I've been on POOF for a few months now. I was on Metch before that, for 2 years, and earlier about 2008-10, too. Yes, POOF is harder to use than Metch, and has more junk profiles, and is clunkier to use, but my experience has not been nearly as bad as yours. Even though POOF says that most women read your profile before writing, I haven't found that to be true. I get dozens of clicks on my photo alone, from people with no compatibility activity- or philosophy-wise. But the price is better than Metch, and anyway, after two years there, I felt I was only seeing re-runs on Metch. But Metch's key-word-search function is great. You can even search for their categories Agnostic or Atheist, much more specific that POOF's "non-religious".

And living in west lower Michigan, neiher POOF nor Metch recognizes Lake Michigan, so they both send me matches from Wisconsin, as if it was really 100 miles away. (To be thorough, Agnostic.com does this too.) One of the greatest advantages of Metch over POOF is that on Metch, if I click "Remove" on a profile, I never see it again. Whereas POOF will send me interesting profiles that have (unbeknownst to me) blocked me or otherwise prevented me from contacting them (too far, six month out of their age-limits, whatever) and then, after I have wasted time reading and writing, it tells me I cannot contact them. They should not offer me profiles if I cannot contact them. I complained to POOF about this and their reply made no sense, as if they hadn't understood my complaint. Despite all that, POOF is cheaper, indicating that we get what we pay for.

In general, Paul hit it well: You have to do a lot of sifting on interweb dating sites. And never give personal info, last name, phone number, real e-address, until you are confident in the person.

You are such an interesting and charming guy...I hope you find a person who appreciates that...at least you are willing to put yourself out there and into this maze...enjoy the lingerie pics at least...ha ha ha Good luck, Paul!

My experiences with POF is that the site gives up on me, thinks I have a fake profile or agenda, and they boot me out. This has happened twice as I go back to find I have no profile and cannot log in. My reaction is to say "Chuck You, Farley." I don't see how they have any fish?

Hi,

Absolutely agree with all you have said, I find it very frustrating and as soon as you log on the fake messages start. To be honest I won't be using it much anymore and I didn't know that Match.Com owns everything! There is no surprise there though as only a few major cooperates own everything.

Tinder not so bad but I never get the nude pics lol have chatted to a few and been ok although not gone too far as I am not looking for anything serious yet. So I took the plunge and joined Fabswingers as I am open sexually and it has been pretty good, I have even organised local socials.

Kind of works too, I get singles turn up and couples, just a big laugh a few drinks with like minded people bloody great atmosphere.

Have tried PO and other dating sites. Most all have the same issues with scammers.
The bieeger problem for me though is the unnaturalness of trying to find a date online and the silly way the sites are structure with all those useless notifications. Wow, you have three likes and four people liked your pic and six people made you a fav. Those "winks" are about the dumbest thing. I can't stand the dumbness of it all.

BTW, Match.com owns almost all the dating sites, including POF. corporation[entrepreneur.com]

It seems all the popular sites are a mixed bag. But it is possible to meet someone. You just need abundant patience, a ready sense of humor, enough common sense to avoid the crazies and the scammers, and be open to the possibilities !

I still laugh when I think that one of my best finds, that ended up being a 4yr relationship - was with someone I met in that wierd , racy, nutsy world of the old Craigslist single's ads. Ha.

POF has the most fake and scammer profiles I have ever seen anywhere. Please stay away.

On the various dating sites I've experienced over the years, I've seen the occasional faked profile but have never had someone try to scam me. Guess I am an outlier.

I have been on & off POF for almost 10 years, have had some fun meets, some very weird meets, and one long-term (almost 3 years) Penpal out of it. I have also been on other sites, a few paid. I find POF incredibly easy to use, the filters work well...distance, age especally so. I decline all offers to pay for "more service". It seems, just like on this site, that the number of scammers is way up, sadly. Insisting on direct answers to direct questions is the best method to weed them out...for example, "did you have a favorite pet as a child?"...what real person wouldn't love to babble away about their gerbil, dog, fish? But a scammer will reply, "oh my dear I am so thrilled we have similar experiences"

My friend and her husband have been married for 7 years now and met on the site.

You are correct on many points. It's the antithesis of being user friendly. It's overrun by fake accounts seeking money. Having said all that, I actually did meet my wife of for years next month, on that site... no joke.

POF is terrible.
The “chemistry test” is part of the paid service.
When I used it, it did have non-religious or some such thing BUT KEPT TURNING THAT FILTER OFF.
I was “matched” almost exclusively with guys with a high-school diploma who smoked - both dealbreakers for me.

whatever happened to just walking into a bar & meeting someone? i guess when i was between marriages it was a simpler time. almost like "Cheers" i suppose. but don't ppl still have their favorite watering holes?

"Plenty of Flakes" is what I call POF.

I tried P.O.F. for over 2 years and found it was more like Plenty of Fishcrap.

This site is by no means immune to scams. Most, but not all get pulled down fairly quickly.

That's why I've pretty much all but given up on looking for dates and casual dating. Too many fake people out there, variables, and what not which makes it complicated.

Pof has definitely gone downhill hard.. when i was on it my first go around , it was pretty good.. now the scammers have taken it over so much its pretty useless.

Abandon all hope

After my divorce, about 9 and a half years ago, I tried both POF and Match. All told I think I had 3 dates, none of which was a second date. Women I was interested in online were generally not interested in me, pretty much like in real life. So I stopped. I did get a date recently on Tinder. Sweet woman, very cute and intelligent, but way too young for me and we both knew it. I've had much better results the old fashioned way. I'm not breaking any records, but it passes the time every so often. It's a crap shoot no matter how you do it.

It was to problematic for me to sort out the chaff. And, the fact that I was stalked twice from men on there while they did nothing to help me didn't help. The only thing they would do is refund my money and allow me to leave. This was after I blocked one over ten times and he would just create a new profile to find me and taunt me again. Thankfully, I am intelligent enough to never allow anyone to know my address unless I am very comfortable with them or he'd be at my door. It's different experiences between men and women for certain.

I met a lot of women using POF and four long term relationships. It's not a great site and it has a lot of problems but so does every site that's out there. You won't find anything different on sites that you pay subscription fees for honestly.
You just need to be smart and patient enough to separate wheat from chaff.

P. S. If the religion thing is something that your keying on you might try OkCupid which delves into many questions and details more than most sites do.

Did you say subscription? It's a free site. No different than any other dating site but they get hacked a lot so you get a lot of spam from supposedly gorgeous 20 year olds. You'll learn that anything with a number at the end of it isn't a legitimate profile. You can set your preferences as to what you're looking for and the distance from your location.

Its clumsy for sure and daunting at times and sometimes just plain sucks, but I met my husband on there. We’ve been married for 5 years in October and together for 7 now so don’t disregard it. We did have to fish through the masses though to finally find each other. Nice thing though is it was easier to find the assholes before I ever accepted a date with anyone.