Rating the free dating sites: Tagged, Badoo, Net Log, and Plenty of Fish

Rating the Dating Sites: Which one's #1?

I'm registered on six different sites, four of which actually offer free services. The first site I joined was Tagged, which I rate as the most popular and the most fun IF you're able to weed out scammers and cammers. 

Tagged has the best and the worst of dating site "trollers." I've met lifelong friends there and predators that make Ted Bundy seem normal. The fun parts are playing games, which I avoid for the most part; sending "tags," little messages that range from sweet to downright raunchy; giving LUVS, three a day unless you're a Premium member @ $19.99/month; "winking" at friends; and sending elaborate, often beautiful comments. 

I've made many good friends on Tagged which has the best profile pages - I currently have two - that can be as simple or as elaborate as you want them to be. Just skim through the riffraff and you'll meet some nice people. 

My least favorite site is Badoo, which seems to consist completely of scammers and cammers. I have to say Net Log, with a few exceptions, is not much better. I've been contacted by three men actually using the identities of U.S. Army officers. Reprehensible! 

The scammers are everywhere on Net Log with equal numbers of cammers. Nearly everyone there wants to go straight to chat with one purpose in mind, usually: to get you on web cam. The others want to gain your trust to work their scam and get you to send them money. 

I have met one or two "real" people on the site; however, I've run into several guys
from other countries trying to find someone to marry for U. S. citizenship. Beware!

Hands down the best site I've been on is Plenty of Fish. Contact time is slower, but
scammers are deterred because you can't send email or IM addresses on the site.
Of course, many people are there looking for a "hook-up" (casual sex), but that
can happen meeting people in traditional ways. Often dating is about sex, online
and offline. You have to decide whether you're interested in a booty call or want a
relationship. 

I'm just glad POF has a mechanism for screening out scammers. None of the
other sites seem to care. So far, I've only met a few people there, but except for a
nurse who called me at 3:30am when he got off work hoping to have phone sex,
most are regular guys. 

I have a standing date with a guy from nearby Detroit at Tim Horton's for coffee
when the weather gets warmer and just met a writer from Toledo who is so perfect he seems almost too good to be true. We'll see what happens. 

Be careful of meeting anyone contacted on a site in person. Arrange such meetings in public places initially. Make sure someone you trust knows where you are, how to contact you, and has any information you have about the person you're going to meet. Never get in a car with someone you've just met or leave a public place to go somewhere private the first time you see the person. 

If you feel uncomfortable or afraid, do not see the person again. Do not give people you meet on dating sites your home address or work address. Beware and be safe. 

From Scammers to "Cammers," Not That Big a Leap!

Scammers have one goal: to get a stranger to send money to someone who's established trust and a long distance relationship based on a lie. They use phony photos, names, stories, and locations. It's their job to convince you it's all true. And that they love you. And that they want to marry you. Then they find a reason to ask you for money. 

Men who want to get women on video use the same strategies as scammers, except they don't usually create a false identity because they're not doing anything illegal.   Exploiting women for sexual gratification rather than financial gain, they'll say anything to get you on a web cam. That's why I call them "cammers." 

These guys want control over women, asking them to strip, pose, and even perform sexual acts on camera while they watch. Never mind that there are "professionals" who provide such services. These jerks are too cheap to pay for it. 

I was sent as a joke, a still photo of a 300 lb+ woman sitting naked with her legs spread over the arms of a chair exposing her vagina. The person sending the photo with the caption "Somebody f-ed up my day, so I'm f-ing up yours!" either forgot I'm 300 lbs+ or was just too insensitive to care. 

When I received that photo of a woman who agreed to pose for someone who exploited her, not once but twice,  I realized cammers are no better than scammers. One just takes your money. The other takes your soul.