Choosing an Online Dating Site

As I mentioned yesterday, Eharmony charged my Gold American Express card $137 dollars automatically yesterday to renew my membership for another three months. I didn't ask them to do this- they have an automatic opt-in policy. In other words, I'd have to tell them NOT to renew me in order to save the cash. This got me to think- I'm spending a lot on trying to find love. What have the various sites done for me and are they living up to their reputations?

MATCH.COM: Ah Match.com - the original love site. Match was the dirty little secret of the internet world until shortly after the turn of the century, when "we met online" became normative as opposed to the dark secret of those who got bored with online porn who decided to try to connect to the other 25 singles actually attempting to find love online.

I think of Match as the hook-up site. It's the place to find the young and sexy and those looking for a good time with similarly situated good looking hotties - at least until next weekend. Match has tried to revamp its rep lately, claiming it is resposible for more relationships, more marriages and more love than any other site. If that's true, and I assume their lawyers vetted the veracity of that statement, it's gotta be because it's the aging giant of matchmaking, not because the quality of the singles on the site leads so often to long-term love. I cancelled that $45 dollar per month kill-joy.

EHARMONY.COM: I'm still amazed every time I open my profile to see that I've been matched with five or six new guys. Honestly, the eharmony commercials almost make me commitment-phobic with their lovey-dovey let's-do-forever happy-couple lore. I'm shocked that a single man -- I mean any man -- has ever signed up for the service. That in itself, I suppose, proves that men actually do want love and long-term happiness. How else do you explain the fact that 225 or so marriages per day occur because of eharmony? Amazing. And I'm still not in one of them.

OK CUPID: Online dating for cheapskates, the broke, the artistic-types, and those not willing to put $30 per month into cheating on their girlfriend. OK Cupid is the most eclectic - hell- it's got categories for people willing to say out loud on a public site that they're looking for casual sex, for three-some or more-some partners, and for "activity partners," which you can interpret any way you want. It's also got an annoying IM feature that makes it easy for "SleazyRick_69" to ask whether you'd like to see his picture of his love rod.

I've actually had the most luck on OK Cupid. Perhaps its the lack of monetary barrier to entry that brings so many. Maybe it's that I'm too serious for the general Match.com member, or too free spirited for eharmony? I'm not sure. I'll keep this three-month subscription to eharmony- they're not giving my money back anyway, right? But maybe I'll try some new sites in the future. Suggestions welcome.