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According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the largest site is Match.com, owned by Ticketmaster. Yahoo! Personals is number two. Other major players include Lavalife, Date.com, Dream Mates and Kiss.com. The Internet's global reach and anonymity fuels the businesses, eliminating stime and distance from the dating equation while easing the awkwardness of trying to meet someone in, say, a bar. "It speeds up the evolutionary process, if you will," said Steve Duininick, 51, a Tribeca furniture dealer, divorced twice and father of four kids. "You can literally do romance on an instant basis. I could go out with one gal on Friday and another on Saturday." The more people use online dating services, the better they get. The databases of singles grow and grow, with more choices for all. "It might take me a month to meet 100 single women" in the normal fashion, said Al Cooper, director of a San Jose, Calif. marital clinic and editor of the forthcoming book "Sex and the Internet." "On the Internet, you could look through 100 people in an hour," Cooper said. "The computer just accelerates these things." The sites gather and share far more information than any newspaper personal ad, sharing details such as body type, education level, age, income, hobbies and interests -- and the features desired in a mate. Most of the sites allow visitors to browse pictures and profiles for free but levy a fee when a browser wants to contact a client, usually done by e-mail. Clients reveal their identities and contact information to each other when they feel ready. In this manner, Internet dating turns the regular courtship process on its head.
"The good thing about meeting online is that you get to know each other on an intellectual level first, then you see if you're attracted on a physical level," said Tim Sullivan, chief executive of Match.com. Some sites, like Match.com, cater only to singles. They won't allow a married person to register. Others, such as Lavalife, cater to folks seeking anything from marriage to group sex, even letting customers post nude photos of themselves. It's not just young professionals who look for dates online. The Web sites corral lonely elderly folks, single moms who have little time to troll for dates, disabled people -- including the blind, who use text-to-speech software to read their correspondence -- and those like Gervitz, with strict criteria in looks, wealth, religious belief or personal habits.
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