Contact a potential date or others for free!

A: By becoming a paid member of a personals site, can you reap the full potential of that site? No, because only a fraction of the members at any given site are paid members, and others aren't members at all — they're just surfing. The free members and surfers can't contact you. What if a great match saw your profile and would love to contact you, but he or she doesn't want to pay to become a member of the site you belong to? You might never meet that perfect person unless you post your profile on ContactMeFree. There are now almost 1000 personals sites, and some of these sites have millions of members and countless visitors. Therefore, it is obvious that becoming a paid member of a personals site does not maximize your odds of meeting the perfect match. Plenty of people will see your profile that you will never see, so you can't contact them. If you make it easy for them to contact you by creating a ContactMeFree profile, you can multiply your chances of meeting your best possible match.

Considering this and the other advantages mentioned on this page, it's clearly worthwhile to spend a few minutes creating a ContactMeFree profile whether you are a paid or free member of a personals site.

A: ContactMeFree allows you to contact people that you've noticed on personals sites, class reunion sites, and other Internet pages without the need to pay those sites or to create an account with them. You can send messages to those people without revealing your e-mail address, and they can reply to you without revealing their e-mail address. You can also use ContactMeFree to contact people with personals ads in newspapers and magazines. In addition, you can write to people even if they do not have profiles or postings on other sites. Amazingly, you can send messages to people even if they do not yet have a profile on this site. They will receive your message as soon as they create a ContactMeFree profile.

The free MySpamSponge web site gives another way for people on personals sites to contact others (and be contacted) without paying. How? MySpamSponge allows you to create a link between your e-mail address and your handle (contact code). Your handle can be virtually any word, phrase, or number. Basically, your handle is just ordinary text, so you can post it in countless places where you can't (or shouldn't) post your e-mail address. MySpamSponge also gives you your own personal hyperlink, which people can click to contact you just as easily as they would via e-mail. As its name suggests, MySpamSponge also blocks spam — all of it — but never any legitimate messages. MySpamSponge gives people a new way to communicate via the Internet. It is easy to use, yet incredibly powerful. Spend a few minutes reading its FAQ page, and you will understand how you now have a new Internet tool that allows you to do things that would otherwise be impossible.

A: For exact phrase searching: Copy a sentence or two from their profile, paste it into the search box on this page, and then click the Search button. If you enter text from a non-Internet source such as a personals ad in a newspaper, be sure to type in the text exactly as it appears. You won't get a match if you make a typographical error.

If you select the option to search with all of the words: Type in one or more words. You can narrow your search by adding more words, or choosing words that are used less often.

A: Use exact phrase searching when you wish to contact someone after reading their profile or posting on another site. Copy a sentence or two from their profile or posting, paste it into the search box on this page, and then click the Search button. You can also use exact phrase searching to find people who include certain key phrases in their profiles. For example, if you want a partner with great legs, type great legs or I have great legs into the search box.

Search with all of the words when you wish to search for people who included certain key words in their profile. For example, if you wish to meet a doctor with blue eyes from Michigan, select the option to search with all of the words and type in doctor blue eyes Michigan. This gives you the ability to contact someone even if you have not seen their profile, or if they do not have a profile on another site. Searching with all of the words is useful for contacting former classmates (this is explained in another topic on this page).

Q: Is ContactMeFree useful for receiving messages from people who read the text I posted on Internet pages besides dating and class reunion sites?

A: Yes. Here is a list of other instances for which ContactMeFree messaging is useful:

Example	What you do to enable others to contact you	How others can contact you
You posted text on an Internet newsgroup or some web page, and wish to receive replies without divulging your e-mail address or other contact information in your posting.	Create or update your profile to add the text that you wrote and posted to that newsgroup or web page.	Copy a sentence or two of the text you wrote, paste it into the search box on this page, and then click the Search button.

You meet someone at a party, and wish to allow that person to contact you without revealing your phone number or e-mail address.	Give that person your ContactMeFree username.	Enter the username they gave you into the search box on this page, and then click the Search button.

If you think of another use for ContactMeFree messaging, please tell us about it. If you are the first to suggest a useful application, we will send you a gift package consisting of a ContactMeFree T-shirt, mug, and possibly lots of other stuff, depending on how beneficial your suggestion is.

Q: Should I mention in my newsgroup postings that respondents can contact me via www.contactmefree.com?

A: Yes, if you wish to receive more responses. People are more likely to do something if you make it easy for them. Many people who seek technical or other help from newsgroups receive no reply, or replies that are not helpful. Some of the people who could offer help will not respond because they may not be a registered member of the group and don't want to take the time to register. If you want assistance, it behooves you to make it easy for people to help you.

A: Our exclusive MagicMessaging technology holds the messages for you, and then sends them as soon as you create a profile.

A: Your profile must include the text you posted to other sites if you want people reading those pages to contact you. For example, if you have a personal ad on some site and political comments on another site that say the following:

From your personal ad:	I am an energetic, enthusiastic, and creative man who has a lot to offer the right woman. If you are intelligent, interesting, and looking for a loving relationship leading to marriage, I may be the one for you! I keep busy with my job, socializing with friends, and working in my yard. I like to build unusual things, such as a shed that looks just like a lighthouse. I enjoy doing favors for those who need help and cannot reciprocate. For example, I once lived about a mile from an elderly man who lost a leg in World War 2. After a blizzard, I noticed that he had four feet of snow in his driveway and porch, so I spent that afternoon digging him out.

From your political posting:	I think that our governor and state legislators need to cooperate more instead of carrying on endless rivalries that are rooted in party politics, not logic. However, bitter political discord is not a new phenomenon; even our Founding Fathers had vitriolic disputes with one another.

Optionally, you may include basic facts about you so people can contact you even if you do not have a profile or postings on other sites. For example, if you wish to permit former classmates to contact you, your profile should include your name, year of graduation (or all years of attendance), school name, and its location. When mentioning a state, it is advisable to spell it out and include the 2-letter abbreviation since users may search for it either way. If you choose to include your name, you may wish to mention it and your nickname, if any (such as Jim for James). You can also list various key words and key phrases that describe you, your college degree and occupation, hobbies, interests, achievements, and goals. Other possibilities include your maiden name, places you've worked, personality characteristics, favorite radio programs, television shows, movies, books, music, foods, etc.

Basic facts about you:	Kevin, 1976, Lakeland High School, White Lake, Michigan MI doctor, intelligent, inventor, kind, loving, considerate, baking, bicycling, boating, books, building things, clever, down-to-earth, educated, health, learning, MD, medicine, multifaceted, nature, nutrition, physician, reading, science, snowmobiling, thinking, think outside the box, traveling, woodworking, writing

I am an energetic, enthusiastic, and creative man who has a lot to offer the right woman. If you are intelligent, interesting, and looking for a loving relationship leading to marriage, I may be the one for you! I keep busy with my job, socializing with friends, and working in my yard. I like to build unusual things, such as a shed that looks just like a lighthouse. I enjoy doing favors for those who need help and cannot reciprocate. For example, I once lived about a mile from an elderly man who lost a leg in World War 2. After a blizzard, I noticed that he had four feet of snow in his driveway and porch, so I spent that afternoon digging him out.

I think that our governor and state legislators need to cooperate more instead of carrying on endless rivalries that are rooted in party politics, not logic. However, bitter political discord is not a new phenomenon; even our Founding Fathers had vitriolic disputes with one another.

doctor, intelligent, inventor, kind, loving, considerate, baking, bicycling, boating, books, building things, clever, down-to-earth, educated, health, learning, MD, medicine, multifaceted, nature, nutrition, physician, reading, science, snowmobiling, thinking, think outside the box, traveling, woodworking, writing

A: ContactMeFree users can send and receive messages from users of all personals sites, and countless Internet pages. With other free dating sites, you can communicate with users of that site only. Using ContactMeFree also eliminates the need to create an account and profile on that free dating site, thus saving you time. Furthermore, ContactMeFree is always 100% free for personal use. Many sites claim to be free, but you often find out otherwise after wasting an hour creating an account and profile on them. A few of these sites offer a short free trial, but most only allow you to post a profile and search for free — which isn't any different from how the paid sites operate! To contact others on those "free" sites, you must pay. Some "free" sites won't even let you read a message sent from a paid member unless you also pay. So are these sites truly free? Obviously not. Furthermore, some of these sites are based in countries in which law enforcement is lax, so you should think twice before giving them your credit card number or e-mail address. ContactMeFree is based in the United States, and we don't want your credit card number. Not now, not next month, not ever. We know that user privacy is one of the keys to making this site successful, so we do not spam, nor do we release your e-mail address to anyone who may do that. Basically, we treat you the same as we would like to be treated.

Q: What are the advantages of using ContactMeFree instead of sending messages through paid dating sites?

A: Messaging through ContactMeFree is faster and cheaper. If you are not already a member of a paid personals site, you have to do a lot of work if you want to use their site to contact someone interesting. You must first create an account with them by entering your name, street address, city, state, zip code, country, phone number, date of birth, e-mail address, desired username and password, credit card number, its date of expiration, billing address, your name as it appears on your card, and sometimes other information. Next, you must spend up to a few hours creating a profile by answering many questions about yourself and uploading pictures. Then after all that you might wait a day or two for your profile to be approved.

In contrast, it takes only seconds to send a message to someone using ContactMeFree. Enter a sentence or two from their profile into the Search box, and in a flash you can begin typing a message to that person. You can tell the recipient more about yourself by clicking the Include a link to my ContactMeFree profile box. Then click the Contact me button. It's that simple.

Q: If I am already a paid member of various personals sites, what are the advantages of using ContactMeFree to send messages?

You can log in just once instead of dealing with multiple usernames and passwords for all those sites.

Your ContactMeFree profile can include more information about you than you can squeeze into the space limitations imposed by other dating sites.

You can include photographs of yourself that wouldn't make it past the censors who screen and doctor photos for some dating sites. We think that some of their standards are overly restrictive, such as routinely cropping photos below the neck for women who submit pictures of themselves in a bikini.

Your ContactMeFree photos can be larger than what are permitted on most dating sites (even the expensive ones). With many dating sites, you may be tempted to reach for a magnifying glass while viewing their member photos.

You can give your e-mail address in your message if you wish. Some paid dating sites censor your e-mail address unless the recipient is also a paid member. The intent is obvious: to keep you needing them — and paying their monthly fees — to communicate with your matches.

With some dating sites, you must log on to check for new messages. That's not only more work for you, but you might miss a lot of matches! If you've given up on a site and don't log on to check for messages, a note from Mr. Right may never be read — or it may be read too late. To prevent this, you would need to log on again and again and keep checking. Why log in dozens of times just to get one new message? We do the work for you — with ContactMeFree we'll notify you by e-mail if you have received a new message within the past day. Reading that message is quick and easy: just click on the link in the e-mail. What could be easier?

Q: I am currently a member of a paid dating site. What are the advantages of creating a ContactMeFree profile so people can send messages to me through your site?

A: In addition to the benefits mentioned elsewhere on this page, one of the main advantages of having a ContactMeFree profile is that you will receive more responses, thus increasing the likelihood of finding a great match. Online dating is more expensive than it may seem. You could pay $20 to $50 per month and then be able to contact members of only one personals site. But what if you wanted to contact members of other paid dating sites? Until ContactMeFree came along, you would have to pay those fees — which could total over a thousand dollars per month — if you wanted the opportunity to find your best possible match. Even if you could afford that, who has the time to create so many accounts and profiles?

Q: Why should I use ContactMeFree if I can easily afford the monthly fee charged by personals sites?

A: Everyone who participates in online dating should use ContactMeFree! Even if you have unlimited money and time to create accounts and profiles on various personals sites, you can't get the most for your money and time unless you use ContactMeFree. Why? Most people with profiles on dating sites are not paid members, and thus are unable to initiate contact with others. What if a great match saw your profile and would love to contact you, but he or she doesn't want to pay to become a member of the site you belong to? Every pay site is just a small, isolated part of the dating pool. You might never meet that perfect person unless you post your profile on ContactMeFree. Some sites block users from reading messages sent to them unless they're paid members, so your perfect match may not be able to read a message from you unless you send it via ContactMeFree. The bottom line is that you'll be able to communicate with more people if you use ContactMeFree, and more people means more chances to find the right person for you!

Furthermore, by using ContactMeFree, you can help revitalize the online dating industry. It's yearly growth was once impressive, but it is now plateauing. This stagnation isn't due to a lack of potential users because many people who could benefit from online dating have never tried it or have given up for various reasons. By making it fast, free, and easy to contact others, ContactMeFree will attract more personals members and increase the response rate, thus making online dating more appealing, which will encourage even more people to participate.

With some personals sites you can't become a member unless you possess a degree from an Ivy League school. With other sites you have to be a college student, or an alumnus with a valid .edu e-mail address. Or you must swear that you hold certain political or moral views. Or you have to meet their standards of personality and emotional health. Or other criteria that strikes us as being too snobbish, judgmental, or clubby.

You may have a profile on a site but not be a paid member of it. Here is a common dilemma: someone from that site writes to you, but their profile is sketchy, or they have no photo. Do you really want to endure the hassle and expense of becoming a paid member of that site just to discover more about that person?

If you are a man who spots a gorgeous woman on a paid personals site, it is safe to assume that she is being flooded with responses from other men. If you are not a paid member of that site, you will probably think twice about spending $20 to $50 for paying that site to relay your message to her.

According to reports by users of one overpriced personals site, it withholds matches to string along their members for as long as possible — obviously to extract more money from them. You might have 10 matches available, but they'll only send you a few hits a month. What a rip-off! ContactMeFree is always free to use, and we never play games with you. If someone wants to contact you, he or she can do it now — not a few months from now, when you may have wasted money and time dating others who are less appealing.

Many personals sites have cluttered and confusing pages. We've heard lots of complaints about those sites, and we listened. Using ContactMeFree is simple and straightforward.

One of our main philosophies and most important concerns is the belief that paid personals sites inherently discriminate against people who are on a tight budget, like single parents. At ContactMeFree, we believe everyone deserves an equal opportunity to find love.

Q: I placed a personals ad in a newspaper, and I would like to be able to receive replies from people without them having to pay the $1.99 per minute that service charges. How can I use ContactMeFree for this purpose?

A: When you create your ContactMeFree profile, enter the text that you wrote for the newspaper ad exactly as it appears in the ad. If you make a typographical error, respondents will not be able to send messages to you.

A: Yes, and it will always be 100% free for personal use. There are no catches or gimmicks. Of course, we hope that you check out the products and services offered by our advertisers. We know that most people are inundated with advertising, so we won't accept an ad unless it is for something wonderful that many people would love to know about. For example, the books by Dr. Kevin Pezzi can help you look better, feel better, and have a more satisfying love life. You are probably jaded by similar claims made about countless other books, but if you read what Dr. Pezzi has to say, you'll realize that he gives priceless tips that you won't find elsewhere.

A: No. Please read our Terms of Service, which explicitly prohibits any business-related usage. ContactMeFree may be used for personal use only. If you wish to advertise on our site, you can contact us.

Find a friend, relative, neighbor, or community service organization with the necessary equipment.

Q: How can I resize my photographs so they are less than your maximum width of 640 pixels? How can I crop my photos? How can I save them in the JPEG format?

Your digital camera or scanner probably came with digital editing software that permits you to resize pictures, crop (trim) them, and save them as JPEG (.jpeg or .jpg) files.

www.resizr.com is, as its clever name suggests, an online image resizing tool that's free to use. In addition to resizing images, it permits you to change their format (such as changing a TIF file to a JPEG file), quality, and rotation. I couldn't find any privacy policy or terms of service when I tested the site, but Matt Miller, the site's owner, seems to be a good guy with no malicious intent whatsoever. (Using some free sites may infect your computer with spyware, adware, and other malicious code that may be disclosed in the site's privacy policy or terms of service.)

If you have a Windows PC, it includes a basic image editing program (Paint) that performs all three functions (here's how). However, there are much better free alternatives (see below).

Google offers a downloadable program, Picasa, that offers this functionality and much more. Although Picasa is free, in many ways it equals or outshines competitive programs costing hundreds of dollars. For example, it can significantly enhance the image quality of even good professional photographs, transforming them from good to great. Here is a short tutorial on using Picasa.

IrfanView is also free for home (non-commercial) use but very capable and easy to use. Here is a short tutorial on using IrfanView. Although IrfanView is free, we recommend that you donate money to its developer to thank him for developing and supporting his wonderful program. On the IrfanView site, please click the Support IrfanView link.

PhotoPlus 6 is an excellent free photo editing program that's simple to use. You can download it from www.freeserifsoftware.com, which also offers other splendid free software. Is there a catch? Not really. Their software is very good, but the free products are not the latest versions. Here is a short tutorial on using PhotoPlus 6.

PhotoFiltre is a great shareware program that's also very capable and easy to use. Here is a short tutorial on using PhotoFiltre. PhotoFiltre is currently limited to a 30-day trial period. If you wish to continue using PhotoFiltre after the trial period, you must purchase a registration key from the program's author.

Windows XP users can reduce the file size and display size of JPEG or GIF pictures by following this simple procedure. First, right-click a JPEG or GIF image file from Windows Explorer. Select SEND TO, then MAIL RECIPIENT from the shortcut menu. MAKE ALL MY PICTURES SMALLER is selected by default in the box that appears next. (Note: Your original photos are not altered. To be more accurate, that box should say REDUCE THE SIZE OF THE PICTURES I SEND BY E-MAIL USING THIS PROCESS.) After clicking OK, Windows creates an outgoing e-mail message with the new, smaller picture attached to it. Send it to yourself and open the message. Right-click on the image and select SAVE PICTURE AS. Use that picture to upload to this site. Tip: JPEG is a better format for pictures than GIF.

Another option for users of Windows XP is to download Microsoft's free Image Resizer. This PowerToy enables you to resize JPEG and GIF images, but it won't permit you to convert image formats, crop pictures, or enhance them in other ways. One of the advantages of Image Resizer is that you don't need to start a separate program to use it; it is always available by right-clicking an image file in Windows Explorer and then clicking RESIZE PICTURES. You can choose from one of four standard sizes or a custom size. If you resize an image for ContactMeFree, choose either Small, Handheld PC, or Custom (the latter option is shown after clicking the Advanced button). If you select Custom, we recommend a size of 400 by 400 pixels, but no more than 640 by 640 pixels (note that this merely sets the maximum horizontal or vertical size; it will not distort the aspect ratio of your pictures). The default option for all resizing is to create a smaller copy of the original image while leaving the original image intact. However, you can also choose to resize the original image without creating a new picture.

A: Yes. You can play the ContactMeFree game by thinking of a phrase that might be in a profile. Type it into the Search box, and see who that leads you to! Research indicates that people love both unexpected surprises and imaginative interaction; here is a way to meld those things. You can play this game solo, or include your friends and have fun predicting what might turn up.

A: You can bookmark this site (add it to your favorites). Or add a shortcut to your desktop, which will look like this (except the background color or image will be whatever is on your desktop in that spot):

For more information on this topic, and for more locations in which you can put quick links, see www.make-a-favicon.com.

Q: Why do some people prefer to receive messages via ContactMeFree instead of e-mail?

To increase the likelihood that they will promptly receive every message sent to them. E-mail messages can be delayed for various reasons, or they may get lost in cyberspace and never arrive. A message may also be filtered out as spam even when it is purely legitimate. These problems will continue to affect the reliability of e-mail communication for the foreseeable future. ContactMeFree messaging is inherently more reliable and less susceptible to spam.

Q: Can I give people a link to my ContactMeFree profile page so they can find it without doing a search? If so, how do I find out what this link is?

A: Yes, you can give them your permanent link (permalink). To find out what it is, locate your profile page by searching for it, and then copy the URL (address) in your browser's address bar. The link should look something like this:

However, the number at the end of the link will be different. If you include your permalink in your newsgroup (and other) postings, you can give people a way to contact you without you having to worry about spam. You might also want to include your permalink in your e-mail signature. An e-mail signature is a small amount of text added to the end of your outgoing e-mail messages. E-mail signatures are easy to include. For example, in Outlook Express, select Tools, then Options, and then click the Signatures tab. Click the New button and paste your permalink into the Edit Signature text box. Now click Apply. You will probably want to rename the signature in the Signatures box. Click it, then select Rename. Clear the existing text and enter a name such as ContactMeFree permalink, then hit Enter on your keyboard. You may wish to check the box under Signature settings that says Add signatures to all outgoing messages. You can also choose to manually add a signature. After you compose your message, click Insert, then Signature.

A: To find your ID#, go to your profile page, and look at the URL (address) in your browser's address bar. It should look something like this:

However, the number at the end will be different. Whatever number comes after pid= is your ID#. The top of every page includes a Find a profile by its ID# search box. People can easily locate your profile by entering your ID# into that box.

A: Yes. We have a solution for a problem that affects almost everyone who is looking for a partner: You're out in public someplace, and see a person that you want to meet. What do you do? Well, if you're like most people, you say nothing, walk away, and later regret being so timid. The person you passed up might have otherwise become your spouse, or just a great friend.

Here's our solution: hand that person your ContactMeFree intro card (see below):

Your intro card allows you to communicate with that person without the need for either of you to reveal your e-mail address or other personal information. That makes the person more likely to respond, if he or she is interested.

A: It's easy — just send and receive your personal messages through ContactMeFree whenever possible. Please encourage your friends and family members to sign up for a free ContactMeFree account so they can enjoy it benefits. ContactMeFree messaging is more reliable than e-mail and potentially even faster to use. For example, to start the program (or browser), log in, check for messages, and send a simple message took 35 seconds using Outlook Express, 45 seconds using a web-based e-mail account (Yahoo! Mail), but only 22 seconds using ContactMeFree. Furthermore, with ContactMeFree you won't need to waste time sorting through spam and deleting it because ContactMeFree messaging is inherently resistant to spam.

Q: I opened a Private Message sent to me and replied to that person after clicking the "Reply to this Message" button. However, once I opened that message again, the "Reply to this Message" button was absent. How can I contact that person again?

A: If they respond to you, you can open the new message and reply to it (to open it, click on its subject). You can also click your respondent's username, which is just to the left of the message subject. Doing that opens their profile and gives you the opportunity to send another message.

A: You can suspend your profile by logging in to your account and manually deleting your profile text, pictures, and their captions. People will no longer be able to find your profile from a text search, but your account remains active so that you can add text, pictures, and captions in the future without the need to establish a new account. You can also continue to log in to read your existing messages.

You can cancel your account/profile by clicking the delete link in the Welcome to Contactmefree.com e-mail sent when you first created your account (click the link just below please click the link below to delete this account). This deletes your profile text, criteria, pictures, and their captions in addition to erasing all of your Contactmefree messages. People will no longer be able to find your profile from a search. If you wish to post a new profile in the future, you must create a new account.