An Internet dating company based out of Austin, Texas has made the dating scene at Penn State a little different for its paying customers.

White Buffalo Ventures, LLC, operates 102 online dating services and 90 of those are college Web sites. The Web site for the Penn State community, www.psusingles.com, started during the first week of December.

"It's had a phenomenal response," said Brad Armstrong, founder and CEO.

Armstrong said the company looks for universities that have a passion for their school, and Penn State is at the top of the list.

"Penn State met our criteria because of the extraordinary loyalty and spirit that the Penn State community has," he said.

"Nittany Lions fans are the fans 'til the day they drop dead," Armstrong added.

Patti Halladay, a vice president and chief operating officer, said Penn State qualified for the company because of the number of students attending and the collegiate atmosphere that the university has.

Armstrong said most of the users are currently students, and he wanted the Web site to help bring them together that would eventually become a tradition at Penn State.

"For the people who are comfortable behind the keyboard, this gives a safe and anonymous way to start a conversation with people and to make new friends," Armstrong said.

Armstrong said the Web site works well because the people already have something in common. About 2,000 users have signed up for it.

"We hope that this creates an affinity and allows people to connect," Halladay said.

Halladay added that the success rate is high.

People have e-mailed the company in the past to cancel their subscription because they have found a companion using the dating service.

Some students said they would question the authenticity of those signed up for the Web site.

"I wouldn't use it. People lie and you don't know if they're telling the truth. I'd rather meet someone in person," Faye Harding (junior-elementary education) said.

Harry Armstrong (senior-aerospace engineering) said he doesn't know of anyone that uses the service and has never needed to.

Rachel Harrar (freshman-elementary education) said she wouldn't use an online dating service for safety reasons.

"I don't think it's good safety-wise. You can't trust what people say on the Internet," Harrar said.

White Buffalo Ventures has servers in Austin, Texas, and Omaha, Neb., and each of its dating Web sites focuses on a characteristic to help bring people together, such as colleges or hobbies.

Armstrong added that the company plans to expand and start 100 more sites this year.

"What we find is that these sites work extremely well because people already have something in common," Armstrong said.