In the next serval days i’ll be releasing a paid feature on plentyoffish. With this optional upgrade you can signal to the community that you are serious about meeting someone. This upgrade will last either 3, 6 or 12 months.
1. On paid dating sites most buys are impulse and in the signup process. Paid sites monetize on Impulse, plentyoffish is going to monetize on user intent. I believe we will have far more members that are serious than paid sites. Its one thing to be tricked into paying (paid sites), its another to go out of your way and pay for something.
2. There will be no addtional features and funcationality for users, this upgrade will be strictly to signal intent to the community.
3. There will be no changes to existing users or new users. The site will continue to work as it always has, except some members can now choose to stand out more.
March 5, 2009 at 5:31 pm |
here we go…
that’s a smart move.But i think you have to be more cautious now onwards and convince new users that pof is not a site intended primarily for paid users.
one way to convince is give the upgrade free for a certain period to users who are trying hard in finding a date.
March 5, 2009 at 5:47 pm |
I’m sure you’re sure about what you’re doing. But personnally I intentionally skip listings that have been paid extra for. On classifieds and on dating sites.
March 5, 2009 at 6:07 pm |
My thoughts as usual at http://onlinedatingpost.com/archives/2009/03/plentyoffish-starts-charging-premium-membership-fees/
March 5, 2009 at 6:24 pm |
It’s smart because it is a super lazy solution that if it is fails it is super easy to stop offering and if it catches on in the POF community there will be lots of easy money. It takes to costs or real effort to startup, but can have a large social impact on the website and make people feel like they need to buy it, if it is priced right (cheap).
March 5, 2009 at 7:01 pm |
[...] members to contact. Becoming a serious member will not give you any more people to contact. Read Markus’s Blog for further information. Tag: plentyoffish.com paid [...]
March 5, 2009 at 7:28 pm |
Actually at Meetic’s CEO speach at le Web last year the way he described the reasoning for being a pay site was about precisely intent and trust. As a user, if you know the person on the other side is paying, then it lowers the chances of wasting time on a faker or someone who’s not serious about it.
I hope that you can give us a glimpse about how well it worked or not a few weeks down the line. I’ve just launched premium membership on my own website (different vertical) this week and the sign-up rate exceeded my expectations, particularly in such dire times.
March 5, 2009 at 8:25 pm |
[...] still rubbing my eyes over this wonderful announcement. Freebie online dating site PlentyOfFish is considering a plan that will charge users for 3, 6 or 12 months of service. Up until now the site has been widely heralded as an example of how a free site can make an owner [...]
March 5, 2009 at 8:48 pm |
Good luck but:
At the expense of being rude, and that is not my intent, this will follow your paid gifts into the sunset.
Sorry can’t see POF members spending money to stand out…
they are on match.com and lava for that already(?)
March 5, 2009 at 9:23 pm |
This is a smart move. The future is Fremium and for all the noise (and boy will there be noise) from people who are upset their are now tiers to membership, the revenue should more than offset any loss. Given the tiny value of an advertising funded membership base the economics should be startling.
The real question is where to stop? Why not ad services which justify an optional monthly premium from more members? The only reason I can see is the damage it does to PoF’s core sales message – we’re free. Either by acquisition or build-out it looks as if PoF now has a pay-site in its future. May I suggest “Plenty of Koi Carp”
March 5, 2009 at 9:40 pm |
This tends to be counter productive for the purchasers. It is a ‘desperate’ flag, which most
users will steer clear of.
If you integrated it into search, so it was one of the top options to search people on, ie. has photos, distance, has_kids, is premium, etc- maybe people would get more attention with it on, and it might do ok.
March 5, 2009 at 10:05 pm |
Honestly, just surprised you hadn’t done this earlier.
March 5, 2009 at 10:45 pm |
Smart move Markus, I think it will work well. Having used the site for over a year, got some dates, had some fun, seen the good side and bad side, and all the different intents of various users, and am now in a relationship, from POF, I think this has great potential. It’s the best of both worlds.
March 5, 2009 at 11:45 pm |
Sure, I’m sure tons of people can’t wait to pay for what they already get for free. Especially in this current economy. People that pay want to be on sites where they actually see quality uploaded pics for the most part. Not compressed pics that hurt your eyes.
March 6, 2009 at 12:31 am |
I own SelectAlternatives, a series of hyper-local (paid) dating sites designed primarily for alternative newsweeklies.
I agree that most paid dating sites “monetize on impulse.”
SelectAlternatives doesn’t do that. We encourage non-registered users to browse/search the site without having to create a profile. And, we allow users to register and create a free profile. If that un-paid member is contacted, it’s free to respond. We only require a paid membership to initiate a first contact with another member – user intent.
March 6, 2009 at 4:00 am |
[...] PARADIGM SHIFT — Mar 5 — In the next serval days POF will be releasing a paid feature. With this optional upgrade users can signal to the community that they are serious about meeting someone. This upgrade will last either 3, 6 or 12 months. FULL ARTICLE @ PARADIGM SHIFT [...]
March 6, 2009 at 7:15 am |
Good luck. People are cheap and ingnorant. You’re wasting your time.
March 6, 2009 at 1:18 pm |
[...] to a blog entry by its CEO, Markus Frind, PlentyofFish will sell “Serious Member” badges that will [...]
March 6, 2009 at 1:41 pm |
[...] to a blog entry by its CEO, Markus Frind, PlentyofFish will sell “Serious Member” badges that will [...]
March 6, 2009 at 5:30 pm |
@John Smith: not a lot of time, really. Seems like a smart move to me: try this, and if it doesn’t work go for something more elaborate.
March 6, 2009 at 6:47 pm |
I like all the “you are wasting your time” people. What time? what investment? this is like a couple database fields and a few IF statements in the code. Done. No investment of time at all, easy to implement, easy to test, easy to fail or succeed, no risk or real down side, only upside.
March 6, 2009 at 8:16 pm |
actually its a lot of damn work. Rewriting about 100 SQL statements and having to test them all.
March 6, 2009 at 9:23 pm |
Look at this as just being the start of POF’s downfall. Paid = Users could care less …
Give the poor site design and interface, being free is the only thing that keeps users there.
Once the site goes to a fully PAID site which it will eventually, the 10 million users will turn into 10 million people flocking to the next best thing.
Best of luck.
March 6, 2009 at 9:36 pm |
[...] marked as such in the search results and messages from these members will be highlighted. In his blog post, Frind says: On paid dating sites most buys are impulse and in the signup process. Paid sites [...]
March 6, 2009 at 10:06 pm |
What the hell, Dating Site News. Transparently trolling much.
He says, uh, responding to the troll.
OH DAMN GOT ME.
March 7, 2009 at 12:24 am |
I’ll be honest here. I think it’s a horrible idea. I don’t quite get it. Seems illogical to me. What would make someone want to choose a gold member over a regular member ? Especially when all the functionalities are the same. I hope it works you, but I just don’t quite understand the logic behind it.
March 7, 2009 at 2:54 am |
@ love conquers all
The rationale behind it …
10 million members, 10% will opt for the option (approximately) @ $1.00 a piece, that $1 million, $2.00 = $2 million, $9.95 = $9.95 million extra revenue for modifying 100 lines of sql code. Do the math.
Best of luck to Markus if it works. He will have to remove the “100% free – no charges ever” moniker that is plastered throughout the site .
March 7, 2009 at 3:26 am |
@dating site news
I think adoption of the pay side of things could reach 20%.
–
all the naysayers don’t really understand POF. Have you used it, like actually used it to actually go on dates, or even quicky hook ups, and getting to actually meet and know some members of opposite sex???
And ask other users, while trying to get to know them, their thoughts on the site?
Have you had offline conversations with other single friends who use it? There’s a lot of them, and they like it.
After using it for a considerable amount of time, months, have you noticed the people who leave and then come back to try again a month or two later? There is lots of those.
Have you noticed how there is a wide range of user intent on the site? Some trying it out for first time, some looking to just get laid, some looking to meet friends, some there just for the forums, and some looking for serious relationships.
Many of those looking for serious relationships will embrace the “serious member” badge. It will help them filter out the jerks, and those just looking to get laid. And it will attract attention from others who feel the same, those they are looking to attract in first place.
The vast majority of users could give 2 shits about the design and look of the site. What matters is how well it works. And it does work very well. That is a large reason why it is so successful. There are a million other free dating websites out there, and where are they in the realm of users, traffic, and revenues???
Go Markus! I’m rooting for ya, and hope the new pay model works out. I think this one is a good one.
The payed gifts experiment though was a bad idea. Price points were way too high. And I don’t see how people can see value in paying for intangible digital pseudo gifts, unless it was a micro payment deal for like $1 each. But then the gift has such low value to the person receiving it. But paying a monthly fee to advertise their “serious” intent on the site, I think enough people will pay for that, and it should have little overall impact on the rest of the free users who will stick to free.
March 7, 2009 at 7:51 am |
I like that move.
I think that’s the best option you had because you can’t change the POF business model without disturbing people.
You have a bless : you website is associated to you so people will be less reluctant to buy from you if they are serious.
Anyway, you will need some marketing work too
March 7, 2009 at 12:30 pm |
The added paying feature is an awesome idea Markus. If I was still on POF I probably would have switched over because in my opinion I think that would show others that you are serious about meeting someone. I think once you see a few people paying, and their profile standing out from the rest, more will follow. Wishing you much success Markus and thanks to POF I found my sweetheart : )
March 8, 2009 at 11:27 am |
you know whats funny all the time plentyoffish seemed to put the user first and never to be geedy and called other paid membership sites
now how much do you want to bet that the free members in time will be limited to what they can do or see
plentyoffish is a poor user friendly website it looks dated full of google ads but the only thing which is great about the site is its members
Now your trying to make money out of loyal users trying to make out that if they upgrade they will look serious in return free members will look like spam
markus stop worring about your back balance and put the users first of they will be another website round the corner who will
March 8, 2009 at 3:13 pm |
[...] recession, it appears that running a free ad-supported dating site is getting tougher. Frind announced yesterday that he has decided to add a paid feature to the [...]
March 8, 2009 at 7:58 pm |
Like one of the other posts said, this probably signals people being desperate more then anything.
It also does nothing to stop the biggest complaint that I hear over and over again from all my friends that have used dating sites, which is, the huge volume of dumb-ass guys bombarding them with emails looking to get laid or have a threesome and wasting their time. Those guys will be the first ones to pay so they can fool women into thinking they are “serious”.
March 8, 2009 at 9:38 pm |
@ Dating Site News
If you don’t HAVE to pay a fee, and there’s still no CHARGE to use the site, isn’t the site still free? I don’t see why the tagline has to go.
March 9, 2009 at 4:57 am |
Surely everyone starting free dating websites there is no quality prospects and also the no of members in each site is pretty less. but having thrusted paid site improves guinue prospects hence the quality of members and having greater rate of success leads to more quality members.
March 9, 2009 at 12:06 pm |
How much is it for 3, 6 or 12 months?
March 9, 2009 at 9:18 pm |
This is going to backfire, PoF has gotten big because it is a free site.
I remember a site called Campuskiss or something similar. Anyways, it was a MySpace type site that was basically a dating site aimed mostly at those in the Ontario region. It eventually had a paid option and little by little they took away more and more from the free non-paying members.
Eventually the site because useless and has resorted to spam that is typical for the big dating sites. “You have a new message from someone, log in to see!” only the catch was, I had to sign up for the paid option to read it. I forgot I even had a membership on the site until it came into my spam email account(that I use for sign ups and other various things) since I hadn’t signed in for a good three or four years, ever since they went pay.
Another thing is, you get alot of guys that will send messages only to have the read, deleted. Think they get pissed about that with a free site, just wait til they pay and have the same thing happen. They’ll cancel their membership and that’ll be the end of that.
March 9, 2009 at 11:37 pm |
[...] to Frind’s blog, PlentyofFish will sell “Serious Member” badges that will appear on members’ pages for three, six or 12 months. Serious members will be [...]
March 9, 2009 at 11:37 pm |
[...] or signal to the community that they are serious about meeting someone. Here’s the post from his blog… In the next serval days i’ll be releasing a paid feature on plentyoffish. [...]
March 10, 2009 at 10:05 am |
[...] Frind, CEO of PlentyOfFish.com, announced on his blog yesterday that in the next few days he will be adding a paid membership feature to POF. The upgrade [...]
March 10, 2009 at 10:10 pm |
I agree with Ken that Markus has to be careful. It’s not like he’s doomed to turn the site into a pile of steaming doody though, is it.
March 11, 2009 at 2:53 am |
Smart, smart move Markus. Easy to do, easy to test. If it doesn’t work out, you pull it. No building an all-new site elsewhere, etc.
Clever as always. The naysayers have no clue.
March 11, 2009 at 10:18 am |
Paid sites setting up free sites and free sites setting up paid sites. It will be interesting to see how all of this pans out. I think the winners will be those that start adding features that add to the customers experience. Let’s face it nobody actually dates online, they search then flirt, tease, tempt and chat in a preamble before actually meeting. There has to be loads of scope to add to that experience without simply trying to add social media tools. Markus has the advantage as he has been a champion of the customer from day one but now is the time to take POF to the next level.
March 11, 2009 at 10:38 pm |
[...] to a new Serious Member paid feature Plentyoffish released recently it appears so! I did not think that this paid feature was a smart [...]
March 11, 2009 at 10:40 pm |
Very interesting. I commented on my blog about this. I didn’t think you were making a good choice here but I think many of us were wrong.
My Blog
March 11, 2009 at 11:44 pm |
Awesome idea! Keep up the hard work!
March 13, 2009 at 7:31 pm |
and has anyone read the POF terms of service http://www.plentyoffish.com/terms.aspx
just goes to show how in the end absolute power corrupts absolutely
March 13, 2009 at 8:25 pm |
@JamesT
What specifically in their TOS worries you? Looks like a pretty standard TOS to me. Haven’t read it all word for word, but in scanning through it I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.
March 13, 2009 at 9:10 pm |
and if your lookign for someone “serious” its pretty simple to filter youtr searches to only show people interested in long term relationships.. but of course that makes to much sense yes?
I see the gold stars on profiles with no pictures.. on profiles in which people are looking for “hang out” and “intimate encounter” i have msged every gold profile in my area and not one of the ladies even knew it was on there profile, let alone bought an upgrade, so where does his research facts come from about increased views and email. its all randomly given out freely. and to anyone who did pay. if this idea does not work you will not get any refund. so i imagine this will be around for 1 year so as to forgo any kind of disputes..
just goes to show all these were randomly seeded by POF to make people think others are buying this when in fact no one is buying it its a big scam.
dont believe what you see people just common sense
March 13, 2009 at 9:21 pm |
@Stever
its carefully worded to allow himself to charge people money yet still call his site 100% free
March 14, 2009 at 1:35 am |
I’m a real fan of Marcus however it appears that the majority or women who I am seeing with the upgrade seal have been given 1 year upgrades for free. (this assumption made after 3 women who I know say they received email from Big Fish informing them of the 1 yr free trial.
Possibly Marcus is using these to seed the site to entice others to upgrade?
/P
March 14, 2009 at 7:06 am |
Marcus is very smart and I say why not?? I think he definitely will make alot of money on his new idea!
March 14, 2009 at 11:45 am |
Marcus, you are a brilliant marketing and leader person! I love your site and you did an awesome achievement with POF!
We can all be jealous at your success
KEEP IT UP !
March 14, 2009 at 7:15 pm |
Ladies how “serious” are you really if with upwards of 40 different emails a day from interested guys for months you still cannot find a date?
March 15, 2009 at 2:43 pm |
[...] http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/plentyoffish-serious-member-profile-upgrade/ [...]
March 15, 2009 at 10:26 pm |
Paul, it would make sense to rock it out that way. How would you suggest it be deployed otherwise?
March 16, 2009 at 4:08 pm |
Paid Strategy for POF
I have been an internet dater for over 4 years and a user of POF all the way through as well as Match, E-Harmony, LavaLife, Lavalife Prime, Chemistry and a few others. The ONLY reason I have joined paid for sites is to get a fresh set of dating prospects in any given period of time. In fact, anyone I can find on their “free” trials who is also on POF, I always contact on POF. So I sign up for 3 months, maximize their database while all the time being on POF as well. Overall POF has resulted in the most dates and the most 3+ month relationships. I am a “serious” dater in that I am truly looking for someone to marry. I have come close, just not quite there. So, I love your concept of “serious” dater.
As a former senior manager at Microsoft Canada and now on my fourth start-up including being president of one that went public on the TSX Venture Exchange, I have not only seen the technology/internet business close up but I have also seen lots of the business mistakes people make. As an individual, you have had amazing success as a sole proprietor. If you decide to become a “real” business, you will face a multitude of new issues and most of them in one way or another will deal with managing people. I would caution you on increasing headcount quickly. Instead, look for a model in which you can hire the best possible people slowly. I have been involved with up to 200 developers/consultants in one of the businesses and the sad truth is that when you get to that size, your ability to hire better people disappears and you keep getting closer to the average. Today, I have a model in which I will have no more than 20 people in any one endeavour. I outsource what I do not need to do so I can concentrate on what is important with the best possible talent I can find. If I was in your position, large user base, lots of cash and lots of opportunities, I would be salivating.
If I understand your demographics, POF tends to appeal to slightly higher income brackets, slightly higher intelligence and slightly higher age. Being 52 now and living in Calgary and having counted the number of “hits” on the other sites for similar women, I have found that POF has as many and certainly more active people in my age bracket. And since I have dated lawyers, nurses, teachers and other professionals from the site, my limited data sample seems to bear out the first statement of POF appealing to a slightly “better” audience.
I also understand that the difference in revenue between your site and any site with the same number of paid subscribers is probably more than an order of magnitude difference. Hence the appeal to go paid.
Here is what I would do if i was in your position.
I would leverage what you already have. Lots of traffic and lots of users in the dating game. I also really like the idea of the “serious” dater. I think that is bang on. But I think you need to have some real value add services for the serious dater who is paying. Over time, the site might look like this.
I would have 3 categories of users.
1. Basic free user with everything you have now with other free users
2. Entry level paid user with extra features
3. Premium user – a premium dating experience
The basic user model is what is already in POF. For the entry level paid user, I would build a set of features that allow them to have some control of who contacts them. This is where I like the “smile or wink ” concept. A free user can message other free users but can only smile or wink at a paid user and then the paid user makes the decision to engage or not based on the profile. Entry level paid users can email other entry level paid users. In addition, the paid user can hide anything and everything. So for example, the paid users favourite list can have a hide button so that the person who has been favoured does not even know that they are on your list. Pricing would be one third to one half of Match and Lavalife to maintain your value leader position.
The premium concept would offer similar but hopefully slightly different “serious” dating concepts to rival Chemistry and e-Harmony at a lower price. I think of the differentiating features could be to allow the premium user to tap into your entire user base and engage “free” users who they would like to learn more about. Pricing would be one half of e-Harmony to maintain your value leader position.
March 17, 2009 at 7:07 am |
but karl your forgeting that marcus is lazy, and what you propose sounds like alot of work
March 17, 2009 at 8:57 pm |
There’re different kinds of lazy, though. Markus is smart-lazy, not stupid-lazy.
To whit: Laziness – The quality that makes you go to great effort to reduce overall energy expenditure. It makes you write labor-saving programs that other people will find useful, and document what you wrote so you don’t have to answer so many questions about it. Hence, the first great virtue of a programmer.
March 17, 2009 at 9:41 pm |
Is Plentyoffish down right now? I have been trying to get to the site to open an account (a friend told me it was awesome!) But when I type in the address it says that “Internet Explorer Cannot Display Page”. I’ve tried it with both of my computers, and it is the same with both.
Please, any help would be appreciated.
March 18, 2009 at 2:50 am |
could not even sign up from outside usa, so there is an annoying scam thing in your form…. makes you think you did mistake but no, it’s jus AI
)
March 18, 2009 at 10:21 pm |
I think your answer is serendipitously located beneath your post, Steve.
March 19, 2009 at 4:21 am |
I have no idea how this ridiculous looking “serious member” gold star appeared on my profile! I assume I clicked something by accident, but I wasn’t prompted to ‘ok’ or approve the change, but it’s really REALLY annoying that there seems to be no way to remove the stupid thing !!!! and of course I can’t see any way to contact the site admins – the HELP section has no contact address to send complaints like this. does anyone know how to contact the site or Markus, apparently the owner?
March 19, 2009 at 8:42 am |
Where there is love the heart is light,
Where there is love the day is bright,
Where there is love there is a song
to help when things are going wrong,
Where there is love there is a smile to make all things seem more worthwhile
Where there is love there’s quiet peace, a tranquil place where turmoils cease…
Love changes darkness into light and makes the heart take wingless flight
We know that love can make our happier life and enthusiastic, but love can also make our life suffers. How build love without end that will make our life is happy all along be one question which we shall answer. Building love without deceitfulness, selfless love and strenuous love and sacrificial.
March 19, 2009 at 3:15 pm |
Casualencounters.com, so what is the answer to my question? Why can’t I access the website? I seem to have gotten an answer from gazduire web, and you seemed to have understood his answer, but I don’t. Maybe I’m missing something, but his answer didn’t make any sense to me.
Any help would be awesome, I’m really looking forward to trying this site.
Thanks
March 19, 2009 at 9:47 pm |
Where are you at.
March 21, 2009 at 3:33 am |
It could fail, but if you never fail it means that you never do anything… So why not try it? Ppl were paying to send virtual gifts to their FB friends… for virtual desk/tv whatever.. Why not! Good Luck Markus!
March 22, 2009 at 4:42 am |
Congress！Good Luck Markus!
March 22, 2009 at 9:10 pm |
@mistermuggles Yeah and put that one up there with “shit I will NEVER understand”…
March 23, 2009 at 11:19 am |
[...] think of Markus Frinds, who makes about 10.000 $ – a day with a free dating service and now even introduced a paid feature to make even more big $$$ on the [...]
March 24, 2009 at 1:00 am |
Markus,
What?? Im confused. I have recently been hearing talk that POF is buying virtulove.com. Im assuming that isn’t true now since you are offering paid memberships???
March 24, 2009 at 4:14 am |
I can’t access the website either ever since this weekend? I get the same page that asks if I want to access a cached version but then get an “OOPS, no link”
Anyone have any ideas???
March 24, 2009 at 12:48 pm |
Smart move Markus ..
Hope it’ll work well for you ..
March 24, 2009 at 9:12 pm |
Yeah, snap Jen2. Sigh.
March 26, 2009 at 5:04 am |
[...] Markus is looking to acquire a pay dating site at this point. On the other hand, he’s adding some pay features to his free site as [...]
March 30, 2009 at 10:25 am |
The most important factor in deciding WordPress theme is the ease of installation, user friendly and search engine optimised. You can find those Premium WordPress themes at DailyWPTheme.
April 3, 2009 at 5:29 am |
I reported a fake profile today and requested to be contact with their info as an ongoing police report is open in a harassment/identity theft case… by the time I got home the profile was removed and no email with info sent to me.. how can I obtain this information? please email me for details so I can forward to the detective to furthur pursue this.
April 3, 2009 at 10:06 am |
Why has my profile been deleted?
I did not spam or offend anyone. All I did was complain about one user who sent me a rude message. I never replied to her, or initiated contact, I just reported it. If you have a problem with infidelity on your site, you should not have a dating category called Intmiate Encounter.
If you are to delete users, especially after complaints, you should at least hear both sides as I suspect in this and many other cases, it is vindictiveness on the part of the person who did not like my profile. I only ever reply to users intially, I do not contact them first and I am polite and courteous when I do. You can always temporarily suspend the profile under scrutiny until the case has been heard, as it were and inform all parties concerned.
I know you reserve the right to ban people and all that but you should not play God, you should be transparent and explain yourself and be seen to be fair, despite your personal feelings. You have advertisers now, so you should at least play by some rules.
I assume you will probably just ignore this, but I deserve a reply and an explanation, as I have done nothing wrong. If you think I have in some way, then please tell me how, I would really like to know why? I think I deserve that as I cannot second guess subjective judgement, if I have broken the rules, I need to know which ones to avoid doing it in future.
April 5, 2009 at 6:06 am |
So people who dont pay are not serious about dating? hmmm
April 9, 2009 at 6:10 pm |
I am a member of plentyoffish I can’t tell you how upset I am over this “serious member” stuff. I have tried contacting someone from the site with no avail. Very convenient how they make it that way. I went to take the survey to become a serious member and was shocked to see YOU HAVE TO PAY! Inn no way should being able to pay give you the title serious member. I was so happy to find a dating website that was free. Now I’m so upset because especially in this economy it seems little charges are coming out of the woodwork. I just wanna say a big F U to the CEO of plentyoffish. What the 10 million you say you have isn’t enough??? Always gotta shit on the little guy. Way to go plentyoffish!
April 10, 2009 at 1:55 pm |
Jennifer, why not tell us how you really feel.
April 16, 2009 at 10:36 pm |
I’m so glad I finally met someone really cool on POF, just before it’s demise.
Yes I believe that sadly, this serious Member stuff is the end of POF, because it totally undermines the whole working structure of the site in so many ways. It’s now neither one nor the other.. lacks the frills associated with udate.com et al, yet is going to lose the sheer weight of members that flocked because it’s 100% free. Do I think it matters that really, all features are still available to all members still? Nope. I just see gold stars, I see ripoff, I leave. Does a big fat gold star make a member look attractive to me? Nope, it’s an identifier that tells me that this particular person is either desperate, or foolish enough to fall for any old online scam. Would I like to let her into my life, hey, maybe even let her share the use of my bank balance?
Then again if it’s just a cash grab, I cheer and applaud
April 16, 2009 at 10:47 pm |
Why do I also get the feeling that a number of the supportive replies in this thread are made by sock puppets?
April 22, 2009 at 4:07 am |
Judging people’s “intent” by the dollars they spend is a mistake. Intention is subjective and depends on many individual factors. Your presumption is that you can gauge someone’s intent by what they are willing to sacrifice and that a service fee is a sacrifice. Spending a couple bucks on your site for one person represents a lot of money while for another person, it’s not a sacrifice at all. Just because someone has the money to spend doesn’t qualify their intent or their character and that doesn’t seem fair. Look, if you realize you’re not going to be able to stay profitable in a couple years as a free service, just be open and upfront about it. Don’t try to justify it with a spurious argument.
April 26, 2009 at 10:55 pm |
I think it was a big mistake to start charging, and a big mistake to discontinue the IM feature. POF was not always as large as it is today. It’s “free” feature was the draw. Now it wants to charge, and concurrently offers fewer features (no IM?)! I used the IM feature every time I signed-on; sometimes to just say “hi” to an old friend, other times to contact a “new friend.” I think pof has overestimated the loyalty of its members. They will seek-out other free sites which still offer IM, such as datehookup, etc. POF will soon be categorized (and in competition) with the paid sites (Match.com, Yahoo Personals, etc). A shame, it was a nice place to meet people, and the notion that just one individual started and maintained it, made some feel flattered that they were part of a success story and proud of Marcus.
May 4, 2009 at 1:45 am |
why cant i contact those who i have talked to anymore do i have to pay no if so not fair
May 12, 2009 at 4:11 am |
hi my name is jim please can you tell markus this i cant get in
to plentyoffish they tell me this we do not allow signups this IP
range sorry and i get this from tila harassment and behaviour
and fake that ias fake about my profile i a telling the truth why
that is my profile please go and see the jerks on your plentyoffish
they are one your stte why pick on me all i want is back
on your stit please get me back on thank you markus
May 12, 2009 at 4:19 am |
All I have to say about the comments from jim above is . . . . OMG . . . WOW!
June 2, 2009 at 9:33 pm |
Markus,
‘Serious Member’ sounds and looks lame. It sounds like something a non American would put on their site (yes i know) and i think you should reconsider the lingo. Dont ask me what but serious member sounds corny and altogether lame. Keep up the good work and take this as constructive criticism. Im still wondering why you dont just sell the damn thing and move to a small island and retire?
June 13, 2009 at 10:07 pm |
Marcus is a “Non American” He is Canadian. Wait, isn’t Canada the 51st State of the Union?
June 9, 2009 at 1:14 am |
Well, in spite of getting wrongfully booted from the site today and being HIGHLY IRKED and ready to BLOW A FUSE…I will say that I feel it is the best singles site around, free and paid. I have no problem with the “serious member” or “VIP” status…I DID have a problem with it being referred to as “Serious Dater” initially, but obviously Markus did not go with such. (A CC does NOT make one a “serious dater!”) I also found the allottment of “gift memberships” to be bogus. I actually WOULD HAVE paid the membership just to get the increased number of photos, and unlimited points….but I wanted to pay monthly and still get the (reasonable) lowest rate. I honestly think committing to 6 or 12 months tells the world that you PLAN to be SINGLE for that long. LOL Also, I did NOT want the yellow dot! I think THAT should be optional.
But oh well…my opinion no longer matters, and in reality, never did. In fact, I wonder why there was even a thread on such?? What would be nice is to have the people loyal to the site, treated with some respect. I have been on this site as a member for a LOT of years…and the FIRST TIME I post something that was slightly out of line, not outrageously so…I get booted off. Oh well…so much for the kick ass events in the St. Louis area!
June 9, 2009 at 1:59 am |
Harleykat, are you sure you were booted off? It seems that the site has been having big issues today. The site’s been down for hours. Problem seems to have started about an hour before you posted this.
In either case, seems that there are a number of people having trouble. Most can’t get on. I can’t.
Just a waiting game now….till he gets it fixed.
June 9, 2009 at 2:35 am |
Does ANYONE know what’s going on with POF? Will it no longer be available? Help!
June 9, 2009 at 2:33 am |
What happened to your website? Where did it go?
June 9, 2009 at 3:10 am |
Hey WitchyWoman…yeah…my profile was actually deleted and POF replied to my inquiry email of such.
There is a growing rapidly joke in the St Louis area that Markus figured without Harleykat~ on, he might as well fold! ROFLMAO OK…I guess you gotsa be a a Missouri fish to get it! ;O)
June 9, 2009 at 3:29 am |
What was that phrase used not too long ago….
busy fiddling while Rome burns…;)
I guess it’s his site to do wish as he pleases…but really…what next?
June 13, 2009 at 10:05 pm |
Markus,
You are a smart man and have become successful beyond your dreams.
I agree with Mike Carrol, “Sell the thing and move to Costa Rica and retire.
The “Serious Dater” thing has no value added benefits to a to a user. What benefits do you offer for this charge? I love your site because I have been on every site that charges and got tired of paying to see the same old faces on every site in my town of over on million people. The way I see internet dating is that it is a big bubble that emcompasses a lot of smaller bubbles (the World broken down by country and then by state and then by local area. Long distance relationships went out long ago. People are seeking people within a certain geographical area. They are not going to move to another city to be with a stranger and end up on the nightly news. POF works just fine the way it WAS…FREE. Quit screwing with the format and focus on tweaking the characteristics that truly match two people. Can’t wait for the “scratch and sniff” module to be added. Hows that working for you?
PS, I feel I was tricked into buying into the “Serious Dater” thing and was banged for $77.00 on my debit card. My results on searches or the results of those who contact me has not improved with a little Gold Circle on my profile. Yes Markus, I taste a bit of bitterness in my mouth from the experience. How do I get my $77.00 back?
June 14, 2009 at 1:53 pm |
Hey Cy Diggit…just curious as to how you feel that you were tricked? I mean, it is pretty CLEAR as to what you are purchasing and it does not enter your CC info for you!
Honestly, I think its just one more way to add some dollars and to make it more enticing. Gotta keep NEW MEAT coming in to keep the AdSense dollars rolling in, right?
If you are in Missouri, check out what getting our Plentyoffish accounts deleted, inspired my friend (and business partner) to do! We are taking over the St. Louis Dating and Events…and who knows? Might expand, too!
August 15, 2009 at 10:40 am |
receiving a message when trying to register on POF. Which is: “We do not allow sign-ups from this IP range” Can anybody help me with this message?
August 15, 2009 at 3:36 pm |
What country are you in, Lud??
August 17, 2009 at 10:42 am |
USA, State of New York
October 1, 2009 at 12:26 am |
I’m anxious to get into the program of becoming an UPGRADE member with a lot of people in my SUCCESS LINE! My ID # 23351991 and my password 53580.
The sooner the better we get started!.
Thanks,
Antoninette
October 1, 2009 at 2:33 am |
for jim boggie …. just change your IP and make another profile , not a big deal or use LiveDatelove.com
October 3, 2009 at 11:58 am |
Hello! I am lonely young girl. In search lonely man! If who that wishes to get acquainted with me that write to me on sweet_sweet56@yahoo.ca
October 8, 2009 at 7:12 pm |
Nowadays are very few blogs that offer quality of information ,we subscribed to your blog via RSS and we look forward the following articles
Thank you for your help!
October 15, 2009 at 8:59 am |
Search Hotels everywhere in the world! Low rates! No booking fees! Save money!
October 20, 2009 at 5:31 am |
@dating@lud: How do you change your IP address?
I am in the DC metro area and receiving this message: “We do not allow signups from this IP range, sorry.”
November 5, 2009 at 8:31 am |
Thank for topic , that’s great
Invite you come to my blog that get more software , wallpapers ,……Update daily … http://www.softlatest.co.cc Blog Share software , wallpapers ,……Update daily …
November 5, 2009 at 11:01 pm |
[...] and founder of Plentyoffish.com, Markus Frind, announced today on his blog that the online dating site will be offering a new paid premium feature. Of [...]