I spent some time recently at AYI.com and found a decent dating service, despite the lack of features for free members.
The overt push to join Match.com and OurTime.com is a bit much, but they are all owned by the same company, so put up with it, I guess.

The big offering is that if you’re a premium member, or a premium member messages you, the messages are unlocked for sender and receiver. Otherwise not too much going on here. If a free member messages you, it stays locked until you pay up.

Read the full review here.