In some ways, it's a lot like the kid selling lemonade for a nickel across the walk from some Coke machines. For next to nothing, your expectations can be a ton lower and you'll still feel like you're getting some value. And if these free sites can actually beat out the established players in features and community, they'll basically be dead in the water, 'cause there's no price that beats nothing.

Then again, I heard that when Yahoo! started charging to get into their online dating service, they actually saw dramatic increases in membership due to the added ensurance of reputation a fee provides.