It can be quite a difficult task to classify who you are within the confines of an online dating profile.  What hobbies do you list, are the entries too wordy, do your jokes fall flat?  How about the very particular problem of being polyamorous?  Many dating sites only allow for a choice between 3 distinct choices: Single – Married – Prefer Not To Mention.  How about the fact that many sites are still a bit behind the times and don’t allow for choosing male looking for male or female for female when searching for potential relationships?  We’re not all cut from the same mold and deserve to try our hands at online dating with the same ease as the circle peg majority.  With my fellow squares in mind I searched the web for a few of the best “lifestyle” specific  online dating sites.

Polyamory

PolyMatchmaker.com – You can immediately tell that this site is for the Poly community by members of the Poly community, strickly from the feel of love that saturates each of their pages.  The only drawback is that this site is a little on the small side (At around 7000 strong) so you might exhaust your local choices quickly.  Thankfully the website is choked full of articles, forums, has a very active community, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s a free site to boot.

Gay Male

OutPersonals.com – The registration for this website was one of the most in depth ones I have ever filled out (other than e-harmony’s personality profile questionnaire).  Not only did I fill out my likes and dislikes, I also had the ability to choose my length, girth, clothing style, body hair, and dozens of other details that could paint a perfect picture of who I was as a gay male.  The website is set up to cut to the point rather than dilly dallying with tests and other time fillers, you look for a potential guy/couple, email them and away you go.  Outpersonals.com also has a 2 tier membership scheme that allows for choosing how featured you wish your profile to be on the main site.

Lesbian

Lesbotronic.com – This is another “for us, by us” page that looks specifically made to cater to its community.  The lesbian/bisexual/curious site stays away from the countless boring dropdown boxes found on other sites and instead you’re treated to a humorous line of questions that add a little levity to the sometimes mundane task of filling a profile out.  These questions also provide you a quick and easy way to create a profile for yourself without having to think up any of the specifics yourself.  To ensure the validity of profiles there’s also a 72 hour window in which your profile will be reviewed by one of the Web-mistresses.  While the wait might feel long, you will be treated to a site that is 10’s of thousands strong and is 100% free.

BDSM/S&M

Alt.com – Don’t let Alt.com’s commercial veneer steer you away.  When it comes down to it you will not find a bigger BDSM, S&M, or Fetish community on the web.  This huge community is comprised of folks that cover just about every demographic with tastes that vary from latex to bondage and everything in between.  The registration is just as detailed as OutPersonals.com’s is and allows for you to outline exactly what your fetishes are and what roles you prefer to play.  The pricing scheme is exactly like OutPersonals.com and is based on how “featured” you wish your profile to be on the site.

By no means are the sites above the end all be all when it comes to online dating sites dedicated to specific walks of life, but they are all quality sites that are made to fill the void left behind by their larger corporate owned counterparts.  Hopefully down the line articles like mine will not be needed but until then I hope my words have been helpful.  Later squares.

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