FAQ

A Friend Of A Friend is a community that enables friends to extend their dating network through people that they already know. We increase the chances of our single members meeting like-minded people because their other single and attached friends help by matchmaking and endorsing them. Singles can contact possible dates directly or get the low-down from a mutual friend. Singles can also choose to Go!Social to meet other single AFOAF.com members (if they're impatient to see gorgeous fresh faces whilst building their own private dating network). With A Friend Of A Friend you go dating with your friends; we call it Social Dating and it makes for a fun, effective, low pressure alternative to traditional dating sites.

We're unique because single AND attached friends can join. Everyone helps each other out by matchmaking and endorsing friends in their private dating network.

We're different from your average dating sites and social networks because single and attached friends help by endorsing and matchmaking their single friends. Whatever you get up to on A Friend Of A Friend your friends will always be there to help out. We call our approach 'Social Dating'.

By extending your dating network through your single and attached friends, you'll find that AFOAF.com will save you, or your friends, time in finding a good quality date.

Click on the Join For Free button to learn how you can join as a single or matchmaking member.

To ensure that you get maximum benefit from your membership all members are required to upload at least two recent pictures of themselves before their profiles are put live and you become visible to others.

We're currently free. At some point in the future we plan to become a subscription service but we promise to be modestly priced, offer great incentives to reward loyal members and give you plenty of notice.

We're a small team of well mannered and hardworking people based in London who are trying to charm you with an honest, modest and different approach to online dating.

It's easy and effective. Once signed up you simply invite your friends to begin your network (we believe your friends are the key to extending your dating circle because you trust them). As your network of singles and matchmakers grows you can view and connect with your friends, the friends of your friends and their friends. We then add some clever tools such as member endorsements and other fun stuff like Matchmaking so single members can connect with others in a low pressure way.

Absolutely. Meeting people through friends is the most popular way of getting a date in the UK (joint first with meeting people at pubs and clubs) according to research by Nielsen//NetRatings. What you may not know is that meeting people at work or via online dating is equal third.

A Friend Of A Friend is currently free. At some point in the future we will charge a modest subscription but will give members plenty of notice.

Just select 'Invite' from the main menu at the top of every page. All you need to do is enter your friend's name, email address and write a brief message to charm them into choosing AFOAF.com (or use our pre-populated text if you've got more important things to do!).

Your friend will receive an invitation by email that will contain a link to the site where they can find out more before signing-up.

Choose Search from the main menu and enter the name or email in the Search AFOAF.com field. If they are already registered on the site they will appear in the results.

Just select Matchmake from the main menu at the top of every page or select 'Matchmake with a friend' from the Toolbox on the right hand side of the screen when viewing a profile page. You can play Date Doctor with any singles in your network.

Attached and married members (Matchmakers) are great to have as part of your friend network. They can be a great catalyst to get friends talking as well as bringing fresh faces to your network.

We're sorry that you're having difficulties logging in or activating your account. To resolve the issue just click here or select the Password / Sign In Problems? link at the bottom of the homepage and we'll have things sorted in no time.

Email abuse@afoaf.com as soon as possible. Your concerns will remain private, confidential and be dealt promptly.

A friend network is the number of friends that you can connect with. This includes your friends, the friends of your friends and their friends. As you invite new members to join or directly connect with other people in your network (i.e. people who may have been friends of friends) so your dating network expands rapidly.

AFOAF is not like normal dating sites as we don't provide new members with a database of strangers. Our members grow their dating network by inviting friends (to maintain the quality and integrity of their friend network). Once a few friends have joined and invited their other friends you'll quickly see your dating circle expand. We fully appreciate that you may have to nag a few of your friends to help but we believe that the results will be worth it; you'll be surprised at the sexy singles some of your friends have squirreled away!

For single member patiently building their own network but still wanting to see other people we offer the ability to Go!Social. This enables members to meet singles from other friend networks who have also opted-in to Go!Social.

There are two ways of connecting with friends on A Friend Of A Friend. Firstly you can search existing members by entering in their email address or name within the Search area of the site (select 'Search' from the main menu strip at the top of the page) and then request to connect with the member that you know (please note they will have to accept your request to connect).

Alternatively you can invite non-members to join A Friend Of A Friend within the 'Invite' area. All you need to do is enter their name, email address and a brief message to charm them into choosing AFOAF.com (or use the pre-populated text if you've got more important things to do!).

Your friend will receive an invitation by email that will contain a link to the site. On clicking this link the user will receive a 'guest pass' enabling your friend to view your network (but not access individual profiles) and to see the site first hand before committing to full membership.

Go!Social is a new feature that was a direct result of member feedback. Some of our single members wanted to see some gorgeous fresh faces whilst they were building their private dating network. Other members had already built a great private dating network but wanted to meet new people. Go!Social was our response to these requests. If a single chooses to Go!Social they make their profiles visible to singles from other friend networks who have also chosen to Go!Social. Friends who matchmake a single who has chosen to Go!Social will be able to set them up with friends from their private dating network and other Go!Social members.

Go!Social is a new feature and our single members must opt-in (for privacy purposes we're not the sort of people who would suddenly put your profiles public!). Most single members wait to get some Friend Feedback before deciding to Go!Social (because your feedback and number of friends are displayed to other Go!Social members).

If you are single and have chosen to Go!Social but now want to opt-out, simply click on the 'click to edit' link in the Go!Social box on the right handside of every page. Simply untick the groups you've joined and select 'Save'.

We recommend that you invite friends that you know well. This maintains the integrity of your dating network and increases the likelihood of you connecting with like-minded individuals. If you receive an invitation from someone you don't know we'd advise against you accepting it (even if they look like a professional model!)

You can invite married and attached friends to join your dating network in addition to your single friends. Married and attached friends are often well qualified to matchmake and help their single friends as they can draw on contacts sourced from their other/better halves.

Friend Feedback or a friend endorsement is a short sentence that tells everyone how great your individual friends are. We encourage all members to leave endorsements on their friends because it reassures other singles in your network that people are who they say they and is likely to result in more dates for your friends!

Singles get awarded a gold star for every piece of Friend Feedback they receive from a friend. A Matchmaker also receives a gold star for every piece of feedback that they leave on a single friend. Friend Feedback is a great way for people to tell others how great their friends are and to provide an element of reassurance that people are who they say they are (i.e. the more friends and feedback they have, the more we know about that person).

Members can leave Friend Feedback by clicking on a friend profile and selecting Leave Friend Feedback from within the Toolbox on the right handside.

Once you've submitted an endorsement your friend can accept it from within the endorsements area of the My Account page (found in the Toolbox). A friend can choose which 5 bits of feedback they want to display to others browsing their profile.

Singles can also request an endorsement from within the Manage Friend Feedback area of My Account.

Yes you can remove a friend from your friend network by clicking on Remove Friend in the toolbox on the right hand side.

Please note that you can only remove direct friends from your network (not friends of friends or their friends). Removing a friend will also stop you seeing their friends unless you connect with them directly.

If you don't want to be seen by friends of friends or their friends simply select the profile of the relevant contact and select 'Hide from Search'. You will still be able to see that person as part of your friend network but they will not be able to see you. You can modify these settings at any time by selecting 'My Account' from the Toolbox at the top right of any page when you've logged in.

We don't currently allow attachments such as pictures to be sent through our system. This protects your computer and our systems from computer viruses.

We don't currently allow web addresses to be included in your profile for the safety and security of your network.

If a 'blocked' user attempts to contact you they will receive an email from our admin team politely explaining that you have chosen not to receive further messages from them. If you have blocked someone because of inappropriate behaviour please contact us immediately at abuse@afoaf.com. You can unblock at any time within the Friends section of your 'My Account' page (click on the My Account link in the Toolbox menu on the right hand side of the page).

If you look at someone's profile they will know that someone has looked but they won't know who!

If the image contains the text 'Currently unavailable' this is because their membership has not been renewed or there might be a problem with their account that is being resolved.

This is because that person is no longer a member of A Friend Of A Friend (which we try not to take too personally).

This is because that person is either no longer a member of A Friend Of A Friend or you may have blocked the user from your searches (to unblock from searches simply go to the Manage Friends section of your My Account page).

Remove them from your friend network by selecting 'Hide from Search'' in the toolbox next to their Profile page. You will still be able to see them but they won't be able to see you. You can unhide by clicking on the My Account link in your Toolbox.

If you want to remove your profile from AFOAF.com please email the AFOAF.com team at goodbye@afoaf.com. We will confirm deletion by email once the process is complete. Once deleted we keep your details for a period of 12 months to help us with any customer service issues.

Only members who are connected to your network can view your full profile (this includes your friends, the friends of your friends and their friends).

Members who choose to Go!Social will share their profile with other singles who have chosen to Go!Social (and the friend network of Go!Social singles for the purposes of matchmaking). When a single member chooses to Go!Social they also enable their own friend network to view other Go!Social members.

If you have completed all of the required steps in the registration process (including uploading two recent photos of yourself to your profile) it will go live immediately. In order to ensure that you get the most from your membership we put profiles live when two pictures of you are added. In the meantime you will be able to fully edit your profile.

In order for you to get the most from your membership we insist that all live profiles contain at least two good quality and different photos of you. We do this because having a photo is the main reason for members wanting to make contact with another member (according to 71% of research participants in dating research conducted by Nielsen/NetRatings).

We are a visual community but appreciate that matchmakers can sometimes feel uncomfortable uploading thier images. As such it is not compulsory for matchmakers to upload their image but it is reassuring for your single friends to see faces that they know when being setup by a matchmaker (rather than a faceless silhouette).

Our admin team may have flagged an issue with your profile and suspended it temporarily. If this is the case they will contact you to explain the reasons and outline steps required to resolve the issue.

If your photo has been rejected we'll get in touch to explain the reasons why. Common reasons are inappropriate or offensive images (beautiful country landscapes and images of catalogue models won't be looked upon favourably) or the fact that the picture that you're uploading is too big or in the wrong format. Your photos should be a maximum of 2MB and in either jpg, gif or png formats.

All photos are post-moderated (this allows you to continue building your network without having to wait approvals from the A Friend Of A Friend team). If you do see any inappropriate images please select 'Report User' from the Toolbox on the right handside. Your correspondence will be treated as private and confidential.

Just click on the Edit My Profile or Manage Pictures link in your Toolbox on the right-hand side of the screen and follow the instructions.

The most likely reasons are that the pictures are too big (over our 2MB size limit) or not in compatible formats for the site (jpg, gif and png). If you are still having problems please email us at smile@afoaf.com.

Choose 'Inbox' from the main menu and then choose 'Request Friend Feedback' from the Compose Message drop down menu. Send a charming email to your friend and then wait for the response. In the meantime why not leave Friend Feedback on single friends by choosing 'Send Friend Feedback' from the same drop down menu?

Alternatively select 'My Account' from your Toolbox and check the 'Request Friend Feedback' box next to the friend who you want to endorse you. We then send a brief email requesting Friend Feedback on your behalf.

You'll be notified when the endorsement is ready to be approved by you.

If you want to remove your profile from AFOAF.com please email the AFOAF.com team at goodbye@afoaf.com. We will confirm deletion by email once the process is complete. Once deleted we keep your details for a period of 12 months to help us with any customer service issues. This also enables you to log back in at any point and reactivate your account should you so wish.

In order for you to get the best from A Friend Of A Friend you need the help of your friends. Once your friends register and invite their other friends things will get interesting very quickly. You'll be able to browse your friends, the friends of friends and their friends. At this point you can have some fun by playing matchmaker with people in your network or choosing someone for you own personal fun!

If you need to get in contact with the team at A Friend Of A Friend please click on the Contact Us link at the bottom of every page and pick the email address that most accurately relates to your query.

We have an open and transparent privacy policy and we promise never to sell or share your personal information to third parties. You can a link to the full Privacy Policy at the bottom of any AFOAF.com page.

Yes and we're quite sure that we've left stuff out. If you think we should add additional help topics or questions please email the team at nicepeople@afoaf.com