Love, Lust and Lies: Have you caught any fish lately?

If you remember a few weeks back, I talked about trying new things, including online dating. I finally took the plunge, and have become one of the thousands of people on PlentyOfFish.com. Here is my review.

The initial set up of the account didn't take long. It asks basic questions such as if you smoke, if you have children, and what your job title is. My favourite question was "What are you looking for?" with options for answers including "Hang out," "Long-term dating," "Friends" or "Intimate encounter." So when you click on anyone's profile, you immediately know what they are looking for. If it's not what you want, all you have to do is click "Next!"

Once you answer basic questions, it gives you the opportunity to expand on your profile. There is a description you can put on the top of your profile that shows up bolded when people search you. Some people decide to have something funny, others more serious and some are straightforwardly "seeking a relationship." The one thing that might take time is the description of yourself, which can be as long or short as you want. The more you put in it, the more it helps others decide if you are someone they want to get to know. My profile was short and to the point, and I included a picture, because profiles without pictures don't get as many responses.

Once that is done, PlentyOfFish has designed tests online to help you find what you are looking for on the site. One is called the PlentyOfFish Relationship Chemistry Predictor. It's designed to measure five broad dimensions that are essential for building a relationship: self-confidence, family orientation, self-control, openness and easygoing-ness. This test tells you about yourself and how you fit under the five dimensions.

The test I really liked was the Relationship Needs Assessment. It helps you determine what you need from a relationship across nine key factors: interdependence, self efficiency, communication, sexuality, preferred expressions of affection, intimacy, relationship readiness, conflict resolution and attitudes about love. We all have those moments when we have no idea what we want from a potential mate, so some of you might find this helpful because it tells you what you need from a relationship in order for it to work. Also, once you take this test, it provides you with questions that you can ask people to see if they fit your needs or not.

Now onto the good stuff! In the first 24 hours of having my account, I had over 300 views of my profile and 100 messages. It blew my mind that so many people wanted to get to know me that quickly, but don't get me wrong, they weren't all "keepers."

The first night I had it, I went though every message and then went to their profile to decide if I wanted to respond. I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it; I felt like I was shopping, but instead of looking for clothes, I was shopping for boys.

What I found got my attention more was the guys who made me laugh in their messages, rather than just saying, "hey, how's it going." With that many messages being sent to me, unless you were extremely good looking, that line didn't get you anywhere. It was the ones who took the time to write something that made me smile that I appreciated. One guy saw that I liked country music and he wrote "Are you going to kiss me or not?", which is a song by Thompson Square. I was surprised at how forward some people are. One guy sent me a message asking if I wanted to make $5,000 in cash. There are weirdos, beware, but you don't need to respond and you can block anyone.

I found the site to be pretty good, but I can see how people would get frustrated. I probably received over 200 messages and maybe talked to eight or 10 people. So just think about all the people who never get a response — it can be extremely frustrating. Part of the problem I think people have is that they message people who would never message them back. For example, I had at least 25 messages from people over the age of 35. Divorced men and men with older children messaged me. They have to realize that a 23 year old would most likely not be interested in them. Just because I have an account doesn't make me desperate, and I'm not willing to just talk to anyone.

There is also an option on the site where you can view if someone read your message and didn't respond or if they deleted it without reading it. My friend told me "it stung to see that," but you move on. After talking to people who have used the site, it seems like most users respond to less than 25 per cent of the people who message them. It also seems that girls are more hesitant to message guys first, because they aren't just willing to message anyone, whereas if a guy sees a hot girl, they instantly want to message them without learning anything about them. That's just a recipe for failure.

I have gone on a couple dates since then, and have had a surprisingly great time, but I think I've just been lucky. Only time will tell how much success I will have with PlentyOfFish, but I would say so far I'm not disappointed with my results. I think it's worth a shot, don't you? Worst case scenario, you're in the same place you were a week ago.