WHAT WE FOUND: Date.com is a great service that includes private email and public and private chat rooms for members as well as a detailed profile form for your personal ad. A lot of flexibility is available for your answers to the profile questions, which will help greatly in meeting the right person for you. Once completed, it should take between 10 and 20 minutes, you will have access to Date.com, including the chat rooms and forums, but you have to become a paid member to send and receive messages. Did I say that this is a great service? It is. You can email in your picture, if you have one ready, to be added to your profile and let others see you. Adding your picture will increase the amount of messages you get and the number of people you'll meet. The main service is for straight relationships, but there is also sections for gay and lesbian members. More features include virtual gifts that you can send and receive free, a powerful search feature for you to find someone that interests you and a weekly poll.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Place your ad for free, become a paid member to make contact. Private email and public/private chat rooms, pictures can be added to your profile. Straight and same sex sections for free and paid members.

WHAT WE FOUND: 24 hours a day you can have access to one of the best meeting places online today! Start by joining and placing your free personal ad to be seen by other members. Add your picture if you have one ready. Your free trial starts you with 3 free email contacts, so you can start on the road to meeting new people right now! You have the option of joining as a full member and have access to voice messages and anonymous telephone contact for real involvement with that special person you've found and be able to make more contacts with others. 4 steps to the sign-up will allow you to fully express yourself and give you the room to write about yourself and the type of person you are looking for. When completing your profile, take your time. Remember, this is the first impression you are making to someone new, and you want them to be interested in you by what your write about yourself and your goals in meeting someone special. 

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Free trial includes 3 free email contacts. Anonymous telephone contact and voice messaging available. Free to place your personal and add your picture. This service is for Afro-Americans. Straight and same sex personals available here.

WHAT WE FOUND: Black Planet Love is one part of the larger Black Planet community site. (3 distinct areas, “Community”, “Love” and “Jobs”.) At Black Planet you’ll have access to the community, jobs and love sections included with your free membership. Start your visit with the guest preview that is a 25 page self-guided tour of all the services and features available to members. Once you have seen 25 pages, or any time before, you must join as a free member. The Black Planet Love service allows you to become a free member and post your own profile. To make contact you’ll need to become a subscriber, but free members can reply to messages and send crushes (a form of anonymous short message). The search feature for a compatible match can be as quick or comprehensive as the options you select to search with. Additional features include “Instant Love” chat with other online members, weekly matches emailed to you, topical news, plenty of forums, chat rooms and contests to keep you busy. This is one of the best and comprehensive community services we’ve ever reviewed. You’ll like it too. For subscribers there is even a two week money back guarantee that you’ll like BlackPlanet, so joining is a no-risk option.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Large community section with a variety of public and private clubs, chat rooms, games, personal page about yourself, voice dating. Free to reply to messages, become a subscriber to initiate contact. Plenty of activities at this service.

WHAT WE FOUND: The Yahoo Personals service is only for people that live in America or Canada (currently) although we do expect international versions to come out soon. To post an ad you’ll need to be a Yahoo member so you’ll be prompted to do that first before you join to post your profile. There are 7 steps to posting your profile but they don’t take very long to complete. Begin with the type of ad you want to post, or not post. What this means is that you can keep your profile private so it is not included in the general search results, but if you answer an ad that person can read it. Next give yourself a name for your ad. We recommend that you do not use your Yahoo username, but use something else for your ad. This will keep your privacy intact in that people won’t be able to easily guess your Yahoo email address. The next steps will allow you to post information about yourself, about the type of person you are looking for and the type of relationship you are interested in beginning as well as upload pictures and become a subscribing member. Posting your profile is free but to be able to send and reply to messages you must be a subscribed member. Once your profile is approved, this takes about 24 hours, you can also add a voice message and a video message to your profile. The search system is fast and easily customizable using zip codes, city names and “Importance Levels”, so you can narrow down your search and find the singles that you really want to meet. You can also “Be a matchmaker” and search for a match for a friend. The friend will then have to become a member, but it’s a start to not being single anymore. The “Mutual Match” system allows you to easily be matched with people that have the same likes and dislikes as you and will automatically alert you so you can send them a message (once you’re subscribed to send messages). And don’t forget about the Yahoo Instant Messenger chat program: once you have subscribed you can instantly chat with other subscribed members when they are showing as being online. With Yahoo being one of the largest web destinations, you should become a member to see all of the profiles of people that are in your area. You’ll be surprised there are so many singles so close to where you live.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: You’ll need to be a member of Yahoo to join and it’s free to post your profile. Add voice and video messages to your profile. Chat using Yahoo IM. Add up to 5 pictures with your profile. Become a subscribing member to send and reply to messages. Straight and same sex personals available.