Reviews from this user (69129)

Rather disappointing, if you're outside the U.S.A.

Review about No Longer Lonely

Before I say anything else about the NLL site, I should stress that the following is merely the experience of one man, outside America. For all I know to the contrary, the experiences of persons (of either sex) within the States could have been much happier as far as the NLL site goes. But I must speak as I find.

On the home page of the site, we read the words: "The webmaster checks the IP address of every incoming profile and uses advanced techniques to prevent scammers from getting on the site." Unfortunately scammers have not been prevented at all, although I dare say the webmaster does what he can.

I have been repeatedly approached on the site by women who demand money from me. And these women's messages to me are in a type of fractured English very different from the perfectly grammatical English of their profiles.

In at least one case I believe - on the strength of a Google search - that a "Michigan"-based woman was actually operating out of Liberia. So I have reason to suppose that wholesale identity theft is involved.

Whilst NLL does not cost a huge amount of money, I do not plan to renew my membership when my original term expires. Thus far, I have written twice in the last week to the webmaster (once via the site itself, once via a personal email) expressing my concern at the above.

Maybe the lesson here is, don't consider this kind of site unless you are in the U.S.A.

Pros
Not expensive compared with many others. What's more, the idea behind NLL is a good, and necessary, one.

Cons
Whatever checking of members' bona-fides actually takes place isn't adequate. (See above.) Of course, perhaps the technology means it simply can't be adequate. I wouldn't know.

Update as of February 18, 2015: since writing the above, I have in fact heard from the webmaster, which I had not done before. The webmaster told me that the individuals concerned were indeed scammers and had been blocked by him from the site. This is good news. Yet why is the existing anti-scam mechanism clearly not functioning as it should?

replies:

Review: Disapointing experience

I agree with what David has written above. In my case, it is true, there were fewer obvious scammers than he seems to have had to put up with. I simply found that the vast majority of profiles hadn't been active for months, and that when I sent a message to a female I was, for most - not all - of the time simply ignored. Try as I might, I find it hard to believe that I was too repulsive or obnoxious to have rated at least the courtesy of a simple "thanks but no thanks" reply.

Since I stayed away from the forum I was not myself subjected to any viciousness. But I do wonder about the advisability of having a forum at all, if this is how it is going to turn out.

Perhaps if one lived within the USA one would have a more satisfactory experience with the website. As it is, I am now inclined to steer clear, even at the modest price which NLL charges to members.