Yes. All the services provided by InterPals are completely free.

InterPals is funded completely by advertising. This brings in just enough revenue to keep the site up and running.

If you see a banner that you are interested in, please don't hesitate to click it. You will be helping us improve the site, and you are never obligated to buy anything.

This shouldn't be as much of a problem as it once was, as we have drastically reduced the number of intrusive pop-up ads on the web site. However, if the existing ads are driving you crazy, you can often block them in your browser settings (but remember that InterPals is funded by the ad revenue you generate when you view the ads of our sponsors).

You can either start by searching the penpal database, or by signing up. Once you are signed up, you can create a profile with information about yourself for other penpals to see.

When you see a penpal profile that interests you, you can send a private message (you need to sign up first) introducing yourself. If you create your own profile, it will be posted on the InterPals web site and you will start getting messages from other people as well.

If you're having trouble with the site or have a question about the site, a good idea is to post on the InterPals Forum where other knowledgeable users may be able to help you more quickly than we can respond.

If you would like to contact us directly, please use our feedback form.

If you've forgotten your username or password, we can help you reset it.
Please visit our password reset page.

If you've found enough penpals for the moment, you can remove your profile from the penpal search results from your privacy settings and then reactivate it when you're ready.

To permanently remove your account from the InterPals web site, visit the account deletion page.

InterPals allows you to change your username a maximum of twice. To change your username, Edit your profile. Changing your username will update all of your old posts and messages with the new username.

InterPals lets you upload photos and create photo albums to share photos with other InterPallers. To begin uploading visit your photos page, where you can create albums and begin adding photographs.

Another way to add photos and images to your profile is by using the [img][/img] BBCode tags in your profile descriptions. This lets you link to externally-hosted images without having to upload anything to InterPals. Learn more about BBCode.

Every user starts out with one empty album -- the "Profile Photos" album, which contains the photographs that visitors will see on the left side of your profile. The album cover becomes your main thumbnail image and is what other users will see when they come across your profile in search results, bookmarks, etc.

Private messages are like emails between InterPals members, but they are sent and received on the InterPals web site. You can read, delete, and reply to them from your private message inbox.

When you receive a private message, you will be notified instantly as long as you are on the web site. You can also be notified by email when you receive a private message on InterPals. You can turn this option on or off from your notification settings.

Get started with private messages: go to your inbox or search for penpals to private message.

Bookmarks are usernames that you can choose to save and view the profiles at your convenience. Click "Add bookmark" at the bottom of any profile to add it to your bookmarks. You can edit your bookmarks to delete old ones or view your entire list.

InterPals depends on its volunteer moderators to help keep the site a friendly and welcoming place for users of all ages. Most moderators are asked to join by the InterPals staff. However, if you care a lot about InterPals and would be interested in helping out with reviewing profiles, deleting spam and pornography, etc., you can contact us.

We look for responsible, mature individuals who have been consistently active on our site -- the longer, the better!

To help reduce the amount of spam on this site, we have instituted several limits on the number of new contacts that members can initiate per day. The longer you are a member of InterPals, the higher this limit will be.

This means that there is a limit on the number of new people you can contact. There is no restriction on messages to users with whom you have already corresponded. Messages from users who write to you first don't count against this limit.

This message means that your account has been flagged as potentially violating our Terms of Service and you must wait for our moderators to review the account.

This does not necessarily mean that your account violates the ToS -- it is possible that your account was flagged because you use a computer that has been used in the past to violate our ToS (this is especially true if you access the Internet from a shared computer at a school, internet cafe, workplace, etc.).

It is entirely possible that our volunteer moderators have not yet had a chance to review your report. We receive hundreds of new reports every day, so please bear with us. Likewise, it is possible that the moderator could not find evidence of a ToS violation. Please be as detailed as possible when filing a report.

If you would like to prevent a certain user from contacting you or viewing your information, you can click the "Block this user" link on that person's profile. Alternatively, you can edit your blocklist from your privacy settings.

Anyone you send a message to will be able to reply to your message regardless of the private message limitations set on your profile.