After reading these comments, I signed up for match.com and plentyoffish.com simultaneously to see how both compare. Match.com is known to be one of the largest reputable paid on-line dating site while POF is a non-paying site with not quite as members. Based on my findings, I got more reliable stats from POF vs. match.com.

For the record, I'm not affiliated with POF, nor am I endorsing their services, but based on my experience, the hits to my profile on POF seem more authentic.

Just so we can compare apples to apples, I posted the exact same profile on both sites and did not post pictures. I also did not pay for my match.com subscription but just created a profile.

It is interesting to note that my profile on match.com received exactly two hits per day except on weekends and holidays where my profile received zero hits while the pattern is more random with POF. So, by the end of 7 weeks, I have 80 views on my match.com profile while the POF profile received 7. Out of the 7 hits on POF, I received one connection; whereas, on match, I received 6 emails and 4 winks.

To make things more interesting, toward the end of weeks 5, 6, and 7, one email would disappear per week from my in-box on match.com. I'm not exactly sure why this happen and would like to inquire if anyone else is experiencing these same issues.

While emails were disappearing from match.com, the winks increased. Since, I'm not a paid match.com subscriber, I cannot read the emails, but I can view profiles of those who winked. All profiles who winked had fuzzy, doctored up picture(s) and poor spelling and grammar in their usually brief one paragraph description of themselves.

It could be the collective activities on match.com are coincidental, but the consistent and identifiable patterns are too evident not to notice. My interpretation of this is that the hits on match.com may not be from authentic members. Although there are varying degrees of authenticity that comes with online dating sites, in general, the collection of responses from both sites for the same exact profile is greatly varied. Even if match.com members outnumber POF 10 to 1, the number of hits, winks, and odd account activities experienced on the match.com account exceed this ratio.

While I understand that no dating site is perfect, match.com tends to make me more wary. In the end, I was drawn towards POF for its forum and get-together announcements which are other ways to connect to members, not only for dating, but opportunities to meet and make friends.