Madisonsingles.com is an easy-to-navigate and relatively affordable dating website. However, the site is much better suited for young professionals and adults than college students looking to explore the dating scene. In addition, because the website's subscription is cheap compared to other sites like match.com and eharmony.com, some of the clientele seem prone to stalking and badgering users instead of pursuing a legitimate, romantic endeavor.
Madisonsingles.com does not require a website visitor to be a member before subscribing to the site. This was convenient and helpful, because it allowed me to see if there were any individuals in my area and age bracket before I registered for the site. However, it is not possible to contact a member unless membership is obtained.
There are two types of membership on the site. A community membership is free, but does not allow a person to message other members, only receive messages. A preferred member has full access to the site, and can message whomever they choose.
When I signed up, I decided to go the cheap route and be a community member, hoping that other people on the site would contact me.
Setting up the profile was relatively easy, except that when I signed in on different computers, it seemed the site didn't remember what information I had entered. After a week of putzing and sending in pictures multiple times, I was finally online.
After a few weeks, it became obvious that the community membership was not going to work out. However, I received a stroke of luck: The owner of the website gave me a free membership good until cancelled\ because I was ""so cute."" It seemed the website was using their younger members to draw more people to the site.
With my preferred membership in hand, I took the initiative to contact some of the local singles from my area. However, I realized that of the 10 eligible candidates on the site, only one had been online in the last few months.
Madisonsingles.com, despite its name, features relatively few singles from the Madison area and Wisconsin in general. The site is a portion of the larger entity Singles On-Line. None of the contact I received from members on the site was from anyone within a feasible radius for dating, or age for that matter.
The only contact I received from members on the site were from older men—at least 40—who repeatedly asked for sex and proposed marriage even though I did not respond to their initial messages.
It could be said that this is to be expected with the Internet, but calling a spade a spade, madisonsingles.com is effective at what it does. There are numerous stories on the site—from normal-looking, non-stalkerish people of various backgrounds, locations and age groups—of love successfully found.
Singles On-Line may be a good site to subscribe to after graduation or later in life. But for now, if it's an online romance connection with college students you seek, best stick to facebook or AOL chat rooms.
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