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‘Other Single Parents’ is unusual
in that it is FREE all the time.
You don’t have to pay a penny, even when
you wish to contact others, although
there is a very low fee (for the ‘Super
Powers’ functionality’) for some of the
more specialised services. although they
are optional and enhance the online
dating experience rather than being
vital. As the name suggests, it’s for
single parents wishing to date other
single parents, or for singles who are
not already parents but who would like
to meet single parents. Despite being an
essentially FREE service, ‘Other
Single Parents’ doesn’t compromise on
quality. The site covers the whole of
the UK and Ireland. Even covers the
United States, Cyprus, Australia, Canada
and Egypt if you wish to seek further a
field.
Joining is quick and easy. Compiling a
profile involves clicking boxes
regarding physical characteristics and
basic personal details, hobbies and
interests, likes and dislikes, then
asking for your favourite film, book,
song, quote, word and famous person,
before allowing you to use your own
words to describe your personality, the
type of person whom you are hoping to
meet, the celebrity that you most look
like, a description of your ideal
vacation, what your ideal date would
involve, what we would find in your
bedroom, how your epitaph will read,
which animal you would choose to be and
why, which guests (living, dead, actual
people or fictional characters) you
would invite to your ultimate dinner
party and why, your most humbling moment
and your favourite book, film and music,
and why you chose those.
As you can see from the above list, a
lot is covered, and allows much scope
for your personality to shine through.
Creating a profile takes 15 – 30
minutes, and possibly a bit longer if
you enter into the right spirit.
Clicking the boxes is the quick part,
it’s how much or little effort which you
put into the free-response sections
which determines the length of time that
you’ll be sitting at the keyboard. When
you search the members, you’ll see many
interesting and witty profile
compositions. Yours could be one of them
too. You can upload a portfolio of
photos. You can upload just the one
photograph, maybe two or three, or (via
‘Super Powers’) as many pics as you
wish, there is no limit! You can upload
photos from your mobile phone, or they
can scan photographs for you and upload
them to your profile. All photos can be
set for public or private viewing.
Public images are displayed on your
portfolio for all members to see, but
private images are hidden and can be
sent to users on an individual basis.
There is an active discussion forum that
acts as a message board where members
discuss, debate, and can give and
receive advice. There are four separate
Forums:
‘Dating Tales’ - fairytales and horror
stories!
‘Dating!!’ – online, offline,
speed-dating – learning more about them
‘Gossip and Chat’ – rumours, reports and
rants
‘Newbies’ – for those who are new to the
site, and wish to introduce themselves
to the ‘Other Single Parents’ community
– there’s nothing wrong with a bit of
free self-promotion! Let’s face it,
you’re quite a catch, so let others know
about your grand entrance!
You have the chance to record a
‘Journal’, which is your very own online
blog linked to your profile. These are
the recordings of your own thoughts and
feelings and such like, in the form of
diary entries. You can choose to make
the content of the blog private (only
accessible to you), or accessible to
your designated friends on this website,
or whether it’s accessible to all
members on this site, or (because it’s a
blog) even unrestricted access to
everyone on the world wide web.
To contact others, you simply click the
e-mail icon, and you can send messages
without revealing your private e-mail
address. These messages are sent
immediately via the ‘Other Single
Parents’ server. You can restrict the
type of person who contacts you (via
‘Super Powers’) by setting parameters
such as “only members who are 25 – 35,
only members within a certain locality,
only members with photographs” et
cetera.
There are plenty of tips and hints to
make the most of online dating. There is
also a ‘Blind Date’ game, a fun
‘question and answer’ session (the
principles of which are loosely based on
the hit ITV Show of the same name but
without Cilla by your side!) designed to
find out more about your potential
dates, their likes and dislikes, what
makes them tick, and a chance for them
to find out about you. It’s a game of
friendly and flirty fun where warm,
sparkly and witty responses win the day,
and provide another route for
communication with other like-minded
contacts.
‘Other Single Parents’ have a function
known as ‘Super Powers’ – additional
functions and tools to enhance the
online dating experience, however these
are optional and not required to use the
site successfully. However, the ‘Super
Powers’ fee is unbelievably low.
FREE – Standard searches, contacting
members, participating in the four
discussion Forums, writing your own
‘Journal’ as a blog, and participating
in the ‘Blind Date’ game are FREE at all
times.
By registering with ‘Super Powers’, you
can see who has been viewing your
profile, send virtual kisses, whistles
and gifts, use advanced search options
for better matching (e.g. keyword,
age-range, locality, body-type,
ethnicity etc) - and likewise receive
messages only from those members who
match YOUR criteria, create different
saved searches for when you log in, find
out who has added you to their list of
friends, upload more than 3 photographs,
upload private photos (not displayed on
your profile but which you can choose to
send to specific members), and you can
view members full photo galleries.
“And how much does it cost to do all
that with ‘Super Powers’?” I hear you
ask impatiently.
- 5 days – a one-off payment of £5.00
**1 YEAR** - a one-off payment of £12.50
Yes, I know what you’re thinking, I have
no idea either why there is such a
discrepancy between those two prices,
considering one is for five days, and
the other is for an entire year. The
latter represents great value for money.
But remember, the ‘Super Powers’
function is optional, and doesn’t
detract from making good use of the
site. However, at that price, it’s worth
registering for it.
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