If you’ve never seen MTV’s “Catfish” before, watching the episode with DeJohn and Cashay could scare you right off of an online dating site. After all, the two did meet on Plenty of Fish. In all fairness though, the “real” Cashay is memorable and funny enough to potentially make you want to read the rest of this Plenty of Fish Review to meet the equivalent of a DeJohn.
The goal is to stay away from a “Catfish” of course, and we’ll show you how. But this is one of those popular online dating sites that even people like 38-year-old DeJohn heard of even when he’d never heard the term “Catfish.” That in itself should help you understand that maybe you’ll meet some honest, thoughtful people on here.
Here are a few tips about this online dating website, as well as tips to stay safe while sifting through dating profiles on this site (and others).
Plenty of Fish Review
Website Overview
Are you looking for someone to hang out with, date, be in a long-term relationship with, or befriend? All four are available on Plenty of Fish. Maybe you want to date but not find something serious.
Or, you could be putting in serious effort to find someone, be in a relationship and/or walk down the aisle. Choose wisely, and make sure to look for people who are looking for what you are.
Key Features
If you really want to understand where someone’s head is regarding relationships, asking about the length of the longest relationship is a pretty easy tip.
Plenty of Fish gets right down to business and asks this question. Should you be alarmed by those who answer “less than one year”? Possibly. But who’s to say that you won’t be the person that finally makes them go at it for the long haul?
Then there are some questions that may feel a little invasive but also may help you understand the person’s attitude toward marriage: Parents Marital Status. Do users whose parents are in long-term marriages or divorced automatically mean they’ll follow suit? No. But is it a pretty good indicator of what they’ve been exposed to? Yes.
Sign-Up Process
The sign-up process starts off pretty straightforward with usernames, locations, birthdays, and ZIP codes. But some of the start-up questions feel a little like they’re grilling you. Are you looking for a relationship, marriage, or friends? That’s easy to answer.
But answers like “I’m putting in serious effort to find someone” and “I want a relationship” seem like one and the same. Choosing one over the other may get your profile dismissed before you have the chance to explain.
And questions regarding whether you date big beautiful women (BBW) also puts users in a weird space. And what about men who have a few extra pounds? There’s also the problematic query about whether you’re married or living with someone.
Kudos to those who fit in both categories and answer honestly, but most online dating websites do not list these options for obvious reasons. (A few even take it a step further and remind users of marital laws regarding infidelity.)
Communication Options
With options like “Live,” it may seem puzzling that anyone could run into a “Catfish” on this website. Of course, there’s always the dreaded line about how their video streaming options don’t work or how they have bad Internet connections.
But if you’re not buying into those excuses, you can simply click “Live” to talk directly to users in real-time instead of depending on the messaging system. You can even choose the “Date Me” if you want to take this live option a little more seriously, and go on a virtual blind date.
Should you dress up for the blind date or just hang out like a live chat? Totally up to you. But in this case, you’re playing along and going on dates without knowing exactly who you’re going to see. If you’re worried about going on blind dates in person, this is a great place to practice.
Pricing & Membership Options
Getting to the pricing and membership option is a complete hassle for those who want to know how much it costs before joining the site. If you want to see what it is ahead of time, be prepared to answer a lot of questions and input your phone number to get that far.
Once you’re finally in, plans start at $9.99 per month for an eight-month plan (or $79.92), $12.75 per month for a four-month plan (or $51), or $19.35 per month for a two-month plan (or $38.70). Pay via DigiCert or PayPal.
You can also purchase tokens for $16.90 (10 tokens), $8.95 (five tokens), or $1.99 (one token). Use the tokens to boost your profile or make your texts a priority.
Safety & Security
Some of the questions on this site bypass asking about your own relationship goals. Queries about how many siblings you have and whether your parents are still married can feel a little bit invasive. Users could easily lie to get past these questions, considering Plenty of Fish won’t allow them to skip the questions altogether. But then they’ll have to answer these profile responses later.
If you lie about one thing, is it worth it? Of course there are “plenty of fish” in the sea, but you may as well start off being an honest one. Oddly though, you cannot delete your account until you wait 24 hours, so be prepared to be stuck on the site unwillingly.
Pros & Cons
From a technical level, the white circle on a white background, is a terrible idea in the sign-up process.
It may take a few seconds to figure out you’re supposed to drag this all-but-invisible circle inquiring about your “Ambition” level. It’s annoying enough to leave the site altogether until the color of the circle is changed. There are also more odd sign-up problems.
For example, you can only choose one “Personality Type,” and is “Blogger” really a “personality” type? Not all the questions are odd though. Some are straight-to-the-point and useful, such as whether you own a car.
If you’re opposed to dating someone who needs to call ride-sharing platforms or treat you like a taxi all the time, car ownership is probably a pretty big deal. In other Pof reviews, one of the main complaints is the lack of Customer Service resolutions.
If you know that going in, you will understand how to approach the site. Mainly, be confident in what you’re paying for ahead of time. But if you are having technical issues from the very beginning (including the sign-up process), paying to be on the site may prove to be more of a headache than worth the money.
In all fairness though, there are options to contact their Customer Service department to work out these issues. Whether those answers sound like copy-and-paste Frequently Asked Questions or like a human being actually reading and answering the question is a toss-up though.
Bottom Line
Imagine answering all of the questions above: your dating goals, your parents’ relationship status, whether you were first-born or second-born, how many siblings you have, your ambition level, and more. You’ve set up your headline and a short description, and are all set to dive in.
Then you get to the final screen and area ready to dive into the website, only for Plenty of Fish to log you completely out of the site. You think this is a mistake and log back in, only for the website to start the entire process all over again.
There are so many technical glitches with this website that it’s almost astonishing that anyone has the patience to join. Does the site ask the kind of in-depth questions that help you figure out who you want to talk to? Absolutely. But the technical glitches during the sign-up process can easily make some users feel like this site is too glitchy to risk paying for.
Visit the Perfect DM homepage for more expert dating reviews and tips.
