I'm male and I was interested in meeting women for sexual encounters. Adult dating sites seemed to be the ticket. This was about 10-15 years ago.
The sites I joined, for a while, were Amateur (something or other), and Adult Friend Finder. Eventually, I checked into several others and actually read their Terms of Use--which were all similar.
I've found both of them to be rip-offs. I don't know whether you're aware of this or not, but if you read their Terms of Use, they all (or at least the ones I've had experience with or whose Terms I read) admit to using 'dummy' members. They had different labels for them, but that's what they were. Dummy Members are not real people but are made up. They claimed to use them to 'encourage participation' and keep things interesting.
Of course, that's not the real reason. These companies make their money by keeping you a paying member. (As a non-paying member, you couldn't communicate with other members; you could merely look at their profiles.) To communicate with members, you have to become a member yourself. Moreover, you have to use their site email, and of course, in order to continue using their site email, you have to continue to be a paying member.
Obviously, if you asked a paying member for their personal email and/or phone number--and say, you did that with several members, why would you want to continue to go through their website email and remain a paying member? You wouldn't need to, because you could communicate and arrange meetings directly, bypassing the adult dating site. And of course, for them that would mean losing you and the other members as paying members.
They used the following tactic to keep you a paying member.
They basically monitor your communications by using these dummy members or if you happened to get a real person, they monitored those communications as well. (The Terms also gives them this right.) If you asked any real members for their personal email or phone number, they probably used some kind of word or number 'sieve' to catch you if you did. Now, in their Terms, they don't say it's not permissable for you to do this. Instead, AFF, e.g., claims that you should use caution in giving out personal information and strongly discourage you from doing so--as if they were interested in your welfare--and not in their own pocket book!
I did complain to the BBB and AFF agreed to let me have additional free membership time, but when I said that I wanted to have the right to exchange personal information, they balked (even though it's permissable, though discouraged in their Terms)--and ultimately again sabotaged any attemmpts on my part to exchange personal email addresses and phone numbers. So I gave up. I would never sign up again.
Of course, if you don't mind paying their outrageous dues, more power to ya...
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