InterPals.net reviews

This site is FULL of scammers so beware. There are a few genuine people but they are mainly from Asia, which, as an Asian myself, I find boring. Just because it is a free site it has become a playground for these scammers. The moderators do a fairly ok job removing scammers when they are reported but there are still some serious scammers still there so stay safe.

There are two types of people who frequent this site.
Those who are genuine about exchange language and interacting with people in an honest way, and those who prey on those with good intentions.

The latter unfortunately, make up the majority of users on interpals. The genuine people quickly get driven away by nuisance messages from people who want to 'be friends' but cannot even be bothered reading a profile to get to know a person, scammers, people who want a free english tuitor and those who want a free peep show or an internet fling because they lack the social skills and/or personality to be able to go out into the world and form meaningful real relationships...or they want a meal ticket into your country by way of 'falling in love with you' after a three sentence exchange (does this method ever fool anyone? really?)
Also there are those that use this social platform to advertise how physically beautiful they are.
Enjoy it while it lasts, because once that fades, you'll have nothing. And fade, it will.
If you value your time and you're a good person, stay away from this site. It is pure unadulterated garbage that attracts and retains filth.

I have never seen so many angry and violent people on one site. I was shocked by the aggression of people when they figured out that I don't want to have any sexual relationships. I just wanted to speak with a German native speaker for practice, but I got threatened and abused instead. And I haven't spoke German, because there are only a few German-speaking persons there! If you want to practice any foreign language don't go there, that's a scrap-heap.

I have been on this site for over 12 years this time around. It has always been a good site for learning and helping with languages. This site went down hill when they added flirting. After that every pervert in the world comes to this site and some try to say they are from countries they are not from to scam people. Most of us are wise to these African scammers and get them shut down real fast only to have them come back again claiming they are someone else. It's more of a game than anything else. There are still good people on here that want to learn languages but it's not the same. Years ago people didn't use age designations for who they wanted to learn from as long as they were learning from a native speaker. Now I think there are other agendas for many people rather than language learning. Oh well, such is life and life goes on.

I am speaking from my point of view as a woman living in a quite rich country. Interpals is mainly consisting of two groups of people: 1) scammers (fake US soldiers in most cases) 2) men from North and West African countries looking for an easy way to start life in a rich country. When you live in such a country you are overloaded with mails from guys age 17 to 60 who are quickly in love with you, tell you they seek their soul mate and so on. Some of them also beg for money (for sick mother, sick father, "schooling" even when they are 30+....) or for a "simple" paper to bring them to your country. Most of those guys are lowly educated and oftenly start talking in an offensive way or start talking about sex. You may find a few people who you really can talk with in a serious way, but this is the exception. It is a waste of time. I am happy that my account was suspended (without warning from moderators) because now I have more time for useful things.

I've read through a lot of the reviews on here and there seem to be a lot of people who don't like the site. While I can understand some of these gripes, here's the rub: Interpals is one of the best sites for penpals, epals, and online friends that you're going to find.

While sometimes the response rate can be less-than-spectacular, you can say that about most sites like this. Of course people are less likely to respond to you if there's no clear, obvious common ground between the two of you, or if half your message and/or profile is lamenting how nobody ever responds to you, or if you send a message that's only a few words long and your profile is basically blank.

While this might seem like I (and a lot of people who use Interpals) are basically raging narcissists who get off on being rude to people, you have to understand that the internet isn't always like places in the physical world. A lot more people will be trying to talk to you, so sometimes you just have to be a lot more selective about who you respond to, and you have to put a little bit of effort into making yourself stand out.

I mean, it's not too uncommon for me to get four or five messages from people I haven't spoken to before on a day when I've been on Interpals all day. This isn't a huge amount compared to the numbers other people get, but it's enough that you do have to make some decisions regarding who you respond to and who you don't. In my case, the people who just say "Hi, how are you?" and show no indication that they've read more than two or three words of my profile are the people who aren't getting a response.

I think there's a good chance that a lot of the people who want to complain about how Interpals is a haven for narcissists just aren't thinking about that aspect of things. Sometimes the case just is that you're going to have to decide between two people, and a lot of people are going to err on the side of responding to the person who sends a message that asks them a couple of questions about themselves and their interests rather than the person who just says hello.

I don't think that's indicative of people on the site generally being stuck up; it's indicative that people appreciate it when others put a bit of effort into getting to know them. It's not like people on the site are expecting a 2,000 word essay straight off the bat; most will be satisfied with a couple of lines about you and a couple of questions that you wanted to ask them based on their profile.

I think that's what a lot of the people here who are complaining about the bad response rate are failing to realise. You don't have to be writing long messages to people straight off the bat or resort to only saying hello--there a lot of middle ground between these two extremes, and that's what most people are hoping for.

Really, I think most people who complain about a bad response rate tend to be people who can't handle the fact that they're not always the kind of person people want to talk to, or they're people who don't realise that people online don't owe you their time.

There are some good, interesting people on Interpals who I've enjoyed talking to a great deal. While some of these conversations haven't lasted as long as I would have hoped, neither do some conversations I've had in real life; and neither do some of the friendships I've had in real life.

While as I said, the response rate may not always be as good as you hoped, that's true of a lot of places on the internet. Generally speaking, I've found that as long as you're willing to put some effort into your introductory message, you'll be able to find at least a few people who would like to be friends with you.

Interpals is an easy-to-use site that has a great mod team. While there have been obviously fake profiles that have been up for a surprisingly long time, the mod team will generally crack down on them fairly quickly once they've been reported. Usually the case is more that nobody's reported a problem rather than the mods are intentionally ignoring it.

Plus the mod team is just great in general, and rarely have I ever seen a mod team that's more even handed. Sometimes there have been cases where I've seen them make decisions I've disagreed with, but those tend to be the exception rather than the rule and I can usually at least see where they're coming from with the decision.

In terms of overall usability, Interpals is probably the easiest-to-use epal/pen pal website you're going to find, especially if you're like me and you don't want to pay to sign up. The site design is about as intuitive as you'd hope for. Plus, for the most part, Interpals doesn't really have the glaring on-site cultural issues that a lot of other sites of this nature tend to have.

Interpals is just overall a good site, and as I said, as long as you're okay with putting the effort into giving yourself a good introduction, you'll find some people who'll have a good conversation with you.

I have not been on this site in a while but its not because its not a good site, but instead because I am not much for social sites. I tend to keep to myself a lot more these days so hanging out on dating sites or sites where you need to be active a lot just isn't my thing.

InterPals.net is a great please to meet new people, make new friends, and even to learn a new language. There are tons of people on this site & the only negative opinion I have about it is the script that makes them look like the have more users online then they do by making multiple copies of the same profile appear often in searches, and its done so badly you can easily notice it when you see the same face like 20 times on 3 different pages of searching. But this is not a good reason to avoid them because they actually have a lot of members who are real people with real profiles & their own pictures & content.

Would I recommend this site to others?
Yes, and I have for many years now.

The platform is a waste of time for the majority of people who expect genuine connections. Here's why.

Ladies get over a 1000 messages upon a few weeks of creating their profile, especially if they are attractive. I was told of this fact a few times and I have reason to believe it is true. This gets the majority of the messages unanswered whether its coming from a guy or a girl. So, if youre a narcissist, this is your place to be to feel superior. From the guys perspective, it would be very discouraging to write any meaningful message since you almost always never get a response- however, at the same time, the few responses you may receive might create a craving for a dopamine surge and reason to continue the cycle.

It is extremely rare that you get a response or a first message if youre from a non western country or from a selected few eastern asian countries (Korea and Japan in particular). Your profile may get looked once or twice a month, and even most of the people who would bother to respond to you will not look at your profile (a sign of not interested). It is not for the rest of the world.

You almost always see in profile descriptions that they request you write in a certain fashion asking not to start conversation with hi or how are you? and other trite demands when contacting themanother narcissistic example.

Overall, this is like a dating site. The best proof is to browse through profiles and see who appears in their friends list. 99% of the time, it is people from the opposite sex. If youre a guy, this makes it awkward to write to another guy (who has all lady friends). This platform is designed like any other social media platform based on dopamine-driven feedback loops. It is designed to keep users stick to the loops without giving exactly what they are looking for- meaningful relationships - once formed which would make users not continue to use the site.

If youre genuinely interested in finding pen-pals, I suggest using sites which do not operate like social media sites with elaborated profiles with pictures and links. Chat sites specifically designed for language exchange are also very good for this, which would actually make users interact and form relationships.

Interpals is awful. You create an account and then you start making friends and then WHAM---your account gets suspended by a moderator, but no one, no one, will tell you what youve done or why your account was taken down. Even when you are doing nothing, and I mean absolutely, nothing wrong, your account will get suspended if there are enough horny or creepy males who put a compliant against you, because you wont sex chat with them or send them naked pictures. It is disgusting how moderators on this web site will suspend your account without even giving you a chance to plead your case or ask for your account to be reinstated. This site is pathetic and a bunch of losers. Do not, I repeat do not, use this website. There are far more better ones out there that dont suspend your account on whims that dont make sense.

Interpals was ok as founded a good penpal. Stopped writing as she was too busy for me

Now its full on scammers, fake profiles and want people to learn English etc.....Also want more details e.g. current and past city, material status, education and what type of pen pal.

Its on top of google as they paid google, money (pay by click on the advert banner)

I first discovered this site around late 2012 early 2013. It actually wasn't so bad then. I made a few friends from Europe and was able to visit them. I took a break and came back around 2014. It was a little worse but I was still able to connect with a few people. Starting around 2015 the site just went completely downhill and got worse with each year. It's almost unusable now as it is full of horny males looking for sex chat, wives, or girls to date in countries they want to live in. Because of these pests it has made these women angry and when normal people like myself contact them I am met with ill tempered nutjobs looking to argue/insult. This website is more of a comedy site now and something I am using less than 30 minutes a week. I know if I want a laugh I can login and read the message of some lunatic. It's nothing more than time killer now.

Tbh I disagree with most reviews here, the problem is not the scammers, as they are expected on a site like this, not to mention you can so easily block them, it really doesn't matter.

However my main problem is that seriously almost noone joins this site to find a penpal!!! Wouldn't that be the point of the whole thing?
It seems to me that for all people this is a damn frikkin dating site. Not sure why would anyone date with someone half a continent away ... but sure ... Not one who can hold a decent conversation, not one who is actually interested in what the other person does and such. Even though half of the profiles are full with introductions like "looking for long friendship, deep conversations etc etc" they NEVER actually look for that. If you are a girl, you will mostly be contacted by guys, which should be fine, I have plenty of male friends, but these guys are certainly not looking for that!

And what else can I say, men who think they are otherworldly gods and they won't be go so low to talk to you if you are not a goddess or just idk not their type.
I also wrote to women saying they are not looking for relationships, thinking that hey maybe that person indeed just wants to have a nice conversation. Turns out wrong, their friendlist is also full of men, only men, and they won't reply to you.

There are also loads of people who are only looking for an English teacher, hence if you are not native speaker they won't talk to you.

lol, I think the whole site is ridiculous, it is good for some occasional causal chat, that would only last 2-3 days, but honestly nothing more. I kinda lost faith in humankind. I am sure there are genuine people there too, like I am, but it's like finding the needle in the haystack ...

I decided to create a new account, and give it a try again. I hoped I could find a few penpals this time, with a bit of luck.. Well, after a few days, I already deleted the account. So so many scammers, one in particular. Exactly the same messages I received when I first joined the penpal club a few years ago. At first, this Indian scammer from the same profile again, using several ones. From India at first, pretending to be a woman, in a sari, no face in the photo, somebody posted the word "scammer" on his wall. A few years ago he made up a story about having severe family problems, and he... Urgently needed my e-mail address. I recognized the picture immediately. I couldn't post on his wall, as he wouldn't allow anyone... Obviously. Then he tried and contact me from several other fake profiles, same style, blocked wall, fake photos, from Afghanistan, USA, and also as an inactive user. He could easily post any messages he liked this way, as he couldn't be blocked. I had to block my message section from penpals members and wall. Not to mention about the disgusting, cowards scammers posting insulting and racist messages on the wall as inactive users, cowardly hiding away... Lions behind the keyboard, but cowards in real life. I joined again and I regret it. I wanted to find the only decent Italian lady pal I had, but she was no longer there, and who can blame her... And then, perverts, jealous women (you can be sure if you are a woman, they will never contact you), rude and ignorant messages. Such a "great" place! If someone decent is trying to contact you, you won't believe him. And won't believe it! Nobody can be trusted

I have been a member of Interpals since the early days - 10 years in fact, so I think I have a fairly good picture of what the site dynamics are like.

In the early days, it was a great place to meet interesting people around the world. I met many good friends who I am still in touch with to this day. One of those people became my current partner of 6 years, so fair play - it has its moments.

At least it used to.

In the past 5 years, I have made zero meaningful friendships through the site, and I have not changed my approach at all since I made 5 very good friends in 2007-2012. And yes, 4 of those 5 people noticed the same shift in the site around the 2012 mark and either left of abandoned their profiles.

The community has become a vapid cesspit of pervs, narcissists and scammers. As others have noted, the response rate to messages is low. In my own experience, my messages (polite, thoughtful, interested in their hobbies) have a response rate somewhere around 20% on a good day. And that's including the ones who chat with you for the day and then pretend you are dead.

So if you are a "good" penpal who writes long, well-thought-out messages to people who you believe you could become friends with, I'd advise not to bother. The simple fact that half of your messages never even get read, and of the ones that are, you get a response to 2 in 5, makes the whole exercise a colossal waste of time.

As for the language parasites that others have referred to (albeit more politely than I), the struggle is real. I have had dozens of people who I have been helping with their English for months or years (during regular conversation):

- Demand that I write an essay for them. That's right - they see you as a paid tutor (??)
- Become extremely angry that I was not available to proofread their report before submitting it, despite having no idea what their schedule is (and a life of my own offline).
- Completely ghost me as soon as they no longer need help with English. Some of these are people I considered good friends, so it sucks when they just don't want to give you the time of day once you have served your "use" to them.

Not worth the mental anguish that it used to cause me, where I wondered what I had said or done to deserve being dropped like a molten rock for no apparent reason.

To even have a shot at improving, the Interpals team would need to figure out a way to restore the community to what it used to be, because ultimately, it isn't the admins' fault that the people have turned sour.

Can it be saved? I don't even know where you would begin to fix it. In my opinion, the horse has well and truly bolted.

It used to be a really good website until 2016, then the indian scammer was registering on there. He creates tons of fake accounts to attack ppl and mods. Often he's holding discussions between his different accounts, you can see it in the Indian thread and in the general threads. He pretended to be a brazilian, polish girls, dutch men, a dutch girl, afgani, indonesians, singaporean girl and filipina. He used to discuss such issues as threesomes and all. Also his favourite issues are skin colour, racism and cannibalism. During 1.5 years he lies that he met celebrities face to face and has a very beautiful GF from the USA, who calls him every day to India and loves him. It isn't a regular troll, but hideous and very harrassing psychopath. The big reason many people stop loving the site.