I was curious to try this site out. I'm a math major and numbers guy. I have heard from many people this site is "rigged" and has "many fake profiles". So my buddy and I decided to join and see what was up.
I'm not ugly whatsoever. (not to sound cocky) and don't have problems picking up women. Nor does my friend.
We created profiles then proceeded to send about 8-12 messages per week (each) to women. After 4 months. We averaged out of the 160 messages we sent to women, ONLY 6 responded. This is unreal.
What does this mean?
This means that POF is not updating their sites profiles. Profiles on the site are still showing up but are either, fake, non -active or have not been removed off the site itself. Ironically, out of the 160 messages we sent to women, only TWO showed up in the "who's viewed me" section. This means, NONE even read the e-mails we sent to them. Because if they did and "weren't interested" or "deleted" our messages. They would still show up as if they viewed our profiles.
POF makes it look like profiles are "online" when they really are not online. I also personally received 3 messages from women on the East Coast saying there profiles were showing up in Los Angeles, even though the NEVER put LA on there profile.
This means POF is purposely manipulating the amount of users in "your area" and the amount that are "online" when in reality they are not whatsoever. Many of the profiles seem to be abandoned and non -active.
POF is set up to purposely drive traffic to their site. Plain and simple. They need the advertising money. They depend on that for survival. Unlike Match.com, e-harmony etc. that make money from paid suscribers. POF has a very low paid subscription amount of users. They realize, people are leaving their site in droves and need the site traffic to make it look like there are more profiles than really exist.
POF is a Canadian ran company. NOT based here in the United States. So they bypass most laws by using peoples pictures without permission or consent.
All in all, POF is more of a marketing gimmick. Sure you nay "meet someone" or talk to someone from your area. But don't get your hopes up that you will find "the love of your life" on this site.