PoF.com / Plenty of Fish review: discrimination 27

This was my plentyoffish profile http://api.ning.com/files/n6x3sJrjsvd3etu-xR6GkNbb4JziClDcaBju18Wlt0s_/PlentyofFishreview.mht

The serious sea monster thought he could eat the little clownfish, but giants are really dwarves inside.

I broke all the TOS on purpose after the Admin gave me the "first and last warning" and he ended up giving in and letting me keep the "torso photo." Only after I wrote a review of his site in my profile did he delete it. Both spineless and a coward.

Unlike him my threats materialize into actions :)

"if you will not be the clown you will be the fool"
----me

Marya...
I have been a member on POF for a couple of years now along with many other dating sites. Believe me as a fellow member, they are definately NOT discriminating against nigerians, russians or any other nationalities!

The reason there is a Complaint reason of, 'nigerian/russian/scam' is due to the incredible number of scammers that are based in those countries! These Scams usually target men therefore you probably havent been exposed to them.

Here is basically how they go down...

Nigerian Scam
An "anyrace" guy living in "anytown, anystate USA" is contacted by a GOOD LOOKING "samerace" girl located in" sametown, samestate USA" saying they liked what they have read the guys profile and how hansome they think he is, BLAH BLAH BLAH. So the guy gets all excited and writes her back. Several messages will be exchanged making the guy think that this really good looking woman is really interested in a relationship with him! So when he starts insisting that they meet, She informs him that she isn't currently at her home and that she is in NIGERIA taking care of a sick parent or someother reason and that she should be back in a week or 2 weeks. So the messages keep going back and forth building the guy up more and more. Them the scam starts! All of a sudden she has some disaster happen like getting robbed of her money and return plane ticket or the modeling agency she was there doing a photo shoot with went backrupt and she stuck with a huge hotel bill and they are holding her passport until she pays, or someother BS story! And her parents are either dead or to poor and she has no other friends that can help her out of her desperate situation so she asks the guy if he can send her the $1, 000.00 or more so she can get back home and into his loving arms! Then is the guy is an IDIOT and falls for it and sends her the money, the next think you know, something else happens that requires even more money!

Russian scam
Starts off buy a good looking Russian woman contacting a guy in the USA pumping him up with everything a guy likes to hear and how a friend of hers found the love of her life via the Internet and how she ended up getting married to him and is now living in some other country. After she gets the guy believing that she is really in love with him she starts telling him that "Some Relitive" works in the department that issues Visa's and for $?.? can get her a Marraige Visa without having to go through all the required processes (one of which is that the couple has already meet in person! meaning the the guy at some point had to travel all the way to Russia to meet her in person!) And again, if the guy is dumb enough to fall for it ans sends the money, sure enough something will happen like getting robbed by the cab driver because they know if they are taking someone to get a Visa that they will have a lot of cash on them!

Bottom line is that it's a real shame that these scammers prey on men and their desire for companionship!

Hope that helps...

Excuse the length of my post some times you feel so strongly about something that you just want to be heard. This is my personal experience of being a member of the site known as plentyoffish.com. I am a disabled man who suffers from cerebral palsy (CP); this unfortunately makes socialising with the opposite sex difficult as sadly first impressions count. So with this in late 2007 I became a surfer and the first thing I wanted to try was to look for love. I figure that I could chat with singles and reveal my handicap once there had got to know me as a person. The first site I joined was faceparty.com, I began searching and sending messages showing, my “good points” and revealing my disability when I felt that the time was right. Sadly after the first time I opened up about my CP I got blocked, not knowing what was going on I panicked, but then someone told me not to worry, and even to this day I would be a welcomed member on the site. I continued to use faceparty.com, and sadly had no success then I began chatting with a woman who told me about another site mingleville.com, and once again I began chatting with people, finding the right time to disclose my CP and like before the blocks came frequently, but still I was a welcomed member, but nothing came from the site and I was still waiting to find someone local that would see the person behind the handicap. While surfing mingleville I saw the advertisement to plentyoffish.com, so I thought I would give it a try. I was blown away I love the setting up, how you could message as many people as you liked, there were so many people and what I found useful due to my CP the fact that I could search for females with in a five mile radius and also the fact there were members on there that seemed to be seriously looking for the same thing that I was. So I began the hunt for love, like before I wrote an endearing profile and put on one of my better photographs and began my search. I began getting messages from the ladies, complementing me on my photograph and the honestly and the genuine nature of my profile. (As I stated earlier, I never reveal the disability in the profile, as that is the main reason I use such sites.) I chatted with the ladies choosing the right moment to disclose myself. Some were polite and said I wasn’t for them. I will admit sometimes I don’t always understand when I am getting the brush off, as people can be too nice about not being interested about not wanting to date some one with a handicap. I’ll admit I can’t always read between the lines, but when messaging people through the site. But saying that, I was never rude, never sexual when messaging through pof.com and I never looked at intimate encounters. The only thing I am probably guilty of is that my CP does effects my memory and I find keeping track of who I have messaged very difficult and that could be seen as annoying but it is a genuine fault. Eventually with the help of pof.com I managed my first date in the real world, I was so nervous, even through I didn’t find her attractive the fact that she saw beyond the disability and was physically there in front of me was mind blowing. So I cancelled the plentyoffish profile and began seeing the lady, however after a few months I began questioning my self why I was with her. So while seeing her I returned to POF.com feeling a little more confident I disclosed my disability, more frequent then before and began getting blocked at least half the time, which after building a online relationship with some one hurts, but I kept trying, I eventually came across a young Christian lady and the moment I met her I fell head over heels, and after finishing with my girlfriend I began seeing her. I saw my new girlfriend for the next six months deleting the pof.com account half way through the relationship, but the relationship fizzled and died after six months. Hurt and with my tail between my legs I returned to the only site that had ever worked for me, so onwards to pof.com. Like before I wrote my profile, once again not revealing the CP in the profile, I began messaging people like before choosing the right time to reveal my special needs, some are blunt and rude and say go away, some try and make an excuse, that there not ready and some blocked me cause it’s the easiest way to not have to deal with it. In between the dates I did manage to get ended in dead ends I continued to be blocked, until one day I tried to log in and my password was denied, I was confused, like the first time I was blocked I didn’t understand what had happened. So contacted the site and asked them if the site was working, they replied and told me, due to being blocked so often, I was now banned from the site. I replied back to them, explaining the reason why the blocks were coming so often, to give them credit there saw my side of the story and I was allowed to return. But said if I continued to be blocked (like I did it on purpose) I would be banned once again never to be allowed to return This was the news I was hoping to get, the fact that I could return, but I was a little wary as to how I could be upfront about my situation, with out getting blocked, which would lead to another ban? I continued to use the site up to eight hours a day (loneliness is a great motivator). One evening I was using the site and received a message from a woman in her late forties, she thought I was cute (as in a photograph I can pass as able bodied) we began exchanging messages and she asked me if I fancied meeting for a drink, I liked the look of her and wanted to go, but I felt that I had to be upfront about my CP. As soon as she received the message, she retracted the offer, I contacted her back, in order to explain my situation and enlighten her, how my CP effected me and this was replied with a block. Worrying I was on to yet another ban I contacted the site for advice, but I never received a solution or a reply to my email. With that I once again I continued looking for true love, on the one site that had worked plentyoffish.com. In April I began chatting with a single mother (Leigha1986) who lives a mile away, we began chatting, and like before I disclosed my disability and she said it wasn’t an issue, after a week of chatting through pof.com and msn, where we also cammed so she could see how my disability effected me, with in days of the first message, we agreed to meet. Her son would be out with her parents for the day and she would be home alone, she arrived on the arranged meeting place on time and we drove back to her place and with out going in to detail, we ended up being intimate. Afterwards I left her and said I would be in touch, as soon as I got home not wanting to look like a creep and not wanting to look like I was after one thing I contacted her through pof.com. She replied back that she had felt we move to fast and she had to think about her son, and there wouldn’t be a second date, I replied back and stated I wasn’t looking for a one off and could I get another chance, this was received with a block. I then emailed her through MSN because I wanted some answers, but received no reply. Feeling a little hurt and used and not wanting to be banned I hastily deleted my account, thinking that it wouldn’t be possible to ban someone if they were not a member. I left plentyoffish for a day or to but wanted to rejoin, in order to carry on looking for that special someone, but after filling out the long form and putting my picture back on I signed out. Hours later I tried to return to pof.com, but my access was denied. Coldness came over me as I could feel myself turning white, with sadness and frustration. With that I immediately contacted P.O.F again, where I received a standard message, giving examples of why this may have happened. I then replied back to the site giving further explanation, (and the site replied back, as shown below)

EXAMPLE ONE:

Plentyoffish.com
•

Plentyoffish.com
csr@pof.com
•
• Send e-mail
• Find e-mail
Add to contacts
To grantice
From: Plentyoffish.com (csr@pof.com)
Sent: 29 April 2010 18:31:42
To: I don’t wish to show my address

Hi,

This case is closed.

Regards,

Carter
POF Team

Feeling betrayed once again, I stopped messaging the site hoping that time would be a great healer, so I left things for a while, trying other sites but I had no joy, not even a meet. Until this month where I messaged plentyoffish.com again, the first time I messaged the site I did not receive a response, so with my “no give up attitude I wrote to the site again with I received a reply.

EXAMPLE TWO:

To granticecyprus
From: Plentyoffish.com (csr@pof.com)
Sent: 17 August 2010 00:04:20
To: I don’t wish to show my address
Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to email Plentyoffish.com.

As previously stated, your Plentyoffish.com profile was deleted due to violation of our Terms and Conditions.

The closure of your account is permanent. Further emails on the subject will not receive a response.

Regards,

Sarah
POF Team
Plentyoffish.com

With that even though they sent the message, I still replied and to their word, they did not reply.
So feeling hurt and frustrated and feeling that no other site has ever given me any success, I am eager to find out what I can do I can see all sides very clear and in a way we are all right, and non, of this can be helped. I can not help my handicap, people who can’t except or understand that someone with cerebral palsy has the right to look for love, and as for plentyoffish.com they have to make sure there site is safe for all, but apart from being at fault with regards to how my disability effects my memory and able to read between the lines when someone is trying to let me down gently, I feel I did nothing wrong. I am all for safety on these dating sites and there is no room for sex chat. But I feel there is room for fairness, especially on a site where so many people are members, it’s impossible to please every one and there are people who are prejudiced (Not plentyoffish as a site or the members of staff who run the site.) and people who are defencive after being hurt, but people get blocked for so many reasons I know for a fact I got blocked once because my profile said I was unemployed and another time I was blocked because I said I was 5’4.

I will finish of by saying how I am only writing this because plentyoffish.com is such a wonderful site. It has really changed my life. I would not have met and had the experiences, relationships and memories with out it. I just wish they would understand that, it takes all types of people to make the world go round, and I just want to be able to find someone to share it with, and I think I can find her on plentyoffish.com, just wish the site was a little understanding.

I'm Daniellie, I am a transgendered person. I tried to join plenty of fish 5 times and 5 times I was deleted. Despite I identify myself as woman, I have no intention in "tricking" anybody as I disclose my sex, gender and sexual orientation in my profile.
POF deleted my profile after a few hours. I contact POF.com to ask why and I received a letter from a person named Sarah. The letter says nothing.
I never violated any terms. I’m not a spammer, I’m not an escort, I didn’t advertise anything or used improper images.
In my opinion the free dating system POF offers is heavy in discrimination against sex/gender variants.

The fact that I'm a transgendered person doesn't mean that I'm interested in other transgendered people.

Brenda, my dear, believe me. I've been there. I've tried them all. They are not the same.
My complaint about POF is related to the right of expression.
After being "banned" I don't want to use POF's services anymore.
I would accept any explanation regarding the reason(s) I should not be there... but they gave me none.

Today, I remembered an incident I had with Plentyoffish and decided that I would google the words, "Plentyoffish discriminates" and to no surprise, I think I learned why my profile was deleted mysteriously, and after only hours of it being made. I e-mailed them asking if it were because I was transgender. I never received a reply. I tried to re-create the account, and it was deleted again within 14 hours.

I have to agree with Daniellie in this subject. And I want to add a bit more to it.

People suggest that we go to transgender sites, but this implies that we transition to be "transsexuals". I can't speak for everyone, but when I decided to transition, I wanted to be a "girl", and that included being accepted or understood as one. When places such as these discriminate, they disregard our existence as normal human beings. I for one would never want to join a transgender site, because I don't want every detail of my life to be wrapped around "transsexualism", especially not dating..There are many straight guys out there that would date and love a transsexual woman just the same as they are capable of loving a genetic one, and the same goes for lesbian/bisexual women. (speaking from just a mtf perspective)

Humans didn't get to where they are by saying, "Well, I guess I can't do this. We'll do something lesser and settle with inequality."

Hi
I had an account with POF and it was deleted. I tried to register again it went through but now its deleted again. I tried again to sign up and I cant get a sign in name, it keeps saying that to try another name, I been trying for a while and cant get past the register page... for some reason Im being blocked from signing up again, and Im using a different email address and screen name to sign in. How it started was a man emailed me and was very nasty and I told him off in the email i wrote back to him, but still if I was deleted for that how come I cant register again under a different screen name and email address!

oh, I almost forgot I emailed the customer service a few times about this problem but they never respond to me.

If you ask me they all sound like weirdos.

Good that POF deletes the transvestites. These are weirdos, freaks, sick ###, perverted ###.

Maybe if Dan could read people better then maybe he wouldn't be the lowest of the low forms of ###.

I only sign up for 3 month. You charge me for a1 year membership

Plenty of Fish discriminates against transgender persons. They delete accounts without notification or justification. They may have legal grounds to do so, but I believe it's shaky at best. At a minimum, it is immoral and unfair discrimination.

sou cadastrada, e não consigo ler minhas mensagem.por facvor veja o que esta acontecendo?espero uma resposta

náosou pagante e não consigo ler minhas mensagem

Plenty of phish

Have moderators, operators who actively racially discriminate.
-They allow other members to actively discriminate
-they allow white members to discriminate, promote racist views, websites theories
-They remove anybody who complains.
Yet they persist in letting a great many male members insult, humiliate female members.

I got banned from the forums on one account until 2015 because some NAZi was promoting racist views and sites..many white members were complaining and arguing with this guy. The black members were banned. I was banned

Ive been banned because female members decided they don't like my face..so i got banned.

Its a public site and freely available on the net. If they don't like members from ethnicity's on there.then they should exclude them, not humiliate and bully.
By the way i think they've actually damaged a computer of mine on one occasion.

Ive found a PO box address for them yet they have no complaint system or contactable balanced system of control

That tells you how serious they are about the whole thing.

Why does pof say there is an error with every MSG I send but it shows up in sent msgs but doesn't really go throw so fix it

Yeah plenty of fish sucked and there is plenty of weird activity going on that site...

yh markus is a proper ### u delete my acount for no reason you are coward u dont respond to my messages and explane why am deleted from your site grow up u little rich boy and nw all i have to say is your site is pritty good but shame about the ### owner...

I don't no wat happend but I got deleted and I paid 3 months .I can't get anyone to answer phone and readd my account.I feel scamed my user name billwk41and my password is girlsgirls.I don't no wats going on but I want my money back or open my account back up.I did nt do anything wrong at all..my phone number is [protected].call mre and fix my account..thank you. Could u do this fast...

I have been on POF for almost 7 years..
3 weeks ago my profile and pic was removed for no apparent reason.. not deleted, it just disappeared..
I came back on with another name and after 3 days it also disappeared.. Can u please tell me why?

Thank u,
Oreoballs

Dear Plenty of Fish. Today is oct 15, 2013. A few days ago I could no longer access my account. There was a note that said Plenty of Fish was changing from: PlentyOfFish.com to POF.com all saved passwords were reset by your browser. Since I got that note a few days ago I have not been able to get on to my account. Username: racquetwhiz I am able to type in my username but my password does not work. When I ask for my password I am asked to provide my email address and I do that. MichaelPoizner@aol.com I then get a note that says, this email address is not in the datebase, Now i try to find a way to tell POF my problems. I google customer service for POF and i get a phone number [protected] and they tell me my security is not working and I need to send $300 for security and they will help me.

Please: Plenty of fish. Can you get my account back. I have never been rude, vulgar, or used immoral pictures or anything. I just want my account back. It is awful that one cannot really seem to talk to any official of POF when something goes wrong. I even tried to write the CEO Marcus but i had to have my account working to do so and that is my problem.

thank you

Michael Poizner [protected]

MichaelPoizner@aol.com

I tried to contact Plenty of Fish because I was no longer able to access my account. There was a note from plenty of fish that they changed from PlentyOfFish.com to POF.com but they have saved our passwords. I googled customer service for Plenty of Fish and got a phone number: [protected] and an Indian man call Dany asked me to turn over control of my computer to him so he could fix the problem. He ended up telling me that there is a security problem and for $300 a year he could fix my problem. I asked him for the name of his company and he would not tell me. I suspected fraud.

MichaelPoizner@aol.com

Hi can u please resend me my username and password forgot it thanks

I also have several tries to register my profile and just because I am Russian I was not allowed. That is totally horrible! Still I have a lot of foreign friends on Facebook, was travelling throught Europe and Asia, and never had a purpose to date with someone to get visa etc, I also had some real foreign fans of mine but they do not attract me at all. But why could not I make my own profile in order to make new friends and may be find a boyfriend. Pure discrimination. Those who did not face the problem will never understand. I am also against any kind of rude behaviour sometimes Russian show abroad, any scams, prostitute etc, I always insist on the fact among my friends that is highly important to learn foreign languages (besides English i intensively study Spanish in my business school and German just for pleasure), but when you are well educated, smart girl who can support any topics beginning with science and finishing with political situation to be the object of discrimination made me really really sad and completely disappointed by the plenty of fish.

POF is a very highly racist website. I am a university (senior) lecturer in the UK using plenty of fish. On one a occasion my account was deleted simply because the lady I was in contact with asked me were my parents were from and I answered, Nigeria. I was immediately logged and the account closed. Exactly the same thing happened moments ago. Mind you if I was asked where my parents were from and I lied about it would that be an ethical thing to do? This has happened to many Nigerians male and female using the site. Markus and his team exact this racism as a substitute extreme laziness. The mention of the word Nigeria means nothing. If I say all white people are seriously racist it will create an uproar! If I say all Germans are Hitlerian Nazis, the same thing! Yet it is okay to assume every person who identifies as Nigerian on a dating website is a scammer even when no scamming is done. Markus and his team should know Nigerians in the UK get access to all things they are entitled to including good jobs, loans, mortgages, partnerships, civic honors, advanced qualifications, licenses, permits, leases etc. Markus and his team can remain in the Dark Ages suspicion and superstition without proof yet he has the chutzpah of bragging about some scientific that earned a Nobel Prize he uses to match people. The first woman I was match with on "ultramatch" was Black but she clearly stated in capital letters that she wanted white men only. Nobel prizes are not the stuff of guesswork.

Plenty of Fish discriminates on a regular basis. They had behind international legislative loopholes and continue to exclude certain race, creeds and religions for nihilistic purposes that make sense only to moderators. We can collectively run them out of business by continuing to raise awareness of exclusion and the racist attitude this site represents (as this OP has done). Those who have read her story and continue to subscribe to POF are as morally corrupt as Markus Frind and his staff.