Everybody, I am new here to Mingle2. I guess one of my biggest questions is what are the main differences between this website and other dating websites such as match or eHarmony? If anybody has experience with both of these it be cool to hear some differences or comparisons from you guys. It's great to start being a part of this community.

In general they are all the same

Well..this site is free....just like a couple other ones (which i can't name on here, unfortunately).
That's about all i can say.

But, as someone who already did eHarmony, Match, and Our Time (the over 50 site)...I can tell you I had no better luck on those than I do on the free sites...AND...I saw many, many of the same guys on the pay sites as I saw on the free ones..
So, *I* won't be paying for the privilege of being ignored.

But, you may be different..
YOU may be more cookie-cutter/ typical, and want the typical things/ guy..
I am just a trapeziodal peg in a region of round holes..

I have no comparison. But having a main feature, like sending messages, is free? Good thing, imo

Mingle2 has a forum, from my understanding most of the others don't.

I am a member with 4 other sites.
I use different features of the different sites for different reasons.
The forums at M2 are very limited compared to other dating sites with forums. One such limitiation is the ability to embed youtube videos and auto generated clickable links for urls.
M2 has a blog.
Another site has

Articles
Blogs
Forums
Polls
Poems
Recipes
eCards
Games
Puzzles
Videos
Music
Movies
Books
Quizzes
Profile Reviews
Groups
Group Forums
Tags
Singles Events
Venues
Vlogs
Top 10 Lists
Top 100 Users
Top 100 Features

Another site has nothing but profiles.

I am most active at M2 forums because of the people that participate.
I have never even had a close match on M2 profiles.
I have met women from other sites but never from M2, yet I spend more time at M2 than the other sites.
I believe this is because M2 has active moderation.
The mods keep it civil in here.

There are more people participating at M2 forums that I would be interested in meeting in real life than all the other dating forums I use. If M2's profile side were better, I would abandon most of the other sites. What M2 needs for it to be the number 1 site for me is to have the same dedication and commitment of the mods on the profile side as it does on the forum side.

Welcome to Mingle2!!

Many other sites including some of the pay sites significantly limit men and the ability to make contact with female members. While some women may like that feature men do not and are not interested in being a member especially if it is a pay site. If I'm going to pay for a site (and I do), there can't be any restrictions on my ability to message other members or limit my search ability.

"If M2's profile side were better, I would abandon most of the other sites. What M2 needs for it to be the number 1 site for me is to have the same dedication and commitment of the mods on the profile side as it does on the forum side."

YES!!

If sites would just get rid of the profiles that haven't been active for a long time...(like, if you don't check in at least once a month)..then hide/ delete it..
*IF* you meet someone and want to see if it will work before you delete it..then there should be a way to "hide" it temporarily...so otherswon't think you are active and available.

So many sites have profile after profile (I am a woman looking for a mna..so it is men's profiles i am speaking of)..of guys who haven't been on the site in *months*....

I understand if it is a free site..that old "you get what you pay for" stuff...but...

Also?
The dang scammers....
I report tons of them when they message me..they are obviously scammerrs...but yet I see those same profile still on here weeks later...

It doesn't take them asking for money for it top be a scammer...we ALL know what I am talking about...and the mods should crack down on those scammers..

I'm wondering what the ratio of profile to profile moderator is?
If every mod has 15,000 profiles to moderate, I can see where it might get out of control.
I think it has to do with volume more than intentionally 'not caring'.
Being a free site, none of the mods are getting paid to do the job they are doing. Its completely voluntary.
That's why they need us to report the violators.
But, if 1 mod is tasked with 10,000 report tickets to clear, it becomes impossible to get ahead of it.
I don't see the numbers like when I mod or admin at one of the other forums I attend. I can imagine there are some 1,000 or more new profiles added everyday. If mods address 500 report tickets per day they are losing ground. Problem is, on a free site, there is little motivation to 'work' full time for no benefit.
One solution is to get more volunteer to mod but then you have volunteers that may not do a good job.
On dating sites, people are touchy.
Not every report that hits the que is a scammer or an abuser.
Mods that just blindly remove all reported profiles will hurt the sites image and nobody will want to be here. So, each report must be reviewed with consideration. That dedication is not possible with just any volunteer, thus, scammers are winning.

I dont know other dating sites with the open public forum of topics. I also dont know many that have as many free features.

Tom4Uhere..

I'm not going to say what the scammers who message me say, and how i know that's what they are...the mods frown on that as it gives the scammers a heads up on what NOT to do..

Suffice it to say, you and *I* know what i am talking about...and those are the ones I report once they've messaged me...

I'm surprised that M2 even still has forums. Most dating sites have abandoned them. The last site I moderated on before this one, they got tired of having to police them. They got tired of having to deal with all the fussing, arguing and other crap that went on.

One of the things I like about the forums here, they don't allow sex threads. And I'm glad of it. If you ever moderated on a site that allows sex threads, I'm here to tell you, that's a mess in its self. To me, it's worse moderating one sex thread than it is to moderate political or religious threads combined.

The last site I moderated on before this one, they finally did give up on sex threads, political and religious also. But by the time they gave them up, it was too late. They had gotten too far out of hand. We were deleting profiles and forum posts by the hundreds. The only way they could clean up the mess was to do away with the forums altogether. Those forums are still out there. But they are no longer connected to the main site and no longer moderated. There were some really nasty and perverted people on there.

One thing I wish they would do away with, the abandoned profiles. That can sometimes be irritating if you happen to be looking for a date. And one other thing, people younger than me shouldn't even be able to see my profile. On most other sites that's the way it is.

It cuts down on the scammer/fakes ability to make contact. Most of the scammer/fakes target older men and women.

Some dating sites are geared for dating and relationships.

Mingle2 is a social mingle site.

Mingle2 doesn't make you pay to send and receive messages.

On the sites I mod or admin at there are not dating forums. They are mostly fansites, science sites or howto sites.
What is common is any hostility in the threads gets a warning.
We don't just ban members that violate. This is because bots are known and members are real people. Each person is given the chance to get within the sites rules.

Its a whole different ballgame with dating sites.
Many people have intolerance of others because they have been hurt or are vindictive. People that are emotionally fragile are subject to making incorrect decisions so that makes them prime targets for predators of any nature.

I was asked to be a mod here and one other dating forum and declined.
I declined because my plate is already full but I also know that its a whole lot of work to do the job right and I can't dedicate the time to the job. It would be unfair to M2 for me to take on that responsibility and not give it the dedication required. So, I declined so someone else that can do a good job can do it.

Most of us (including me) have had comments or threads modded out to keep the balance. Some of us resent it but some of us understand why they had to be modded out. M2 tries to keep the forums open to all people. Each of us has the right to participate. If we choose to disrupt the flow or assault other members we should be modded out.
Sometimes the reasoning behind the modding action is obscure but the result is favorable to the continuity and equality of all.

This is Why this site is not the Best for DATING.

Righteo. I am older. And they pest me a lot, them con artists. But the admins and mods do a decent enough job, considering they breed like flies.

I have used other two dating sites called christiancafe and meetic and both a paid site. Christiancafe has forum and it is good but meetic has no forum just money wasted but they are all the same, there are good and bad on earth but where our luck is there we are happy. I love mingle2

mingle 2 claims to be pg-13, but in paractice is somewhere a bit closer to pg-g

mingle is a dating site?