local dating services

Matchmaker. com is an internet (and, prior to the internet, dial-up) dating service. It was founded in 1986, making it one of the oldest of the current online dating sites. From 2000 to January 2006, it was run by Lycos. In January 2006, it was purchased by Date. com.

Unlike many dating sites, Matchmaker. Top 5 Dating Sites. com aligned members into one of several demographic or geographic communities, with only limited communication between members of different communities.

Members would complete a questionnaire which consists of several multiple-choice items as well as some essay questions where you can fill in more specific information about yourself such as "What are your hobbies and interests?" or "What would you ideal first date be like?" When one searched for a potential match, matches were ranked according to the percentage of identical responses you have to the responses in someone else's profile in the multiple-choice section of the questionnaire. You could also sort your match list by distance from your zip code to the zip code of the matches.

History

The original site started in 1986 was in the form of a Dial-up Bulletin board system. Each system catered to a geographic area (code) allowing users to find like interests. The original BBS based system only catered to local computer savvy users within a local telephone area code.