Should we always be made to give our age on dating sites? Strange when you think it is not so long ago when here in the UK at least, you never asked a lady her age.
Yet today, it is nearly the first question asked and one you must answer to register on most if not all dating sites. Surely appearance is more important, and betrays our age any way, so should dating sites focus more on demanding members provide a recent photo to register, than demanding they provide their age?

So, should giving our actual age be compulsory to register on a dating site? What are your thoughts.

You do realize that this is the internet and that you could always lie about your age right?
There's no verification for that.

Also age can be a crucial factor in successful relationships most of the time.
That's not always the case though.

I think it's great.
Otherwise you get hounded for it.

Age is important to many people. So yes, you should have to show your age on sites like this.

The question was, should giving our actual age be compulsory to register on a dating site?

Yes, I believe they should, that is the first thing I check out when someone post me, that and where they live.

And I agree, lying is a given, not everyone provides true facts and information, but at least it is somewhere to start.

Thanks for your comments. I know you can lie about your age, but somehow I don't believe that is a good way to start a friendship, by telling lies. Yes, age can be important to some but not to others, but my question is should giving it be compulsory? Other characteristics, such as height, weight, ethnicity, etc, are important but not compulsory requirements in order to register, many people do not look their age, and I don't mean people just on the internet. In my opinion it should not be a compulsory requirement, providing you are over 18 years old you should be able to register on a dating site, with or without giving your real age.

I think many of us would be unwilling to date someone who DIDN'T give their age. Lots of people look either older or younger than their actual age, and I prefer to know how old a guy is if I'm going to date him, so I'll have an idea of how much we're going to have in common in terms of things we've experienced or remember.

Also, think about how the sorting and search algorithms are set up. When you go to search for compatible matches on a site, you plug in various criteria to be used in the search. One of those is age. Without it, I could find myself searching for compatible guys and have it turn up a lot who are 20 years older than me, or up to 30 years younger (yes, they'd still be over 18!). I'm not interested in dating someone 20 years older or 30 years younger than myself, and I think that's probably true for most of us.

There should be some sort of birth I.D verification scanner, where you not only put your date of birth, but where you also have to give names of both biological parents, and their home address, otherwise it rejects your entry if there's anything a bit off. I think it's important, but if you want to lie, go ahead, but you only have yourself to blame after that.

Uh, no. For one thing, WAY too invasive. I mean, I'm not giving that kind of information, and in any case dating sites aren't going to be hooked up with some kind of international verification database.

Secondly, what would happen to people who were adopted and don't necessarily even KNOW the names of their biological parents?

So I hope (and kind of suspect) you were kidding there, but, whoa!

Seriously, I encountered a guy on another dating site once who did lie about his age in his profile stats. He admitted to this in the written section of his profile, which I thought took guts and I actually gave him credit for doing that. He'd only lied by 3 years, and looked young enough to have been that younger age. So we talked for a while anyway, because we had a lot in common.

Haven't spoken to him in ages and he's no longer on that site, but if I ran into him tomorrow and he seemed interested, I'd still be willing to date him. People fib about all kinds of small things, and three years of age is a small thing for folks hovering around the half-century mark. Three years, twenty pounds or a few thousand dollars of income (if that even gets mentioned at all) are fibs I can live with if everything else about the person clicks for me.

If I find out a guy is actually not single though, or something else major, that's a deal-breaker.

I guess before the internet, your first question to a guy was "How old are you?" If you had an interest in dating him, why ask his age, then age must be your only/major criteria? If I find I connect with someone, I am not interested in how old they are providing they are adult, I am more interested in knowing about them as a person, and I don't believe I am the only person who thinks this way.

How the site is set up has nothing to do with the question of should giving your age be compulsory. I understand that this enables members to filter their search, but there are filters for other parameters as well, such as height, weight, ethnicity, etc, and these characteristics are not compulsory to register. The fact that some members choose to search within specific age range should not mean all members must provide their age. I only search for members with photos, but not all members have to upload a photo, it is a matter of choice. There is no choice on whether or not to provide your age in order to register as a member.

Appearance is very important to a lot of people as well, but we do not have to upload a photo to register as a member, as well as many other chracteristics we do not need to register, so why should we be compelled to give our age. It should be a matter of choice whether we give our age or not.

Why should giving our age be compulsory to register on a dating site? We should have the choice on whether or not to provide our age, in the same way as others have the choice in providing a photo or not, and other criteria. I see no need in providing age information to people, they can see my photo and ask me if they are sufficiently interested.

When you register for a dating site with your age, that age shows up on your profile. Why do you feel others should not have to know your age? Is it because you're looking for someone who may not be into men your age?

Why is giving out your age such a big concern?

How is mutual match supposed to work if site members don't provide their age?

Preference. I choose not to give out my age.

Thanks for your comment. I guess your mutual match would be based on age matching, because you would need to know the age of a possible match. Where I would not need to know their age, I would start with photos an move on from there, age is unimportant to me.

I think age is an issue when you are on a dating site myself
Because otherwise you have 70 YO folks trying to hook up with 20 somethings
And how redundant is THAT !
Just because they make those little blue pills is not a reason why it should be okay for grandpas to go around hitting on young ladies who could be their grand daughters...
I'm 52 and i think even 35 or so is far too young to have interest in the likes of me !
HAHAHAHAHA !
JMHO...

Online dating is all about thinning the herd, age is an option that makes it easier to thin the herd...Ask the ladies here, they'll tell you; nothing beats more options to thin the herd.

30 to 1 odds is not bad in a horse race.

Let's turn the question around: What would be a valid reason NOT to want to disclose your age on a dating site???

(Used to be it was women who were regarded as being cagey about our ages. These days it's the guys. WTF?)