YNOT EUROPE – It’s no secret that dating websites are hot properties. Cupid, eHarmony and DatingDirect have become household words worldwide, largely due to extensive advertising campaigns in mainstream media.

This summer, though, an adult dating site based in the UK beat all three of them in traffic volume, according to Experian Hitwise. The audience metrics firm reported F-Buddy.co.uk’s traffic in August alone made it the 11th largest most popular dating site in the world and the fastest growing site in the UK.

A spokesperson for three-year-old F-Buddy said the site’s visitor volume rose 480 percent between April and August, proving a record number of adults are embracing the adventure of no-strings-attached sex.

“The growth in members this year has been nothing short of spectacular,” said Neal Patterson, who runs F-Buddy. “It shows that in tough economic times people want to have some fun without the complication of a relationship.

“The really surprising thing is how many women are now joining the site,” he added. “It’s free for them, so a recession clearly makes a site like ours more attractive. However, the men seem very happy to pay. And who can blame them with all the sexy girls we have online?”

F-Buddy allows members to search for matches in specific areas, upload photos and videos, share online diaries and pay discretely using their mobile phones. The site is part of a network that includes separate dating venues for plus-sized adults and mature adults. In a stark departure from the euphemisms that typically soften the sting of certain descriptions, especially in the online adult space, those sites are FatF-Buddy.co.uk and OldF-Buddy.co.uk. Neither was included in the Hitwise data.