Just Curious- Dating Websites- Success Stories?

Updated on May 25, 2011
N.G. asks from Arlington, TX
24 answers

My Mom, who is recently divorced from my Dad, told me yesterday that she had signed up for eHarmony last weekend and is already talking to a man on there who lives close by. She definitely seems cautious but optimistic at the same time. I'm really glad she's taken it upon herself to begin socially interacting this way. I think it's good for her.

I was just curious- do any of you know of any success stories? Horror stories? Did you meet YOUR loved one online? I talked to a guy online in high school right before I met my husband that turned out to be a major pervert so I tend to be a bit apprehensive. I'm just curious what everyone else's experiences have been like.

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Featured Answers

C.F.

answers from Boston on

I met my Hubby on Match.com he lived 2 towns over and we would have Never met other wise :-) We've been together 6 years! I signed up for 'shits and giggles' cause a male friend of mine was a member... I tell my Husband all the time hes the Best $30 bucks I've ever spent !! LOL

2 moms found this helpful

R.D.

answers from Richmond on

Well, I don't know if this counts... my (now) fiance and I started as friends on Myspace (yeah, remember myspace?)... one day he posted a bulletin that said 'great, single again, who's going out tonight?'... so I sent him a message and said 'I'm single too and would like to keep it that way, want to meet up?' ...I ended up going out with a guy friend of mine that night, so I was going to blow off my (now) fiance... but my guy friend's girlfriend wanted him to meet her at some bar... the SAME bar I knew that my fiance was hanging out at that night!!! So... goes to prove everything happens for a reason. And as much as I hate to admit it, yes, we 'met' through Myspace ;)

2 moms found this helpful

G.T.

answers from Modesto on

My husbands daughter met her husband on eHarmony, they've been married about 5 years now. My son just met the girl of his dreams on cupid.com or something like that.
My stepdaughter said she had a few whoppers for dates in the beginning but it was totally worth meeting her now hub.

2 moms found this helpful

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K.P.

answers from New York on

We'll be married 5 years in September!

Just make sure she follows the "rules"...
- Meet somewhere public
- Don't share your home address
- Make sure someone knows where you are and who you are with
- Keep your cell phone "on" and have a pre-arranged "check in" call (my girlfriend and I arranged to have her call me an hour into our first date and I promised to PICK UP and either say "yeah, great!" or "Oh- Ok. Yes, I can be there in a little bit" depending on how it was going. If I didn't answer, she agreed to come find me b/c she knew where I was. It's a safey thing, but worth doing.

5 moms found this helpful
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C.P.

answers from Provo on

I have heard that eharmony is more of a classy website and less freaks and perverts. I wish her the best because I know especially after a divorce things are very hard because your whole comfort zone is in upheaval. For the most part, I have met men on line who turned out to be perverts. I could not deal with it!! I was not on eHarmony obviously. I married a man when I was on a dating service and he turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes I have made. He changed overnight once I married him. I have heard of other people meeting the love of their life on line though. It is a gamble just like the rest of life.

2 moms found this helpful
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N.J.

answers from Los Angeles on

Yup my hubby of 6 years (we've been together for 8) on yahoo.com! We didn't do the 'normal' online dating thing, since we were in the same city. Exchanged maybe one or two emails then we met for one date in a public place. My college roommate at the time was on alert, and the rest was history. He was the man I had been looking for the whole time in college.

I met one other guy on match.com, but turns out we were more of good friends than any romance. My roommate actually met her husband through him :) I haven't had any bad experiences, but things have also evolved so much since I was on a dating site.

As others have said be cautious, and follow all the safety rules, but I wouldn't necessarily exclude it from her repertoire of dating avenues :) Good Luck!

2 moms found this helpful
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R.R.

answers from Dallas on

I met my current husband online, in a yahoo chat room. I wasn't really looking for a husband, just fun and companionship, but he was my dream man, he was everything my ex-husband wasn't. I'm still totally crazy about him, and we've been married 12 years.

2 moms found this helpful

K.G.

answers from Boca Raton on

One of my best friends met her "now" husband on Match.com...She lived in Florida, he lived in NC.. He would fly down to see her in the beginning and eventually she moved up there.. 1.5 years later, they got married.. They've been married for 3 years now...
A friend of mine met her "now" husband on Jdate.com.. They've been married for 6 years and have 2 children.
My mom has met a few of her serious boyfriends on Match.com but still hasn't found "Mr. Right"...

1 mom found this helpful
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R.K.

answers from Appleton on

I have met a few really nice guys online but no love matches.
And there have been horror stories. One guy I met seemed a bit obsessive, emailing me several times a day long emails about 'us' and I had only met him once for coffee. I told him to go away and luckily I did. About a month later her was arrested for stalking his ex-wife and then setting her house on fire while she and their kids were sleeping inside. Another guy I met seemed great at first but after a few weeks I couldn't breath, everytime I went online he was there IMing me--if i went out he had to go too--if I had my family over for dinner he had to share the experience.
My advice do not give him your address--meet him at a public place--have a friend call about an hour into the date (that way you have an excuse to leave). Just be cautious. You can check yor states sex offender registry and the courts registry to see if he has ever been arrested ect. But even that isn't a sure thing, just because he hasn't been arrested doesn't mean he's okay.
Be wary of men who are widowed. So many of them are not interested in beginning a new relationship they just want a woman who is just like the wife they lost. They expect to have the same sex life--activities--vacations as they did with their wife. They often can't see 'she died and I'm not her'. Time to move on.
It doesn't matter what online dating site you use I'm on POF because if you check other dating sites you will often find him there too. Also just because he says he's single or divorced doesn't mean he really is a lot of married men are on dating sites.

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M.R.

answers from Provo on

you have to be very careful cuz there are a lot of weirdos out there, but my sister found her guy online and they are perfect for each other. I would always try and have a second couple there first date/meeting

1 mom found this helpful

L.G.

answers from Eugene on

It is such a common way to meet a person to date and be close to that many people I know have tried. One made a marriage that produced two great children and a divorce. Still he gave her the house to live in until the kids grow up and good alimony.
Another of my circle met her husband online. It's not an easy marriage. They are extremely different and both are very likeable. The two children 16 and 12 are wonderful people. For school teachers it is just about the only way to meet as they don't have many men they can meet at work.
Personally I met men at work.

1 mom found this helpful

L.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

One of my best friend met her husband on an online dating site. 5 kids later, they are still going strong.

I do agree with EVERYTHING Krista P said, however, regarding following ALL the safety rules.

Best wishes to your mom as she branches out socially.

1 mom found this helpful

J.G.

answers from St. Louis on

I used to hang out on the eHa message boards. The people who have been using it for long periods of time are nuts so I would advise get in get out! It seems like a chicken egg issue. Like I don't know if being on it too long makes them nuts or them being nuts keeps them from finding someone. They had so many rules it is no wonder they never found anyone.

1 mom found this helpful
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A.P.

answers from Chicago on

I met my husband on Match.com, we've been married almost 7 years now.

Before I met him I went on several dates with guys I met online. I think in probably a dozen different people that I met only 2 creeped me out, all the others were normal nice people like me that just didn't know how to meet other people. My husband also met a few people online before meeting me and he only met 1 shady woman, she tried to scam him out of a bunch of money for a "surgery"
As long is your mom is smart about what she does and where she meets these guys I don't see anything wrong with it.
Good Luck to her!

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S.M.

answers from Washington DC on

I know three friends in their 30s who met their spouses this way. It worked for them, and in theory it is a good idea. However, if I were single, I think it would still scare me. Your Mom shoudl do some research on how to maximize her safety in doing this. Try to get her involved in some senior groups too - and I don't mean bingo at teh senior center. My MIL met her boyfriend at a regular swing dancing activity in DC. She also travels around the world a couple times a year (now with him) with an active senior travel group (ziplining in Peru for instance).

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E.W.

answers from Dallas on

I met my husband on Match.com, we have been married for 6 1/2 years now! I met a bunch of people on Match, it took a lot of duds to get to my stud.. LOL My best advice would be to always meet for drinks before meeting for dinner or something, that way if they are not what they make themselves out to be you can always get out of there quicker. You can have a drink and be on your way, if it is going good you can have a few more or stay for dinner but you have an out when you just meet for a quick drink. :) Good luck to your mom

1 mom found this helpful

K.M.

answers from Chicago on

My sister met her husband online -- My best friend met a long time love and b/c of her dating him we met :) (success!) -- My BIL meets many women (not looking for a relationship just fun ppl to date) -- so, yes, if you treat it right and stay safe you can find wonderful people to meet.

1 mom found this helpful
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A.G.

answers from Albuquerque on

I met my husband online. I was hesitant to even try it ( I get paranoid about everything, especially people on the internet) but i decided it was worth a try. When i agreed to meet him for the first time i made sure i selected where we would go & I met him there. I asked one of my friends & her husband to also be there just in case he was some sort of a perv or weirdo. Turns out he was my prince charming!

1 mom found this helpful

A.A.

answers from Las Vegas on

I met my husband on Plentyoffish.com. Took me two years but he found me. When people ask us how we met we tell them we met fishing..LOL Signing up was the best thing I ever did. I was divorced for 12 years before I signed up.
I think it's great your moms on dating site:) good luck to her!

1 mom found this helpful
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A.P.

answers from Gainesville on

My finance & I met online. I dated 1 other guy I met on that site before him and I talked to a couple. You just have to be very careful. One guy who showed interest in me basically kept emailing me so much I had to tell him I would report him. another guy couple of guys very obviously only wanted 1 thing (sex). One guy said he was not a smoker and when we finally talked on the phone sounded like he smoked 3 packs a day& when i called him out he said he did smoke! My fiance said a woman he had been talking to when they finally got ready to go out on a date she said " um I just feel like I need to tell you I'm not divorced yet and I still live with my husband!" lol! freaked him out!
We had our first and second dates in very public places and they were short only about 1-2 hours by then I felt pretty safe & we atlked on the phone A LOT! He worked for the university and while I didn't do a background check on him he told me the university did and there was a news paper report about their research and so I knew he was who he said he was!
We now live together and are planning on getting married! =)

1 mom found this helpful

D.G.

answers from Lincoln on

Only did the online thing once. Met a nice guy - now I have a beautiful 20 month old that he is not a part of her life except the court ordered c.s. which every few months he reminds me he is "giving" me all this money and he gets nothing and I have about $10,000 less than I should have because I stupidly got into a financial mess with him. What I found out was it's too easy to lie and to be a completely different person from the truth.

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T.J.

answers from Seattle on

I have two friends who met their now-husbands on match.com. They're both shy people and it was a perfect way to get to know someone without too many bad blind dates or just waiting to meet someone out somewhere! I agree with Being safe, googling people, meeting in public places, not revealing too much personal info, and having someone know when you're meeting someone. But the more people you meet and date. The more you find out what youre looking for (and not looking for!)

1 mom found this helpful
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K.G.

answers from Fort Wayne on

I met my hubby on eHarmony boy did I go out on alot of bad dates prior to our date. I knew from the moment I met him that he was the one. Let your mom have fun and go out on her dates always at public places never at her home, not even for him to pick her up for the date. We dated for over two months before I invited him over to my place, and about a month for me to meet at his. I was always very carful and would send my bff the info on the person I was going out with including the type of car he drove and plate # if I could get it just incase. good luck to your mom.

oh yeah we've been together for 6 years married for 4 years and have a beautiful almost 2yo

1 mom found this helpful

E.B.

answers from Fort Collins on

My sister signed up for eHarmony and got a few weirdos. My friend signed up and meet some nice guys, but she has not met "the one" yet. I do have a HS friend who's mom signed her up and she met her hubby on there. They are perfect for each other too. So I guess that it is just like meeting people anywhere else where you take your chances on what you get.

Just be smart and not give out too much personal info in the beginning and make sure that you meet in a public place the first time. My friend has kids, so she met people at the zoo, then they had something else to do while they were getting aquatinted.

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