We’ve all seen the commercials that match you to a “compatible” member using questionnaires about how spontaneous and funny you are, or if you like scary movies, etc.  Online dating websites, or “connection sites,” in a way, help people get in touch with like-minded individuals who share passions and interests that may not come up in a first conversation.  Although these websites may seem ridiculous to the lay-user, a niche market indeed exists for their services.  Who knows, maybe a website for “that thing you’ve always wanted to do, but were afraid to bring up” is out there somewhere, too.  Here are some ones we thought were innovative, curious, and a little humorous.

Cheekd.com distinguishes itself from many other sites out there because it combines a real-life “first impression” with a follow-up interaction online.  Members pay for a pack of 50 business cards which display a personalized code that the recipient then enters on the Cheekd website to get more information about you.  The cards, according to the site, “charm and pique the curiosity of your intended.”  How you choose to dole out the cards, however, is up to you.

For all of you Apple fanboys with your nifty iDevices and Steve Jobs screensavers, Cupidtino.com gives you the chance to watch your Apple TV with someone who likes those products just as much as you do.  The website, itself, closely resembles Apple’s, so you’ll feel right at home!  An Apple device is even required to make an account, to keep all the riff-raff (PCs) off of the site. You might even find a priceless Apple employee who can help you out with that discount you’ve always wanted (one-year warranty not included).

In the same satire that the website is known for, personals.theonion.com “is the eclectic online community for people who already have a life!”  This site approaches online dating with a little more humor than some of the other ones out there, and is probably for those individuals who aren’t afraid of a little joke at their own expense.

Womenbehindbars.com is a professional service that sets you up with “women who are incarcerated in prisons all over America.”  Since these women don’t have access to the Internet, all correspondence is done via snail mail.  The website advertises these women as looking for, “love, marriage, penpals, and a good solid relationship with men and women in the free world.”  If you’re the kind of person who likes to get to know someone (for a couple of years) before entering into anything serious, this may be the site for you.

420dating.com: Forget these other dating sites – they’re half-baked. 420dating is the go-to personals site for those of you hazily thinking, “Why toke alone?” While 420dating doesn’t advocate the use of any illegal substances, the site provides a “smoker friendly” atmosphere and – we’re guessing – one of the best forgotten-password-retrievers in the industry.

City folks just don’t get it! FarmersOnly has 100,000 registered agricultural lovers, cowboys, and livestock owners, 200 of which have already married. “This is not a geographic area,” says founder Jerry Miller, “this is a slice of America with good old fashioned traditional values, values that were never lost by the farmer.” The site was started after a few cowgirls had enough with the popular ‘city-folk’ dominated dating sites.

Pounced.org: We told you there’s a dating site for everyone. Only the dating site era could spawn a visible congregation of an entirely secret and disturbing community: the Furries. Pounced.org is THE dating website for those singles who could otherwise never bring up their love of animal suits on a date (or on their work shift at Disney).

Are you a vampire? Are you a human who wants to date a vampire? Well, there’s a dating site for that: Lovebitten.net.

I hope you caught that last one. Truth is, despite our culture’s new love of all things vampire and Twilight, there’s no such thing as vampires. So why’s there a dating site? HBO crafted the Lovebitten.net site and commercials for their viral promotions of TrueBlood, a show about – you guessed it – vampires.

Chances are, nothing has caught your attention for Apple fan-boys, farmers, or …furries… like the idea that an online community exists to support them. Dating sites represent vibrant communities that would be otherwise ignored, and seeing a dating site about an unknown society sheds a new light on your day-to-day interactions. That’s how HBO hopes to keep TrueBlood on your mind, and that’s why Internet dating sites are so successful. Yes, they remove that much-needed opening awkwardness and the importance of a spontaneous connection, but Internet personals skip the awkward stuff and head straight to that make-or-break personality trait. So whether you’re using a dating site to connect with thousands of people who wont fault you for a passion or you’d just like to use the idea of the community to spur interest, the power of a network is undeniable.