Quick Summary:
Hookup potential: 4/5 Features: 3/5 Design: 3/5 Content: 3/5
- Basic-but-effective dating, and FREE!
- Google Ads galore, although inoffensively placed
- No-nonsense, simple design
The Full Story:
Mingle2 is pretty much a “starter” dating website. They try to keep everything simple. You can do a basic or advanced search or scan through who’s online, and you can search according to the interests you put in your profile. Once you find someone you’re interested in, you can IM her through the website’s chat, email her, or send a “nudge”. A nudge is a cutesy way of letting a person know that you’re interested in her without saying anything.
One unusual and slightly quirky feature that Mingle2 has is “Mutual Match”. In keeping with the “starter” feel of the site, Mutual Match is like flirting for kids. If you’re interested in someone and you don’t want to be the first to email, instant message or nudge, then you can perform a Mutual Match. Through the MM interface, you are asked whether or not you think someone would be a match with you. The other person will answer the question also. If both of you answer ‘yes,’ then I guess it’s a good lead-in to an initial contact. Of course, some may feel that this is a bit juvenile. Why not be upfront and just start communicating with someone, right? But I guess it’s cute and different so why not.
Aside from this, there’s nothing else that really makes this free dating site stand out. The members are pretty average. Some are hot, some aren’t. Some put a lot of work into their profiles, some just make do with the essentials. It’s the same anywhere. If anything you really have to work to communicate with the members on this site that you’re interested in in order to determine compatibility. And the site (to its credit) offers good tools for doing this.
There’s nothing spectacular about the site design visually although I like that the website’s very spacious and clean. There are no frills or gimmicks; what you see is what you get. There are, however, a TON of Google ads. I guess I just haven’t gotten used to service sites like dating websites that are riddled with such ads. I wonder why these sites think it’s such a great idea to show ads of direct-competitor websites (in this case, mostly Mate1′s). Why lead traffic away from your website to a competing service, right? I suppose this is the cost of keeping free dating sites free. Why am I complaining about it? I guess because the idea reeks of bad business. If a site has to survive through ads, why not sell the ad space yourself and select only non direct-competitor ads?
There was one thing that really impressed me about Mingle2. The community. Here, the community focus is a forum wherein members can talk about anything under the sun. One might think that since this is a dating website, no one will bother posting. Well, that’s very untrue. A look at the forum shows a very active and diverse community within Mingle2. It’s actually quite surprising. I mean, doing a simple search will get you some results – those close to your locale and those that fit the filters. But the forum gives you a better idea of just how many members are actively using Mingle2 and how many get online regularly. A dating website can easily set up a forum page, but it’s not easy to get it populated by active users. If anything, having an active forum assures new members that their callouts for friends and what-not will not fall on deaf ears.
Overall, Mingle2 does the job it sets out to do. It can definitely help you to hook up with people, especially if you participate in the forum discussions. The features are basic but sufficient.
I would definitely recommend checking out this website. Its simplicity is its main draw. Mingle2 offers the potential for quality interaction through their search and community features. And you won’t want for interesting, if not intriguing, results. Of course if what you’re really after is a hookup, you’d probably be better off going with a site like GetItOn.
