Dating: Traditional, Online, and at Consonance (Gleichklang)

How Consonance (Gleichklang) Combines the Best of All Dating Approaches

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Become a member at Consonance today so that your partner search can come to a positive end. There is no fairer and more affordable dating agency. For just 84 EUR per year, you can pursue highly effective online dating at Consonance for an entire year. The chances are high that you will actually meet your dream partner during this time. See for yourself!

Still not convinced? Then read the information about partner search below, which will help you make an informed decision. Because your best chances of soon ending your single status are when you decide to become a member of Consonance:

Face-to-Face Partner Search: Traditional and Still Relevant!

If we leave aside arranged partnerships and marriages, which are still often practiced in parts of the world, the key method of finding a partner has always been getting to know and love a suitable person in one’s immediate social environment. And this makes sense. Because in our immediate social circle, we are more likely to encounter people who share similarities with us. When searching for a partner, the main goal is to meet someone with whom there is sufficient common ground to go through life together.

However, lifestyle similarities alone are not enough to make partner search successful. A partnership demands more – especially, unless it is a platonic relationship, it is also important that there is physical and sexual attraction. In the social environment of face‑to‑face dating, this can be recognized immediately, which is another great advantage of this traditional form of partner search.

Face‑to‑face partner search applies to all areas of everyday life where people come into direct contact with each other. This includes both the professional sphere and leisure time. The more active your leisure life, the higher, for example, your chances of finding the right person in your immediate social surroundings.

Even though we speak of a traditional form of partner search, searching in your direct social environment through personal encounters remains current today. In fact, despite the growing influence of the internet, it is still the dominant form of partner search and often ultimately leads to a committed relationship.

Because of the generally high success rate of direct dating through everyday encounters, it is always advisable not to neglect this approach, even if you have also chosen to use other forms of systematic partner search. The more open you keep your eyes, the sooner that one person will appear with whom a happy and lasting partnership becomes possible.

Although face‑to‑face partner search is highly recommended, it does not always lead to success in every individual case. There are also a number of obstacles that can reduce the chances of success. For example, success rates drop if your leisure life is rather sparse or involves activities that do not lead to an expanding circle of acquaintances and personal encounters. In the professional sphere, working in small companies or offices, as well as self‑employment, can also reduce opportunities for direct partner search. Excessive work commitments likewise reduce resources for face‑to‑face dating. The same applies when other family or social obligations exist, such as parenting or caregiving responsibilities, which are time‑consuming and cannot be combined with direct partner search. Psychologically, self‑doubt, shyness, inhibitions, and deficits in social skills can significantly reduce the prospects of success in face‑to‑face dating.

Despite its proven track record, the role of direct partner search in the social environment is currently declining, which is related to changing time and career structures, as well as the growing role of media and the internet. Despite its diminishing role, partner search in the immediate social environment remains a central pillar of dating and should always be used for its great potential, even when additional other options come into play.

Partner Search Through Personal Ads

For decades, personal ads in newspapers have been a staple of partner search. Who doesn’t know a couple that found each other through a personal ad? The advantage of personal ads is that they expand the search space. With a personal ad, your search no longer has to be limited to your immediate social environment; it can also bring together people who otherwise would never have met. Additionally, by stating wishes and preferences as well as a self‑description, the likelihood of compatible people finding each other can be increased, although this is only possible in a very imprecise way, since only very few criteria can be named and these can hardly be verified before a meeting. Personal ads certainly cannot guarantee success, but they are a useful tool for systematic partner search that can lead to a partnership. While ads were primarily published in newspapers in the past, there are now many ways to post or respond to personal ads online. Even though personal ads have declined somewhat in recent years, they remain an important instrument of partner search, and using them is definitely recommended.

Partner Search Through Traditional Matchmaking

In the 1950s and 1960s, the golden age of traditional matchmaking began. With a traditional matchmaking service, an interested person pays a fee, typically several thousand euros, and in return receives professional support in their search for a partner. Traditional matchmaking agencies mainly advertise in newspapers, showcase their members there, and then bring together people who seem to be a good match. The chances of success are not bad, provided you do not fall victim to one of the many black sheep among traditional matchmaking agencies that advertise with fictitious people or people who are not actually looking for a partner. You also need considerable financial resources to afford the services of a traditional matchmaking agency. Moreover, it should be noted that the matching methods are rather intuitive, and there is no evidence of a higher success rate than through personal ads. The advantage of a reputable traditional matchmaking service, however, is that a preselection is made of people who are truly serious about finding a partner, and they are systematically introduced to each other. For those who have sufficient financial means and for whom partner search is a high priority, it is certainly a recommended approach to also use the services of a traditional matchmaking agency to improve your chances. Just don’t expect miracles, and above all, don’t give up on other options such as direct search or personal ads. Because the more paths you take in your partner search, the more likely it is that a new love will be waiting at the end.

Online Partner Search Through Online Dating Agencies, Singles Sites, and Dating Sites

About 10 years ago, the era of online dating agencies, singles sites, dating sites, and matchmaking services on the internet truly began.

A singles site is similar to a forum with personal ads, but the information is usually more detailed. All members can contact all other members. There is no preselection; members must search for suitable people themselves, using more or less differentiated search functions. Most singles sites are free, financed by advertising, or offer paid premium options. The disadvantage of free access is that the databases are flooded with numerous profiles that do not actually exist or are duplicate entries. Through a singles site, people can easily get in touch with each other, although the partner search itself is often not successful. Still, it is always worth trying to conduct your partner search on singles sites as well.

Online dating agencies or matchmaking services have a much higher standard than singles sites. The standard is to try to suggest members who are similar to each other. For this purpose, a personality test is usually conducted and then compatibility is determined on that basis, with additional factors such as desired age range and location. However, most online dating agencies and matchmaking services deviate from a stringent system of psychologically founded matchmaking by reporting similarities but ultimately suggesting all eligible people anyway. Also, personality similarity is only a very general measure that does not take into account numerous other important factors. Nevertheless, membership in an online dating agency can be a very successful strategy for partner search, and it is used by more and more singles. It has also become standard for online matchmaking to facilitate same‑sex partnerships, although there are also specialized providers for gay and lesbian dating. Overall, the systematic approach of partner search at an online dating agency is higher than at a pure singles site, although the boundaries are fluid. In any case, it is advisable to consider membership in an online matchmaking service when you are looking for a partner. Similar to most singles sites, almost all online dating agencies and matchmaking services offer free memberships. However, these free memberships come at the cost of attracting many unserious people as members, which again reduces the chances of success. It should also be noted that these free online dating offers are almost always bait‑and‑switch deals. Because you can only use very few functions of the system for free. The goal of the providers is to convert free memberships into usually very expensive premium memberships as quickly as possible. Real matching opportunities only exist with premium memberships, so using purely free offers for online partner search through online dating agencies is not recommended.

Partner Search at CONSONANCE (GLEICHKLANG)

CONSONANCE (GLEICHKLANG) stands for a novel and comprehensive concept of online matchmaking that combines aspects of traditional matchmaking with the approach of typical online dating agencies and additionally supplements this with an alternative orientation and a psychological approach based on a comparison of preferences. With this novel approach, particularly high success rates in partner search are guaranteed—even for so‑called “difficult cases” whose previous searches with other providers or methods often failed for years or even decades.

The main features of the systematic and psychologically optimized partner search at CONSONANCE (GLEICHKLANG) are (1) the preference approach, (2) the subgroup approach, (3) the classic approach of personality similarity, (4) the overall alternative orientation toward a clientele of people characterized by socio‑ecological ways of thinking, and (5) the guarantee that only seriously interested people participate and that the otherwise ubiquitous flooding with fictitious entries and invalid profiles is avoided. The combination of these five features gives CONSONANCE (GLEICHKLANG) its uniqueness compared to other dating sites, matchmaking agencies, singles sites, and matchmaking services. Only through the combination of all five features do the high chances of success in partner search at CONSONANCE arise.

Now read in detail how CONSONANCE, with its system of psychologically optimized dating, makes your partner search a success:

1.) Preference Approach to Partner Search Leads to Relationship Happiness

General Explanation

A typical online matchmaking service offers a personality test that asks very general questions about behavioral and experiential patterns. Based on the results of such a personality test, members are then suggested as potential partners. Additional criteria usually include age and location preferences, as well as gender.

CONSONANCE (GLEICHKLANG) goes much further with its preference approach:

We don’t just ask for preferences regarding age, gender, and location; we support our members’ partner search by querying a wide range of additional wishes and preferences, including aspects such as appearance, diet, attitudes toward spirituality and religion, specific relationship expectations, acceptance of illnesses and disabilities, particularly central hobbies and interests, pet ownership, and concrete ideas/wishes regarding the design of the partnership.

Only if two people match each other in terms of their mutual wishes and preferences can they be suggested as partners. Through this system of preference matching, CONSONANCE enables a far more precise relationship matchmaking than is otherwise offered by dating agencies, dating sites, singles sites, or online matchmaking services.

Specification of Preferences

Below, the preferences used by CONSONANCE (GLEICHKLANG) for partner search are presented and explained in detail. The suitability of partner suggestions arises from the totality of individual preferences. Only when they fit as a whole does an optimized partner suggestion emerge.

The desired age of the partner can be specified at CONSONANCE as a minimum age, a preferred age, and a maximum age. If all fields are left blank, people of any age can be suggested with equal probability. If only the minimum age is specified, all people from that age onward can be suggested equally. If only a maximum age is given, all people up to that age can be suggested equally. If both a minimum and a maximum age are given, all people within that age range can be suggested equally. If only a preferred age is given, all people can be suggested, but the probability increases as the preferred age is approached. If a minimum, maximum, and preferred age are specified, all people within the defined age range can be suggested, with the probability increasing as the preferred age is approached. Age preferences are thus recorded in a particularly differentiated way at CONSONANCE to enable optimal support for members’ partner search.

Of course, querying the age range alone is by no means sufficient to ensure effective support for partner search. Another central area is gender. Members can search for men, women, or both men and women, with the latter specifically supporting bisexual partner search. In addition, members can also indicate that they are interested in an intersex partner (hermaphrodite). With this option, CONSONANCE also offers very good chances for hermaphrodites to succeed in their partner search. Another search option concerns transsexual people (trans men, trans women). Members can indicate that they are also or exclusively looking for a transsexual partner. By taking this into account in our matchmaking, transsexuals also have excellent prospects for a successful partner search, as do people who would like to get to know a transsexual partner. Incidentally, you can also indicate that you wish to conduct a pansexual partner search. If this option is chosen, the search is subsequently oriented toward people of all gender orientations, including both “typical” men and women as well as transsexuals and hermaphrodites. With this, CONSONANCE sets standards of differentiation in recording and considering gender that have not been met by any other matchmaking service.

Some may find it superficial to also consider appearance when searching for a partner. It is nice if someone can completely abstract from appearance, but this is not the norm. Therefore, CONSONANCE also records appearance traits to ensure that all members’ partner search can actually be successful. Analogous to the age range, for example, a minimum height, a maximum height, and a preferred height of the partner can be specified. The question also asks whether there is acceptance for a partnership with an “overweight” member. Specifically, certain body types can be excluded, such as thin, slim, a few extra pounds, or round / fat. On the one hand, this increases the precision of partner suggestions; on the other hand, it specifically improves the matching chances for people with higher body weight and Rubenesque figures, so they do not have to fear rejection because of their weight.

Another area that CONSONANCE takes into account in matchmaking is topics related to health and illness. Specifically, we optimize the success chances of our members’ partner search by asking each member whether there is acceptance for a partnership with a physically disabled person, a mentally disabled person, a chronically physically ill person, or a mentally ill person. We also specifically ask about acceptance for a partnership with an HIV‑positive or AIDS‑affected person. At the same time, each member can indicate how important it is to them that corresponding acceptance exists. With this query, we ensure that people with illnesses and disabilities have high chances of success in their partner search and do not have to deal with rejection or refusal due to their condition.

Sexual orientations are also considered much more differentiated at CONSONANCE than at other matchmaking services and dating agencies. As has become standard, CONSONANCE supports the partner search of its heterosexual members as well as its gay and lesbian members in the gay community. In addition, we specifically support the partner search of bisexual members by asking every member whether they would like to have a partnership with a bisexual man or woman. This way, CONSONANCE aims to help bisexuals end their frequent hiding in relationships. We also ask about preferences or requirements regarding the speed with which sexuality should be integrated into a partnership, in order to detect incompatibilities in advance and thus avoid disappointments. Another matching area is asexuality. CONSONANCE asks about interest in purely platonic and asexual relationships, so that members who are asexual can also have high chances of success. We also record wishes regarding a possible BDSM inclination, asking whether the partner should have SM interests or not. The search can be restricted to the SM area, or it can be additionally searched within the SM area. Likewise, you can indicate whether the partner should take the submissive, dominant, or switching role. With this query, even members with BDSM inclinations can successfully complete their partner search at CONSONANCE. Conversely, potential conflicts in a possible partnership are reduced from the start, because incompatibilities are immediately recognized and people with such incompatibilities are not suggested to each other. We also ask all members who are looking for a male partner whether he may be a cross‑dresser or transvestite, thereby improving the prospects for these individuals as well.

The geographic area (location) also plays a more or less pronounced role in partner search. At CONSONANCE, both high flexibility with an international search option is possible, as well as restriction to specific countries, federal states, and kilometer radii, which can start from different points. The vast majority of members, however, come from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland:

With the help of the regional search criteria, you can limit the geographic area from which suggested participants should come. The specification of criteria allows for a graded search, as well as a search defined by federal states or postal code areas.

Below, the principle is illustrated to show how certain inputs can achieve the desired results.

Specifying the region allows specifically graded search areas:

International: All participants can be suggested

Entire EU: All participants from the EU can be suggested

Countries (Entire Germany, Entire Austria, Entire Switzerland): All participants from the respective countries can be suggested

5.) Quality over Quantity in CONSONANCE (GLEICHKLANG) Partner Search