Fling Review

Fling.com has a number of things going for it, and two of these are its catchy name and its wild popularity. It also has a streamlined design which is smooth and uncluttered, and its high ranking in the search engines guarantees that the site will be visited by a large number of users.

Pros

The name of the site is very revealing as to the type of dating site it isn't, and those who are interested in long or serious relationships need not sign up. Fling can be compared to Adult Friend Finder in the sense that it is designed for people looking for a "fling," or short term sexual relationship. The site is not shy when it comes to showcasing this fact. As of this writing, the site offers a guarantee for any members which choose to upgrade their service.

If you're unable to hook up with a match within the first three months of becoming a member of the site, Fling will provide you with another three months of VIP membership for free. Now I must admit that I haven't seen such a guarantee offered on competing dating sites, and I find this to be quite impressive, and it is one good reason to at least consider joining. Another thing which has allowed this site to stand out from the crowd is the concept of creating a profile which is discreet. When such a profile is created, your image will be blurred, and if an individual hasn't been placed within your black book, they can't read any of your details.

While many of the profiles on the site show photos, you will need to upgrade in order to get full access. Another thing that I should also mention is that you're not allowed to add the other members to your Black Book until you've upgraded your membership. You can also allow other users to be your friend within your individual contact network. While Fling allows you to make use of Instant Messaging, only paying members will be able to respond. If you pay for the most costly membership option, you will be able to get full access to all the members no matter what their personal membership status. Another thing that I like about Fling is the live cam link that they offer to even members who have a free status.

Those who are interested in viewing adult only content can do so, but they're required to use a pay per minute service. While Fling is a great site to use, you can't really take advantage of its full capabilities until you upgrade to a paid membership. With its high search engine rankings and sleek design, as well as its adult content, Fling has allowed itself to stand out from the crowd of other online dating sites, and has gained and very high level of success. However, this is a site where you will truly have to pay in order to really view its features.

Cons

While Fling has a number of cool features, it is also lacking many basic features that have become standard among online dating sites. Some of these features include profiles, free contact, and trust rank. Another thing that I find annoying about this site is that its free membership is largely a waste of time. I think that Fling would probably be much better off simply getting rid of their free membership altogether, as it simply doesn't offer enough to the user to make it worthwhile. While offering a limited free membership is common among dating sites, Fling places so many restrictions on it that users are literally forced to pay in order to truly play.

While some might argue that this is a smart marketing approach on Fling's part, perhaps they're right. Additionally, the inability to read the profiles of others until you've been added to their black book is a bit tedious. I mean after all, how do you know that you actually want to be added to their black book if you're not even allowed to form an opinion by reading their profile? While Fling seems to have a large number of visitors, another thing that I've noticed is that many of the profiles are simply hard to believe, or too good to be true. Some of these profiles cross me as being fakes, but I assume it must be difficult for online dating sites to deal with these issues, since the problem seems to keep occuring.

The truth of the matter is that while Fling offers a free trial, this trial is very tricky to use. When you have a free account, you're limited in the number of messages that can be sent out to potential matches, and some users have found this to be really annoying. While I understand charging for video and other services, to limit the number of messages you send is a bit extreme in my opinion. Others have accuse the site of being an all out scam, full of fake profiles which are designed to drain you of your hard earned money. An additional complaint that has been made among users is that even when they were able to get responses from other members, these members wanted to chat at a hotmail link, and eventually led them to a site where they tried to get them to pay money.

The most ruthless of critics have claimed that Fling is nothing more than a dating site which harvests emails. In other words, this is just another example of a scam. While Fling may be defended because they aren't aware of these activities, or can't keep control over it, it still shows that the company has a long way to go before it can become a top notch online dating site. While it has many things going for it, it also has a lot of things which "aren't" going for it.

• Login or register to post comments