Unlike most of Yahoo's regular content, the full range of Yahoo dating services aren't available for free. You can create your own profile and search the profiles of others for free. You can also send "Icebreakers," short messages letting someone know you're interested in their profile for free. This can be a good way to test out the Yahoo dating site and see how many potential dates you could find before making an investment. If you want to take advantage of email and instant messaging to continue your conversations, you'll need to pay for a membership.

Take advantage of the anonymity Yahoo! Personals offer, and don't share personal details like your address and phone number. Meet for the first time in a public place. Let someone else know where you're going and what time you should be home.

The Yahoo! Personals (http://personals.yahoo.com) site has options for women seeking men, men seeking women, women seeking women, and men seeking men. While the standard Yahoo! Personals service is intended for casual dating, perhaps leading to something more serious, the premier level of membership is tailored to members committed to entering a more serious relationship.