Zoosk

Wow, where to start. I signed up because I read that it was the #1 dating app. I signed up for free and started getting messages right away (imagine that). However you can't read any messages unless you pay. I signed up so I could see these messages and decided on a 6 month membership because it was discounted and I figured it would take a little while to meet the a good match. Big mistake.

The so-called messages that I received were actually just "winks" and it is not clear if they were from actual people or just an automatic thing the site does to try to get people to sign up. The site seems to be more about chatting with people and the profiles usually have very little info.

I tried to figure out how to cancel but it was really hard to find any contact info. When I contacted them and they told me I had a 3 day window to cancel since I live in California. There was still 1 day left and I cancelled immediately. However I did not receive a refund. Apparently all this did was make sure that my membership did not renew automatically.

Since I had already paid I continued to check in on the site to see if I could make the most of it. Wow, what a total waste of time. In 6 months time and a significant effort I did not wind up meeting one person and it was difficult to even get someone to chat with me. There was one woman that did want to meet but she was frustrated with the site so she quit. She sent me her number before she quit but I did not write it down immediately and once her profile was gone so was the message with her number.

My membership expired recently and I checked back to see some of the messages that I had received but all the communication that I had over that time was blocked. I could see the messages that I wrote but all of the responses were blocked. How bogus is that?

I am on 2 other sites that do not require you to pay to contact other users. In the same time I have met several women from those sites. The information that people provide in their profiles on those other sites gives you a much better idea if you are a good match. One of the sites even matches you up based on a quiz that you fill out.

Bottom line, I would not recommend this site to anyone. It is worthless if you do not pay and not much better than that if you do.

You can not edit your messages once you post them - this is a bad site!

Zoosk was easy and fun! I met my (now fiance) on Zoosk, four years ago.

Some nice people on this site. A little difficult to navigate. Good place to start.

I met Rick on Zoosk, 3 years later we are getting married and starting our life together.

I saw the Zoosk advertisements everywhere so I figured I'd give them a shot.

The only good thing to say of them is they have a brilliant ad department.

It doesn't take long before you realize what they're after. Your money. I signed up for a 3 month stint with the website. First you pay the subscription fee, AND a one time "activation fee." The activation fee is most likely to squeeze as much initial money out of you because they know after you try their service once, you will look elsewhere in the future.

This is due in part to the fact that the number of women on zoosk does not increase regularly. You will see the same profiles week after week before anyone "new" pops up. And there is about a 75% chance that "new" woman will be a fake user created by a scam artist.

After only my first month I was uploading any remotely attractive women's profile picture(s) to google images just to see what "popped up." Amateur porn stars, random website images, and photos stolen from myspace pages was what I got. I repeatedly reported these profiles to Zoosk, but their cracker-jack team of admins and moderators didn't seem to mind. I had accumulated 3 pages of blocked (fake) users and I would still come across a profile I'd reported multiple times in the past in my searches. They ban you for putting your email address in your profile, but post a cropped image of an attractive pornstar and they don't fact check in the slightest.

Another thing is the Zoosk Scientific match, and Carousel. Which is where the micro-transactions come in.
Zoosk will regularly send you emails about a "scientific match" which just means, "You're Christian? SHE'S Christian! You smoke? SHE smokes! You guys should totally hook up!" If you agree to the match and she does too, she becomes your "Mutual Match" which must be unlocked with "Zoosk coins" a fake currency that you have to pay real money for, or sign up for spam, surveys, and other garbage to obtain. Carousel works the same way.

So after all this bs you're left much poorer with scarcely a lady in sight. With terrible moderation, horrid pricing, and fake users galore stay away from these rip-off experts. Just do Plenty of Fish. There may be fake users, and scam artists on that site too, but at least I can get the same "benefits" of Zoosk minus the price of admission.

Although I have had issues with Zoosk, it was more over the women I contacted rather than a short comming of Zoosk, From my limited but wasteful experience at "other" sites, Zoosk delivered without the scammers, mysterious email from people, etc.

The issue I had with many women had to do more with either 1. No responses, 2. Insultingly - where the presummption of innocents is waived to insure that lady didn't fall into the same trap as previous relationships. 3. Tire Kickers - ladies that are fielding the possiblities but not certain how they would fit it into their life. 4. professional dater - she'll meet for a few dates but the word GF never seems to apply. 5. Genuine Article

Relationships are not easy. They require an investment on both parts just to see how it will work. You can't make that determination in a photo, a profile or winking.

For all of us, we can easily make a list of the pitfalls that have undermined past relationships. We must learn from the past and put it behind. Unless we are interested in something fast, easy or non committed, the profile needs to portray this. It should also portray a vend diagram that illustrates how much of a relation the person wants.

I have found, after trying to chat with many women, successfully chatting with a handful, talking live with a fraction of those and finally meeting yet a fraction of that, only to find I was talking with someone who only wants to meet for an occassional date, a movie, dinner or drinks, or dancing. She won't use the word exclusive at any point because, she's playing the field. There is nothing wrong with that, except that it sets up a false reason to meet. This needs should be a clear goal in the ideal date. Because "ideal date" tends to suggest fairtale yet this person likely has a lineup of fairytales stacked. She'll have a tight schedule and will typically not be available during the obviously dating windows.

Knowing this in advance is important. Knowing also where the person wants to go with the relationship. His/Her time line. How committed are they to finding a relationship and what are they willing to invest of themselves