Good online dating sites for UK people?

July 14, 2009 10:35 AM

Good online dating sites in the UK that aren't cheap and tacky?

I'm embracing online dating. Typically for a MeFi user, things like intelligence and even sophistication matter to me. Additionally, although it's not a driving factor in my choice, I also want to explore my sexuality and would like to make this clear, but some of the sexually-oriented sites seem pretty horrendous. I'm not after brief sexual encounters, but am looking for sexual maturity, I guess.

What sites have worked for you? I don't mind paying to join.

posted by anonymous to human relations (8 answers total)

Back up a few hours.
posted by meerkatty at 10:38 AM on July 14, 2009

you might want to start with this related AskMe posted yesterday:

Good UK dating sites for people who can spell?
posted by JauntyFedora at 10:39 AM on July 14, 2009

argh...waited after my preview. Meerkatty has it.
posted by JauntyFedora at 10:40 AM on July 14, 2009

To answer your latter question, Match.com. We're now married. I was too cheap to pay though so I managed to get her phone number within the 14 days, haha.
posted by wackybrit at 11:13 AM on July 14, 2009

I'm not sure if it's appropriate for you (given that you don't mention your gender or sexuality), but gaydar.co.uk worked very well for me.

Filling my profile with lots of info for people to read and being clear about what I'm looking for really seems to have cut down on the weirdo's.
posted by Solomon at 12:03 PM on July 14, 2009

By popular consensus, the favorite dating site of Mefites seems to be okcupid.com. I've only used it in the United States, so I can't vouch for it as a UK site, but I know there are some UK folks on there -- it's worth trying out (free).

As for "sexual maturity," I'd avoid getting into specifics in your profile or early interactions with people. Not that it's not important -- of course it is -- but you'd risk turning people off who might otherwise be good matches. That side of things will probably be a bit of a mystery at first, but you can look for other proxies: someone within your age range, social values that aren't drastically inconsistent with yours, significant relationship experience, etc.

As for finding people who are adequately sophisticated, intelligent, etc., my advice is to be specific and honest in your profile, and avoid characterizing people (yourself or others) with adjectives like "sophisticated" or "intelligent."
posted by Jaltcoh at 1:10 PM on July 14, 2009

At least two people I know have found success through Guardian SoulMates - run by The Guardian newspaper. I think it's free and probably a fairly MeFi type demographic as well.
posted by mairuzu at 2:45 AM on July 16, 2009

Guardian Soulmates isn't free. It's about 25 pounds a month.
posted by idiomatika at 7:31 AM on July 16, 2009