These seem to fall into two general categories, “dating” services and “sex” or “hookup” services – the latter allowing for more explicit photos, descriptions, etc. Are there any of the latter kind that are entirely on the level, and not a scam to get your e-mail address for spam purposes, etc.? As for the former kind, with which have you had the most success? What are the pros and cons of various ones? Do any seem to have different target markets than others?
Nobody knows?
I don’t have much of an opinion but I was in IMHO right when the board went on the fritz and I could swear there were responses then. I think some stuff must’ve gotten lost.
OK, I have a small opinion. In my experience, the best site out there is the Nerve personals site. They used to be better but they were bought out by FastCupid and made some unwelcome changes. Regardless, I think they have the best mix of people and because it’s associated with Nerve (online erotica) and mostly indepent weeklies, the people tend to be more on the liberal side (both politically and socially). There is a fee tho’.
OKCupid is fun with lot of tests and questions to take but skews fairly young and isn’t as large as some of the other sites. But it is free. EHarmony is all about finding your “perfect match” and is expensive and exclusionary. In my experience, Match.com is full of dull, dull people.
Don’t know much about the hook-up site although I did read a fascinating article about how they’re marketed. To the men, they market them as “easy sex” site, the women are usually offered free memberships and sold on more of a “meeting new people” site.
I started this response over an hour ago, then took a break to do laundry and take a shower. Upon my return (and preview) I see that tremorviolet has said much of the same, but here are my thoughts anyway on the sites I’ve tried. 
OkCupid: it’s free, I like their profile format the best, the questions and tests are fun, but the customer base skews too young for me (lots of folks age 19-25). Every time I do a search I get the same 20 guys in my location and age range (35-45).
Yahoo Personals: basic profiles are free, and so are a handful of “icebreakers” and “quick responses” – which is way better than any other site I’ve seen; the profile format is ok, and there seem to be enough guys in my location/age range.
Match.com: you can have a profile for free, but it costs money to send or reply to a message; I think I even remember being asked to pay to read a message once, which is what made me leave them for good.
Onion Personals (run by FastCupid): free profiles, and they use a points system for messages; I haven’t gotten a message since they switched from SpringStreet so I don’t know if replies are free, but some people have super fancy memberships that allow you to contact them without using any points; pretty good profile format, though filling out every single bit of information would be good prep for a hefty autobiography; at first I hated the new interface (I still miss SpringStreet) but now it’s probably my favorite site, beating OKCupid only because a lot more guys my age have profiles there.
Anyone got any view on Table for 6 ?
Have you got a link for that article?
How does MySpace rate as a match site?