Before we bash the site and its administrators, let’s think about what makes up any dating website. People who are looking for matches with other people make up dating websites, and the site won’t make any money and keep people in jobs if nobody is using it. It is the community that drives the community, not the admins. The reason a free dating site doesn’t work as well as a paid membership dating site is because there is nothing for the user to lose in not keeping up with their profile if admission to the site was free. As soon as they see the information that requires you to enter a credit card, though, they’ll realize that this is a purchase like any other, and won’t let it go to waste.

What you’re getting on a free dating website is a lot of people who have nothing to lose except the little time they put into making their profile and maybe uploading a flattering picture of themselves. But complacency will soon rear its ugly head for most of these users, and many will not check their profile more than once or twice a week, and those that do may not feel as inspired to put serious thought into their profile or their compatibility with someone. Once again, if the site requires a monthly fee, you’re going to want to use it to its fullest extent and get your money’s worth. This also means that you’ll take your encounters you get from the site more seriously (because once again, you paid for this membership), and will put forth a stronger effort in general. Nobody wants their money to go to waste.

There are plenty of membership dating websites out there that offer a free trial period, but they still do not experience the apathetic stagnancy that completely free dating websites are plagued with. Many of these free trial sites have a site rule that requires you to have a complete profile before your trial starts to weed out the uncommitted ones who are just surfing the web for pictures of people. It is through this method that these sites draw people in with the benefit of a free trial without allowing complacency to make it a site where nobody finds successful matches. So if you’re going to try online dating, just know that the amount of effort that you put into it usually relates to the amount of reward you get from it. That effort usually includes a monthly membership fee to ensure the community is proactive and trying to meet someone.