Why am I not meeting that perfect person? This is one of the big questions you hear these days, I mean hear it a lot!  And when I say a lot I mean at least once every ten seconds, why what’s wrong with me where are all the good men/women etc..

Hmm, well there probably isnt anything wrong with you, maybe you are quite happy with your own life and don’t fancy sharing it with anybody else?  If you really really like yourself then why do you want someone else coming in and interfering with it!  Well you don’t, but there is a huge amount of pressure on you to have a partner, people look at you like your ill if you turn up to a party alone.

So you go online and try and find someone, but they all turn out to be unworthy of your company, not because theyre potential serial killers, not because they smell of expensive cheese, its because they don’t agree with you that MamaMia is the best film ever! or perhaps they don’t like cats.  All of theses are excellent reasons for never seeing someone again arent they?

Well maybe if your really happy being single, but in reality you have to understand that all us humans, yes even you, may have strange little quirks that people find offensive.  And guess what there are people out there who look past your quirks and still want you around, they are called your friends. Remember how your friends all have weird habits that really annoy you, but you’ve been friends so long that you realise their good points greatly outweigh the bad ones.

Well next time your on a date and they start slurping their soup, actually maybe that’s too annoying, ok not slurping the soup but maybe picking their teeth, no wait that’s really annoying,  Well lets just say they do something annoying, try and look past it, they may have a lot of really great quirks that don’t show up in a few hour long dates. Try and look past the small things, cus if you don’t look past the small things you never get to see the bigger things, and if it doesn’t work out you may just end up with another annoying friend.

Shakespeare clearly had no idea how difficult life was going to get in the 21st century or he would have been asking the above.

Have you been dating a lot recently? Are you starting to worry that there’s something wrong with you? Maybe your too picky? Maybe there’s just no one out there for you? Maybe its time to buy that cabin in the woods you’ve always dreamt about, and move there permanently with a bunch of cats.

If you have been thinking this, don’t worry! you’re not alone, but I bet you are about thirty:)

Yes it happens to all of us, the roundabout thirty bunch,  Things start to get a bit grown up and weird don’t it? The worries of being alone for ever and ever and ever and ever and well you know a long time. What if you don’t have babies!!!

Well there’s a bit of advice I can give you here but not much:)  Relax! that is honestly the most important thing you can do. Theres nothing more scary than a desperate single.  Men can sense it women can sense it everyone can sense it.  So chillax take a chill pill try to forget about the babies and the whole hermit thing.  Once you relax, life will again start to seem a bit more fun. When it does you will become more fun and get your confidence back.  And what do the opposite sex want?? Well its someone who’s relaxed and confident right? When is the last time someone said “who’s that lovely tense nervous looking person over there?”

So I know its tough but the best way to get a date is to not want a date!

Still don’t stop altogether, Go online join a good site find a few dates.  Then actually go out with a few people, try new people.  Remember they don’t have to be the perfect match because it’s just for fun. Guess what you may be pleasantly surprised.

Good luck!

Having trouble finding love? Can’t get that relationship to work out?

Dont worry, a quick google on the internet and you’ll find hundreds of experts out there to solve all of your dating problems.  Yes these people are the DATING EXPERTS. Apparently they have graduated with a first class degree in dating and online relationships.

I assume that people with such skills are constantly fighting off the opposite sex, in fact I’m surprised they even have time to write their advice columns!

There are a few problems with these people.  First of all and most important, there are no dating experts, there are no relationship experts!

The problem is One person (umm you?) is really complex, almost impossible to understand.  So what happens when you add another person to the mix, eh eh?  You get two really complex things right!  Who knows how that combination will work?  Well nobody thats who!

So how do you become a dating expert?  As far as I’m aware there are no formal courses you can take, so that option is out.

Date a lot is the second option (learning from experience)  The obvious problem here is that IF,and its a big if, the aim of dating is to find a long term sustainable relationship, then why did our dating expert take so long to find a partner?

Lets face it dating is a mystery and no one is ever going to solve it.  Try going online and find a site you’re happy with.  Message the ones you like, try chatting, and then eventually meet up.  If that spark is there you’ll know it, and you certainly will not need any expert advice.

Good luck (anyone can call themselves an expert:)

If you would like to make a comment do so here or post one in our forums.

So there is little doubt that the online dating industry is at an all time high. It is now a socially acceptable and useful tool for finding that perfect partner. But lets face it there’s still a little problem with Online dating. Can you guess what it is? (Don’t look at the title thats cheating)

Yes its the oddball contingent, a massive problem on free dating sites and quite a big problem on the pay sites.  In my experience they come in three forms:

Perverts:   Most of these guys believe they are protected by online anonymity so they’re easy to spot.  Generally they skip the crappy chat up lines and go straight for the “umm fancy a S**g darling”. Charming isnt it, unfortunately most women on online dating sites have experienced this. If you believe the person your chatting to is a secret perv, try and drag out the initial conversation, talk about the meaning of life etc.. and tell them that you dont meet men for at least a month, they generally lose interest. And when they do reveal themselves, find the block sender button.

Cheaters:   Now things are getting a bit more complicated as these guys are generally married or in long term relationships, unlike the perverts they actually have social skills and realise that just asking for sex isn’t the way to go. So how do you spot them? Well unfortunately you can’t, and you may even end up on a date with one. My favourite question is to ask about their online social status,

Me:” hmm are you on facebook? we can be friends.”

Him: “Umm well no?”

Me: “Oh really? Why?”

Him: “Umm well its their record of failures to protect client confidentiality I can’t stand it”

Me: “Oh how moral of you.”

Yes its always suspicious when the date you are with is so protective of his social life. They can’t all be secret agents can they?  Its very easy to google somebody, if they seem to be too good to be true, they are!!!!

And last but not least…

 Weirdos:  The wonderful thing about weirdos is they don’t know they’re weird so they don’t even try to hide it:

Me:” Umm maybe we can go out for dinner?”

Him:” Umm no lets just go to my place, the folks are away and we can have the bed all to ourselves.”

me: Bye!

As usual just be extra careful, and don’t waste your time with these weirdos. There are plenty of honest people out there!  Good luck.

So these guys will report your butt to the law if you’re not single or are a crook. That’s one scary warning on their home page. TRUE.com is the only online dating service and relationship site that conducts criminal background screenings and Single Certification in the U.S.  This is probably one of the neatest features of this site. Trying to improve peoples safety is always good.

The site has a bunch of other features also, including a pretty long Compatibility test. Ninety-nine questions to be exact and that’s just one part of it. Having ninety-nine questions makes me laugh a bit, they either put in extra questions or left some out to get to that number, but that’s just me. The search results are pretty good and there’s a nice user base on the site so you will get a decent amount of responses to your searches, but I guess this can vary a lot depending on how you responded to the questions.

True.com offer a 7 day free trial but be careful because you will be automatically charged if you go over the 7 days. Also at $40 a month there not the cheapest site around, however they do provide an additional service when it comes to safety so maybe a bit extra is OK for that.

If you have anything you would like to say about True.com or any other dating site. You can make a post here in the comments section, or on our forums.

Having spoken to many on the subject now it seems that a lot of people are going online, browsing the selected photos contacting them and then ….. well to be quite honest that’s where it ends for most people.

So we spend a small fortune on dating sites, spend all of our free time scanning them but then don’t actually go on the dates. So what is stopping us:

Safety:  There are many risks to online dating, what if they’re fake and actually big scary murderers? As long as we follow some basic safety tips we should be alright. Meet in a well populated area such as a restaurant and not in a dark alley, do not go home with them the first time you meet them (This offer happens more to women than men in my experience!)  Most good dating sites will have safety tips but generally common sense is the key.

Shyness:  This is the biggy right? good old-fashioned shyness. There is a big difference between chatting online and actually meeting face to face right!! So what to do if you’re too scared to meet up? It might be a good idea to ask your date to bring a friend (careful how you state this:) Of course suggest that you will  bring someone as well. This really takes the pressure off, or if you are lacking single friends arrange to meet at a singles event:  Sites like www.smartdatinguk.com can really help with this. Forget that its a date and try to make friends, the best relationships come from friendship after-all.

There’s a few nice free sites out there at the moment. However when you get a bit deeper into them, most of the time you end up pulling out the credit card .

Plentyoffish for instance gives most of it’s services for free. However free sites have a few problems, and one problem was trying to separate genuine people from people who might not be there to find someone special. The only way plentyoffish could fix it was by bringing in an upgrade called “serious intent”. Making some options on the site payed for, meant that the people who wanted to take it more seriously would be able to make a monetary commitment and get options that many didn’t have. Most free sites at the moment would offer a few upgrades that you will need to pay for, and most of the time you would want them.

If you are really serious about finding someone, my advice is to head to a pay site.
Don’t get me wrong I think some free sites are great. However because there income level will be a lot lower than a payed site. They’re going to offer a lot less in terms of a good service. I think there’s a bit more to a dating site than just being able to browse and use a few apps. I really want the site to be able to assist me in finding some one. Most free sites are just there to get as many clicks as they can so tend to focus on things like forums and browsing.

What do you all think of the Free versus Pay site debate? You can comment here or in our forums.

This is a new dating site. It looks fun, if a little bit unconventional. The idea is that if you shared a moment with someone, and don’t want to let it pass by.  You can hand them a card with a code on it. When they type the code into the Greenlightcard.com website your contact details will appear. Then they can look at the information you have posted about yourself and decide whether or not to contact you.

I think it’s a pretty fun idea although it seems a bit strange. I’m not sure how I’d feel if I met some one with a bunch of these cards. I’d be wondering if he/she was handing them out on the bus going to work or whether I was the only one who got one.

Still it’s a pretty nice idea. Might be a good idea for shy people also. Since it puts the onus onto the recipient to make contact. Well I’d really like to hear from others about this. Has anyone actually used it, and if so how did it go? Or what do you think of a site like Greenlightcard.com.

You can post a comment here or in our forums. So please do.

This is my new blog called Net dating forum. I really hope you like it. You can also visit our forums. There’s lots of information about dating sites, so go take a look. There’s a link right here.  Don’t forget to post a comment . Smiley face. “oh no wait I’m not suppose to type smiley face, here you go”