Free site helping Mainers get dates

For a while, Chris James and Jerod Lepage couldn’t figure out why their friends were going out on so many dates.

James and Lepage figured it out eventually. Their pals were meeting people on the Internet.

But the Winslow natives were surprised by how much money the big dating sites such as match.com and yahoo.com charged.

So they decided to try to do it for free.

James and Lepage became business partners and started www.mainefriendfinder.com about three months ago. The no-frills Web site now has 100 female members and 95 male members, which James said he is pleased with, considering he hasn’t done any advertising.

“It’s really just a fun thing,” said the 24-year-old. “We thought it was something people would like.”

That the Web site is free sets it apart from just about every other dating site out there. That was the whole point of starting FriendFinder.

I know. A free dating Web site? No charge for e-mails or “winks” or chatting? Took you a minute to process, right?

You do have to register, of course, but other than that, it’s easy Internet dating.

James and Lepage aren’t getting rich from this venture, although they have linked another of their Web sites, www.mainelyevents.com, to the dating site. MainelyEvents is a site that lists organizations and businesses in 170 categories. Even that site is relatively cheap, with a free three-month trial and memberships starting as low as $4.95 a month.

“We didn’t really plan on making any money,” James said. “We’re just kind of doing this for fun.”

They both have jobs, anyway. James works at Radio Shack and Lepage, 23, works for Maine Track Maintenance.

FriendFinder isn’t the fanciest dating site out there, probably because James and Lepage don’t make enough money for fancy stuff. But who wants to wait for all the graphics on the big sites to load on your screen, anyway?

My absolute favorite feature of FriendFinder is the full listing of members with ages, locations, gender, and what kind of person you’re looking for (as in straight, gay, bisexual, etc.). Just click on “show full list” under the “newest members” section and you get the entire list of members. It’s so easy to scroll through and find someone in your part of the state.

You also can indicate that you’re just interested in making platonic friends, although most people seem to be registered as interested in dating.

And there are members from lots of different towns from Caribou to Kittery, although our friends in Washington County aren’t well represented. Then again, without advertising, there must be plenty of people who haven’t heard about FriendFinder. If they knew about it – and that it’s free! – more of our state’s singles might sign up.

James said there are no major plans for expansion, although video chatting will be up and running soon. Oh, that’s also free.

A word of warning: This isn’t the tamest Web site. There’s no nudity, but there are a few profile names that aren’t appropriate for reprint in a family newspaper. In the FAQ section, the site allows for risque pictures but no nudity – not yet, anyway. Apparently there’s an Adult Maine Friend Finder in the works.

“We have gotten a lot of requests for that,” James said with a laugh.

Despite a couple of glaring goofs – how can the word ‘potatoes’ be constantly misspelled on a Web site about Maine? – and the fact that there are so few gay and bisexual listings, FriendFinder is a winning site. It’s no-fuss, it’s all Mainers, and it’s easy to search.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s free?

Jessica Bloch can be reached at jbloch@bangordailynews.net