Reviewed On: 10/30/2007

Price/Period: $29.95/30 days



CasualFriends Members Area

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Reviewed by Cupids Reviews Staff

Casual Friends may beat around the bush about its already obvious purpose by statements such as, "Community for intimate dating, short-term match, etc... Casual encounter for fun, laugh and more..." Improper grammar aside, you can get a clear picture of what to expect. Here's a look at what you will find inside...

You know the drill. It's free to create a profile on the site. You are not required to divulge many details to the crowd on CasualFriends. You do, however, need to write mandatory brief paragraphs about yourself and the person you would like to meet. Having members write their own descriptions is often more revealing than supplying them with arbitrary checkboxes to complete. It depends whether you're more curious about personality, which is easier to tell through an essay, or concentrate on less-abstract characteristics instead, such as height and weight and whether or not a member owns an animal—all things that are easy to discover through the use of check boxes.

"...it is free to reply to emails or instant messages on CasualFriends.com."

Free searches are limited to within 100 miles of a zip or postal code. That's a bit of a negative, as if you're looking for a quick hookup, it's much easier within a smaller radius. Nevertheless, you need to upgrade if you want to decrease the search radius to 50 miles around your location.

There are message boards, which seem reasonably active, at least in a few categories. There is instant messaging, as well. You can see who is online at the same time as you, which is helpful as this is your only way of gauging the activeness of another member before paying. Showing the last login date of a member, for example, is blocked until you have a premium membership, despite being able to view complete profile details. This gives us cause for worry as it may be a sign that a site doesn't have an active membership.

On the other hand, at least it is free to reply to emails or instant messages on CasualFriends.com. Having a way that a paid subscriber can communicate with a guest visitor is important. It makes the subscription seem more likely to help you make connections and that's what you're there for, after all. This is certainly one of the most important features that we look for in a quality dating site.

Another benefit of upgrading is the ability to view videos posted by other members. However, the biggest problem with the site is that it currently is not attracting that many visitors when traffic numbers are verified through our third party source. The inability to narrow free searches down to a true local area, or to see the last login date of members near you, makes it difficult to accurately determine how many members are online in your area. However, this is a new site and it usually takes time for great things to develop. We'll watch closely to let you know when they do.

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User Rating 20/100

Ratings
Overall	55/100
Popularity	0/20
Local Search	10/15
Last Login	0/15
Free Contact	15/15
Profiles	10/10
Cost	5/10
Trust Rank	5/5
Chat Board	5/5
Instant Mes.	5/5
Rating Criteria