Plenty of Fish seems very 'catch and release'

Ok, let's review Plenty of Fish.  Right up front, I knew signing up to this free dating site would be an adventure.  It has a reputation for being the seediest site, likely because it's free.  It seems like the site people sign up with just to hook up.  There are the typical shirtless bathroom photos in abundance!  (People still do that?  Ew.)

Anyway, my first night creating a profile I got a bunch of messages right away, but they were a bit odd.  One was a foot fetishist, and some were old, and none of them posted pictures.  When people don't post pictures I totally assume they're unattractive.  Is that wrong?

So ignoring that first batch of emails, I thought I'd better seek out someone worth chatting with.  I did an advanced search for the perfect guy, being really picky about the specifics.  I put in all the credentials of my dream guy: tall, educated, local, etc.  To my surprise, I got results!  I spent a ton of time -- ok too much time -- going through these profiles and sending them what I hoped were cute messages.  I'm pretty sure most were a line or two in reference to something they'd written in their profile, likely followed by a smiley or wink face.  (I'm so addicted to emoticons... I'm trying to quit, I swear.)

The next day I checked my inbox, super excited to see who had responded.  Messages?  None from the 'dream guy' search, but some from guys I really wasn't interested in.  Major bummer.

Then it dawned on me.  My 'dream guy' is probably most womens' dream guy.  These men were probably getting flooded with messages.  And judging from a quick search for women in my age bracket, they were probably getting inundated with flirty messages from pouty-faced bar skanks.  How am I supposed to compete with that?  I don't have any sexy photos, or photos with the camera angled down my low-cut top. 

So about Plenty of Fish, I remain skeptical as to people's intentions.  I'm not sure people are fishing for keeps.  If you're looking for a hookup though -- a one-night 'catch and release' if you will -- this site is probably your best bet.