Penpal.net

...purple header with the name Penpal.net is displayed and pictures of people which is what this site is all about are shown on the home page.

GETTING AROUND THE SITE

Getting around the site is easy. Navigation is obvious and searches simple, although since the change of the layout, you need to delve deeper than before to find suitable people with the same interests as you, visiting each home page, whereas before there ...
...that you could eliminate those that were obviously not fitting to your criteria.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I think this is one of the best penpal sites on the net and if you really want a penpal, then look no further.

TIPS

After having received a lot of response at first, I was a little concerned. Some people just wanted to chat and introduced me to messengers, and then became lazy with writing. ... more

When I first had my computer, I was curious as we all are when given a space as big as the Internet to search. Suddenly a whole new world opens up and I thought I would explore it to its fullest. I had always enjoyed traditional penpals and typed the word penpal into my browser and came up with various sites that offered a penpal service, although the best of its kind was Penpal.net.

This comes on Ciao under the category of chatrooms, although this is not accurate since the site do not have this facility, nor forums, nor discussions, although the site does merit a write up as I believe what they offer is value.

On arriving at the home page of this site, its fairly upbeat, and becoming a member is free, and not difficult. You are sent details of your membership by email and then you are able to log in and take a look around.

When logged in you can go into the search facility and then chose the criteria of your search, i.e. male/female, age range, country. I chose countries far away and wanted someone English speaking, though male because I get on better with males than females, I chose the same age range as myself, because I thought I would relate better to people of my own age.

One of my criteria was that I had a penpal a long way away. You hear nightmares about people turning up on your doorstep and that was the last thing on earth I wanted. I just wanted an online friend because in those days I knew nothing about messengers, etc., someone that would be in my postbox and write to me on a regular basis.

They have recently changed the site format, and you have to go into each individual profile to see what the person is like which is a shame because before there was a small introduction to each member on the search page, and you could seek out those that interested you.

Each member has a page and the particular area that I always look for is "Random thoughts" because it tells me a lot about a person and whether they are on the same wavelength as me.

When you find someone that you like the look of you can email them and make first contact. No photographs are available on site, so really you are working a little on who a person is rather than what they look like.

ADVANTAGES

I have met some really nice people on this site that have become part of my life. I have an American penpal that has written to me for three years now. We write every day and are best buddies and I have never had reason to doubt his sincerity. We are really similar people and intellectual equals. We play chess together online every weekend, and we share our lives. This man and I discuss the Bible, and all kinds of things that I am curious about and we share online music as well.

Another friend I found on this site now translates my short stories into French and Spanish and has opened up a whole new sales area for my short stories. He has become a real friend and comes here for holidays as well as inviting me to both his home in Toulouse and his parents in Barcelona.

I met a contact that gave me work in Paris when I needed to get away during a bad spot with my husband. I had eight weeks work in his family looking after children that now come here for their summer holidays.

DISADVANTAGES

There are professionals out there that try to win your confidence and I believe that vulnerable people can get hurt if they look for more than just an online friendship. One professional was trying to get me to part with money to buy him a retirement home. I thought this a little dubious and checked him out by writing to him under a different name and within 5 emails, he was asking "her" the same things as he asked me.

CARE

You would not approach a stranger and tell them your address and phone number, and on a site such as this, utmost care should be taken with giving out information which makes you vulnerable. I have personally had no difficulties with the site at all or nothing that I could not handle, although I am an adult. Since there are penpals out there for children from 13 years of age, I believe that parents should be made aware of who their children are writing to and keep a constant vigil of the correspondence that they receive.

There are nearly 2000 members in the 13 age group, both girls and boys, and I believe that the site is one of the safest ones for children because email arrives on the site, not to your own email address and you have the choice of whether you then give them any more information.

LAYOUT AND DESIGN

The site is well laid out, and there is a world on the left hand side of the screen emphasising how small the world has become since the birth of the internet. A deep purple header with the name Penpal.net is displayed and pictures of people which is what this site is all about are shown on the home page.

GETTING AROUND THE SITE

Getting around the site is easy. Navigation is obvious and searches simple, although since the change of the layout, you need to delve deeper than before to find suitable people with the same interests as you, visiting each home page, whereas before there was a little bit of information about each member so that you could eliminate those that were obviously not fitting to your criteria.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I think this is one of the best penpal sites on the net and if you really want a penpal, then look no further.

TIPS

After having received a lot of response at first, I was a little concerned. Some people just wanted to chat and introduced me to messengers, and then became lazy with writing. Some stayed loyal and continue to write.

I found a really good way of weeding out the time wasters. I do something which I call a "fast and furious", chosing a time when you are both online at the same time. What this consists of is an exchange of email at a rate of knots. You ask all the questions you want to ask and so do they, as well as replying to their questions.

What this does is make sure that they do not have time to be clever and deceiptful. Emails fly backwards and forwards and its like a conversation through email giving you the chance to discover their humour, their beliefs, their objectives, etc., and weeding out people that really do not hold your interest or have very little to say.

I have at the moment 8 penpals on a regular basis and I consider them all my friends. Each of them was chosen from this site.

What's more THE SITE IS FREE 

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