By Chris Cosci

Over the years, there have been many attempts to increase the effectiveness of dating. For a while, single people were limited to blind dates and set-ups, although the results of such dates were more often dating disasters and horror stories than they were successful relationships. Dating frequency increased with personal ads and reached a fever pitch with speed dating. However, the average quality hasn't shared the same growth rate.

The Internet brought forth a new age of dating. Online services are popping up all over, seeking out single people to fill out long questionnaires and in-depth surveys. These services then use complex computer programs to find the best possible match for hopeful daters. Who knew that the secret to finding the perfect mate could be boiled down to a few lines of computer code?

While online dating services may have raised the effectiveness and quality of dating, no one site could guarantee you a relationship... until now. A new site has arrived, offering customers immediate results. No lengthy polls. No waiting for people to contact you. As soon as you sign up, you're paired up with your ideal partner. There's just one small catch: the relationship is fake and it only lasts two months.

The site is called Imaginary Girlfriends and it offers "fictitious, yet authentic" relationships. Sorry ladies, there's no Imaginary Boyfriends just yet. If you'd like to add your own joke about how the ideal boyfriend is imaginary anyway, be my guest.

At Imaginary Girlfriends, you browse a photo gallery of real girls, read their profiles, and select the one that best matches your personality. Once you find the girl you want, you sign up for the service and contact her. You make up a story about how you met and tell her any details she should know about you. When that's done, you'll finally have the fake girlfriend of your dreams!

Your imaginary girlfriend will spend two months writing and calling you. She will send you personalized love letters hand-written on elegant stationery and sprayed with perfume for maximum realism. She will also send you e-mails and, in most cases, photos, text messages and phone messages. Some girls will send you personal gifts such as lingerie. One girl will even let you end the relationship a week early so she can spend the last week begging you to take her back. It's just like being in a real relationship, only without those annoying feelings and emotions getting in the way.

As you receive messages, you can show them off to all of your friends and family. After seeing your letters, they'll actually believe that you've finally found someone. Imagine the looks on their faces as they fall for this brilliant scheme. Suckers.

There are some downsides to this service. First of all, you're never allowed to actually meet your girlfriend. In fact, most girls don't even allow two-way phone calls. The relationship is strictly long-distance, for two months, with no permission to create any real relationship. Also, there is currently a limited selection of girls and the popular ones tend to get booked pretty fast. It's like going to rent a convertible. Eventually, the rental company runs out of convertibles and you're left driving around in a mini-van. It's just not the same.

While you could always pretend to have a girlfriend for free, getting a pretend girlfriend that actually writes to you is going to cost you. Generally, the fee is $45 to $50 for two months. While this may seem like a lot of money for something that doesn't really exist, consider how much a real girlfriend costs. If you factor in how much two months worth of dinners, movies and flowers cost, $50 is a bargain.

Besides giving you someone to show off to your inquiring friends, the site suggests that an imaginary girlfriend can give you a confidence boost if you've been in a dating slump. Yeah, nothing boosts your confidence like having to pay someone to pretend to love you for two months.

Imaginary Girlfriends could be moderately successful, as long as it doesn't become too popular. Otherwise, a lot of people will find out about the site and all you'll need is one friend who recognizes your "girlfriend" to blow the charade. At least you'll still have that boost of confidence to get you through.