Entries Tagged 'Website' ↓

AffinitySA.com has only been around since 2004. Like many other dating services today they are punting the mixture of matchmaking and social events. A conversation with the owner Lyle Tapinos explains that there’s more to it and they want to help people improve themselves. For example a guy who’s inexperienced is going out on a hot date, AffinitySA would send someone out to help him with selecting the best clothes and also give him a pep talk to boost his self-esteem.

The launch party in June 2005 at Cafe Vacca Matta was amazing. The quality of the women and the men was superior to any night club I’d been to in years. Since then I’ve been back to Vacca Matta and I do believe this is more attributed to the type of people that Vacca Matta attracts anyway. There’s hope though because one thing that’s a sure winner is to attract people of high status and Vacca Matta certainly does so without trying to hard.

Before registering a general look around Affinity.com website shows them advertising their “next event” as the “Know Your Man” special on 3 August which is long ago. The other major dissappointment is the Featured Profiles which is shown and changes often enough but you are not able to click on them. This really defeats the purpose of showing or rotating profiles on the front page. The registration is simple enough and when you click on “join” you get slapped with all the terms and conditions which are standard fare on the Internet. What’s really super is that only the most basic details is asked when you’re registering, after which a confirmation email is sent, and then you go back to complete the registration.

Only at this point are you asked to complete more questions as well as allowing you to upload your photos. This is the type of registration process which makes it smooth sailing for people who are inexperienced on the Internet. It’s good web usability practise to have this kind of multi-step registration process. Once you’re registered the and you login to the website there is a Latest News section which is blank, the Featured Profiles on the right is replaced with your own profile. The automated matching uses the criteria specified in “Describing your Match.” Something I’ve seen before is that when you’re only allowed to select one criterie e.g. “blue eyes” it excludes all the rest. And you may want to select “blue” + “green” eyes but because it’s a drop down list doesn’t allow you to have multiple selections. When I clicked on “Who’s Online?” I found I’m the only one and this is a Wed 10am. Maybe the busiest time of the day is the evening but I doubt that because most people who use Online Dating do so during work time because they got unlimited access to Internet at the office.

You can also place little classified ads. At the time of writing this review there’s only a few ads by some horny guys on the website. The overall impression of AffinitySA.com is that it’s a work in progress. The website is not updated frequently enough and will continue to be a major problem with credibility. On the upside if AffinitySA.com is hosting another function at Cafe Vacca Matta in Montecasino, Fourways, Johannesburg, make sure you’re there because it’s a blast.

Visit AffinitySA.com and let us know what you think.

Popularity: 14% [?]

by Linda Kunene

What if you had a secret? A secret so big that, when revealed, it would make your girlfriend/boyfriend pull away from you in fear of contamination. This would be a hurtful experience. However, this is what faces many HIV positive people.

To help HIV positive people find an ideal partner who shares or accepts their positive status, Ben Sassman launched The Positive Connection in September 2002, a website dedicated to online dating for HIV positive people. Hence, there is no longer the need for HIV positive people to fear the reactions of their partner when they tell them about their status.

If you have already heard about The Positive Connection, it might be that you followed its link from Q Online at www.gal.co.za, or from www.gaysouthafrica.org.za. Or perhaps you saw Sassman being interviewed on SABC2’s Morning Live and Talk Radio 702. But if you have not, until now, seen or heard of this wonderful website, read on to get the low down. A free membership is available on the online daring website, whilst R150 will get you a Gold Membership. You can even add a photo to your personal profile.

The Positive Connection has a holistic concern in its users. It provides users with access to experts if they require information regarding HIV-related health issues, thereby taking care of their physical wellbeing, not only their love lives. Sassman helps HIV sufferers also by donating 10% of the website’s profits to charity. Sassman, therefore, has created a website with a concern for being socially responsible. This is uncharacteristic for an online dating website.

What also makes The Positive Connection rise above the rest is the fact it is the only online dating website catering to HIV positive people in South Africa. This makes it, irreplaceable, a gem amongst the homogeneity of many dating websites currently available.

Anonymity is one of the features that make the internet so attractive to its users. In order to ensure this, users of The Positive Connection website have been promised by Sassman that databases containing their personal details will never be sold. This spares users the bombardment of advertising, which will undoubtedly appeal to many. However, caution should be taken, as nothing is ever entirely safe from the hackers and code-crackers of the internet, who view hacking into your ‘C-drive’ as a sport.

Speaking of sport, one could think of serial dating as a new kind of sport. It takes practice, experience and staying power if you want to succeed. Sassman’s website makes this activity a whole lot easier. He states, “Finding the right person is expensive. Two to three women out of 100 are what it comes down to from online dating”. This means that you are spared the excruciating pain and agony of sitting through dinners with people who are so ill suited to your personality. Instead of having to kiss hundreds of toads, hoping for a miracle, online and speed dating, present you with a handful of carefully selected dates that are guaranteed to be compatible.

Sassman’s website provides a ‘one-stop shop’ service for HIV positive people who are looking for love. The website eliminates the potential problems that come with revealing your status. In addition, one receives a wealth of information on HIV/AIDS. Using The Positive Connection is a truly positive, enjoyable experience! It is easy, therefore, to see why approximately 1 022 users regularly visit the site. Care to make it 1 023?

Popularity: 17% [?]

DatingBuzz has been around since 1997 as its previous incarnation Matchmaker (www.matchmaker.co.za NOT matchmaker.com). Not to be confused with the international Matchmaker.com website which is owned by Lycos, the DatingBuzz brand was launched in 2002. The main website is www.datingbuzz.com but a brilliant marketing strategy has allowed DatingBuzz to rebrand its website and create partnership opportunities major media companies in South Africa like Sunday Times, Mail & Guardian and 5FM. So anyone registering with these and over 70 other websites is pooled into one big database therefore giving everyone a lot more choice. At last count they had over 130,000 registered users. The website rated 70% in the Webagility analysis performed in July 2004.

Before you even register with the website you can browse the Gallery with all the pictures of newly registered members or members that have updated their pictures in their profiles. A cheat that I use to get more “hits” on my profile is to change my primary photo to get into the Gallery. I also do this on Sundays so I can get into the Gallery on Mondays and therefore get maximum exposure. You can also access the full profile of anyone from the Gallery but full access to photos is limited to registered members. As with most online dating websites registration is FREE.

Registration is a two step process with a confirmation sent to your email with an activation code. Once you’ve confirmed your registration from the email you must complete your profile. Once the initial registration with activation is complete DatingBuzz sends you a very nice introductory email which explains the basic next steps with useful tips on how to get the most out the website. The “About Me” and “My Ideal Match” sections are both compulsory. These are the most important items used in the matchmaking technology. The colours used (red) allows for quick navigation to answer the most important questions. You are allowed to upload a maximum of five photos that must be less then 600KB which is allows you to post really high quality photos.

Before you start searching for that ideal match, the front page shows you very useful information to help keep track of your progress and popularity. This can be a bit of a vanity trip but don’t get stuck on it. You get “quick stats” on number of “favourites”, “fans” and the amount of messages “sent” and “received” through the website. You also get a popup banner when you have a new message waiting for you; and when you click on it you’re taken directly to this message. Additional stats in the amount of times your profile was viewed is also presented on the front page once you’ve logged in.

Now that you’re ready to search you can find people by the following criteria:

• name: If you know the name of the user you can search directly for them
• favourites: You can search the list of your favourite profiles
• fans: You can search the list of fans (people who added you to their favourites list)
• matches: Using the matchmaking technology you can find matches based on your criteria
• search: Search the database based on any criteria you specify
• keyword: Using a specific keyword e.g. “Mariah Carey” you can find people who like her music
• gallery: Browse through the new photos of profiles in the database
• popular profiles: Based on amount of people who added these profiles to their favourites list today’s birthdays:
• new profiles: A list of the latest profiles, mostly with no photos approved yet
• recently modified profiles
• currently logged in members

Overall DatingBuzz creates a superior experience to those who want to get the most out of online dating. The subscriptions range from R79.95 for one month to R479.95 for 12 months (works out to R40 per month). There is a variety of payment options credit card, electronic funds transfer (via Internet banking), EasyPay, direct deposit and Cheque or Postal Order. An added bonus is a great Affiliate program which pays a 10% commission on subscribers referred to DatingBuzz. Once you’ve experienced how easy it is to use this system to meet great people you can make a few bucks from referring your friends.

Popularity: 15% [?]

The website www.lovemail.co.za has been around since 1999 and started out as the online personals for Junk Mail. Two years later they totally revamped the website and it became a fully functional online dating website with matchmaking technology and SMS capability built in.

Unlike other websites, Love Mail offers the users a choice between chatting via SMS or via the website. The website rated 71% in the Webagility analysis performed in July 2004. It was the highest ranked site, along with LoveFinda, narrowly beating market leader DatingBuzz, however, it still has a lot of room for improvement.

First off, the website doesn’t function properly when using a non-Internet Explorer type web browser e.g. Mozilla Firefox. And with Internet Explorer’s continued security flaws more and more people are starting to use other web browsers. A person can register using a cell phone by sending “chatmeup” to 33244 (cost = R1.50 per SMS).

You can also register on www.lovemail.co.za website which allows for more comprehensive searching and matching, while still giving you the option to search and flirt via SMS. One month will set you back R50 going up to R480 for 12 months (an average of R40 per month) and you get 20 SMS per month. One of the coolest features on Love Mail is ‘how hot?’ and this allows you to rate photos of men or women out of five. It can become addictive, to say the least.

After registration on the website you have to complete your profile. When filling out the profile some people may be annoyed with the request for their cell phone number. The verification code is sent to your cell, therefore this request is valid. It’s also a good way of preventing fraud and pranks. You can also choose whether or not you want your profile to be of an explicit nature. Again this is very different from other websites which are either ‘normal’ dating websites (match making), or a adult oriented websites for swingers and people looking for casual sex.

Love Mail also provides a good selection of free content which can be accessed without registering on the website. Everything from horoscopes, success stories, frequently asked questions, the ‘how hot?’ section, to how to ‘say I love you’ in 22 different languages. Once logged onto the website you can do quick search or a more comprehensive search. Although it’s easy to use, I found a problem with the detailed information in the profiles in the search results. There just wasn’t enough information to make an informed decision on whether this person could be a match.

Junk Mail, the owners of Love Mail, did not promote this service actively for several months during 2003 and 2004 and therefore many of the users are dormant. If they were to adopt a renewed marketing push is bound to bring more activity and more interesting users onto this website. There is room for improving the matchmaking technology and the ease with which users can search for matches. It is nice that you have the option of using SMS technology, but the ultimate goal is to use the website to get much more information that is not currently possible via cell phones. Things could change in the near future as the 3G (the next generation of cell phone technology) enabled handsets become more common, but for now websites and the PC rule supreme.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Sexyintro.com is an adult-oriented online dating website, which has been around for about 2 years. They currently have over 7000 South African members, and the website grows at around 300 members per month. The only local competition is a website called Erotic Personals. When a user signs up for this service you have to complete two screens of basic information before you get an email to activate you account. While other many other websites force you enter screens full of information before your registration is complete Sexyintro.com allows you to complete your profile at later stage. You are reminded to complete you profile and post a photo at the top of the website. The profile itself is just an additional 8 questions of which most are short descriptive boxes instead of drop down lists. This is tedious and could be improved. The matching technology cannot be that sophisticated with this implementation.

If one photo is not enough you can upload as many as 20 photos to Sexyintro.com! The photo’s can be added to your adverts and are included in your profile link, and like most services out there this can make you stand out from the pack. Premium membership gives you access to a rich list of content e.g. all photographs, access to fantasy photo shoots, forum topics, working girls and strippers section. Subscription rates start at R79.95 per month, going up to R479.7 for 12 (giving you 6 months free). You can pay by credit card or cash/bank deposit. Your credit card is processed on a secure server with 128 bit encryption. This is the same level of encryption that all online banks use, and is the accepted minimum standard for ecommerce.

The main feature of Sexyintro.com which makes is a bit different from other websites is that it tries to encourage a community feeling. You can place ads to find your partner, you can read ads from other people, and sometimes it’s for models, sometimes its photographers advertising their services, men seeking women, women seeking men. Although there’s a HIV section no ads exist at this point. Posting and ad is done by country and specify the province, city, location for the ad (section) and a subject along with the actual ad. You’re allowed to attach a photo to the ad and also your telephone number if you’re gutsy enough. You have to select whether your ad is of an “adult nature”. If it’s not then you wait 48 hours for it to be checked and approved. Sexyintro.com obviously wants to encourage you not to by shy when trying to satisfy your needs ?

Overall impression is that this website offers a lot of value and it’s very interactive community. As the user base grows the interaction will increase and a more diverse profile will emerge. The photo galleries and the section on fantasy shoots, strippers and working girls are very much focussed on the male species.

Popularity: 25% [?]