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- Jan 15, 2017
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I said that I wasn't going to introduce any more deai sites, but this one caught my eye cause it brings up some interesting points about dating sites.
The difference between a tolerably decent dating site and a ripoff site is that the ripoff site wants to get your money in a big lump before you figure out there's nothing there. For the tolerably decent dating site, they want to provide enough stuff to interest you and keep you involved for a much longer period of time.
The two traditional ones that I introduced (PCMax and Jmail) got their start on Captain Kirk like phones from the early 90's and their interfaces (along with two site, Wakuwaku and Happy mail) really retain their garaku roots. These older sites boast of the number of members, but because they are simply adding new people, the number is much higher than the actual number engaged in looking for something. I'm wondering if I'm going to meet some obaasan who still has a profile on one of these sites. Happy Mail is interesting because it puts a very modern skin on it, but when you get to the bulletin board, it's like you are back in the 90's, with the avatar and the info designed to fit in a small screen.
I also mentioned that these older sites were more geographically centered, befitting a time when people didn't get around as much. My luck with PCMax has been pretty bad, in part because it is not so popular here in Kyushu.
I was going to leave it at that, but I'm now looking at YYC (http://www.yyc.co.jp/), whose parent company is Mixi. I have not made the plunge. Living in Japan, I find myself oscillating between periods of total profligacy ('It's less than a man, what a bargain!') and cho ketchiness ('shit, if I walk home, I'll save the 200 yen on the bus') It is totally idiotic, but I'm living in this country, so how stupid is that?
My ketchiness is activated by YYC because I've not figured out how the pricing works. With the other sites, you buy about 300 points for 3000 yen, and the cost to send a mail is about 40-50 yen. All the sites have various giveaways/come-ons (send 1 mail for free today! Free to view profiles for this week only!) Some of the things are to hook other people in (Free emails to newcomers, if someone doesn't get a response, they are put in a チャンス category and you can write them for free, play a slot machine for bonus points, etc) while others are to hook you into it and if you carefully manage your points, you can probably go for a month or two before you would need to get more points.
But for YYC, which also has all those things, you've got a bunch of other things that distinguish it from the older series. Frex, (and this is a sign of a younger crowd) you can pay with an itunes card. That goes along with the interface, where they have custom clip art for people without profile pictures and a clean web interface and a good appli. (as was noted in the PCMax thread by Arit, appli tend to discourage sakura) YYC also integrates diaries, where people write about their daily lives and communities, so if you like some particular thing, like Korean pop or onsens or Sherlock, you can join that community and then find your soulmate there.
However, there are キャッシュバッカー (CB or Cash backers) at YYC. Basically, these are people who are getting paid on a piecework basis if they can keep the punters commenting and writing emails that they are going to pay for. It's been observed that it is actually not much money for the amount of time that someone has to put in, but it seems a lot like buying penny stocks. This article (in Japanese) http://deaikei.sakura.ne.jp/yyc/ suggests that the site has reached the tipping point and has more women acting as CB than it has with people looking for others. This may be true, but it might still be worth a look. If I were single, I would be tempted go whole hog with YYC. You could put up pictures in your profile and probably garner some interest from women, though you might have to be careful with CB. Also, the interface is a lot easier to deal with than these other places.
Anyway, happy nampa-ing.
The difference between a tolerably decent dating site and a ripoff site is that the ripoff site wants to get your money in a big lump before you figure out there's nothing there. For the tolerably decent dating site, they want to provide enough stuff to interest you and keep you involved for a much longer period of time.
The two traditional ones that I introduced (PCMax and Jmail) got their start on Captain Kirk like phones from the early 90's and their interfaces (along with two site, Wakuwaku and Happy mail) really retain their garaku roots. These older sites boast of the number of members, but because they are simply adding new people, the number is much higher than the actual number engaged in looking for something. I'm wondering if I'm going to meet some obaasan who still has a profile on one of these sites. Happy Mail is interesting because it puts a very modern skin on it, but when you get to the bulletin board, it's like you are back in the 90's, with the avatar and the info designed to fit in a small screen.
I also mentioned that these older sites were more geographically centered, befitting a time when people didn't get around as much. My luck with PCMax has been pretty bad, in part because it is not so popular here in Kyushu.
I was going to leave it at that, but I'm now looking at YYC (http://www.yyc.co.jp/), whose parent company is Mixi. I have not made the plunge. Living in Japan, I find myself oscillating between periods of total profligacy ('It's less than a man, what a bargain!') and cho ketchiness ('shit, if I walk home, I'll save the 200 yen on the bus') It is totally idiotic, but I'm living in this country, so how stupid is that?
My ketchiness is activated by YYC because I've not figured out how the pricing works. With the other sites, you buy about 300 points for 3000 yen, and the cost to send a mail is about 40-50 yen. All the sites have various giveaways/come-ons (send 1 mail for free today! Free to view profiles for this week only!) Some of the things are to hook other people in (Free emails to newcomers, if someone doesn't get a response, they are put in a チャンス category and you can write them for free, play a slot machine for bonus points, etc) while others are to hook you into it and if you carefully manage your points, you can probably go for a month or two before you would need to get more points.
But for YYC, which also has all those things, you've got a bunch of other things that distinguish it from the older series. Frex, (and this is a sign of a younger crowd) you can pay with an itunes card. That goes along with the interface, where they have custom clip art for people without profile pictures and a clean web interface and a good appli. (as was noted in the PCMax thread by Arit, appli tend to discourage sakura) YYC also integrates diaries, where people write about their daily lives and communities, so if you like some particular thing, like Korean pop or onsens or Sherlock, you can join that community and then find your soulmate there.
However, there are キャッシュバッカー (CB or Cash backers) at YYC. Basically, these are people who are getting paid on a piecework basis if they can keep the punters commenting and writing emails that they are going to pay for. It's been observed that it is actually not much money for the amount of time that someone has to put in, but it seems a lot like buying penny stocks. This article (in Japanese) http://deaikei.sakura.ne.jp/yyc/ suggests that the site has reached the tipping point and has more women acting as CB than it has with people looking for others. This may be true, but it might still be worth a look. If I were single, I would be tempted go whole hog with YYC. You could put up pictures in your profile and probably garner some interest from women, though you might have to be careful with CB. Also, the interface is a lot easier to deal with than these other places.
Anyway, happy nampa-ing.
