where, and your matches will appear. You can also specify your postal code if you want to find somebody who's reasonably close and not living the other side of the country. Profiles have pictures of a good size! No magnifying glass required. The picture is on the same page as the profile, with all of the details spelled-out underneath. You'll need to sign-up if you want to contact someone.
The profile details include occupation, smoking, drinking and eating habits as well as physical traits. There is a brief portion where they can comment, describe themselves further or explain who and what they are looking for. Many members don't specify exactly what type of person they are looking for, so you will probably see many people who don't seem very fussy who they meet! A table at the bottom points to what type of relationship they are looking for, what age and status of a potential mate. Relationships can be straight, gay or lesbian in nature. No adult content is allowed on the site, and all content is moderated before being published online.
A free basic membership is available, as well as a Premier membership for a monthly fee. Premier memberships have access to all of the contact features, whereas free memberships do not. You are able to browse the profiles and view pictures before you create a profile. Over three million member profiles worldwide listed and with pictures. Other popular UK dating services include MySingleFriend.com and Chatagogo, though both of these sites have fewer members to choose from.
DatingDirect was taken over early in 2007 by Meetic.com, and since that time there has been a number negative comments about the changes, particularly that contact forms and online support are not available on the site (or at least are not easily accessible), and that there does not appear to be a way of removing your profile and canceling subscription payments once you are registered. However, Meetic.com is a well established and experienced dating service provider so it is likely that these problems will be resolved in due course.
Additional Information
Membership types / cost - Free Basic, Premier $24.99/mo
Geographic regions covered - Predominantly UK, though offers international membership
Site features - Matches by email, website messages, favorites list, upload photos, ignore list, text messages, search by distance
Browse without signup - Yes
Services offered / Relationships types - Heterosexual, gay, lesbian
Target age groups - Adults
Year established - 1999
Male / female ratio - 55% Men, 45% Women
Adult content - No
Approx number members - 4 million
Choice of languages - English
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