215: Grinding the Dating Scene

[justnotcricket]

Hmm. Reducing dating and human romantic interaction to an MMOG? Dodgy. Week old underwear? Downright disturbing. If one is asking oneself on Valentine's Day why one doesn't have a date, it might not be a personality issue - it might be those rank undies ;-P

 

[BehattedWanderer]

When I first heard about chemistry.com, I was elated. I'd only caught the end of the commercial on the radio, and grew joyful at the thought of a comprehensive chemistry site, where you could order chemicals, get study help, discuss chemical fun. I immediately ran to my computer, and, lo and behold, became incredibly disappointed by what I ran into. I haven't quite gotten to the point of online dating (I'm in a good relationship right now), so I have a few mixed feelings on the subject.

Coincidentally, would you be willing to share that AIDS joke?

 

[Spacelord]

I loved reading your article. Keep up the good work!

 

[JackiJinx]

SoulGeek? Is that a dating site for, well, geeks?

It very much is. That's where I met the dude I went on a date with. He was incredibly creepy, and people around us noticed. He was all, "Ah, you must be Jacki! It is nice to meet you! HA HA!" Picture a rather tall dude with a bowler and a long, green, spotty tie on. Him standing in line for movie tickets, slightly ahead of me, and a woman a few feet ahead of us occasionally glaring back at me to see that I'm still alive and perplexed as to why I was with him. Funny thing is, we saw Yes Man, and right after the movie, I basically told him that my mother wanted me home by a certain time, and flew out of there in a hurry.

Dating online is risky.

 

[Dyp100]

I wonder if you get experience if you ask them if they want to see the severed head of your ex-GF's/BF's...

 

[SharedProphet]

"36/m sales mgr lfd pst"
"wts [luv] pst"
"wtb [dinner] pst"
...

Edit: after reading the feature, I have to bring up the point that there could be problems when people, once they've found a partner on OkCupid, don't want to stop looking, because it is a game. Guess that explains the lack of an endgame. Most dating services are not really meant to be something people use for most of their lives.

 

[Bretty]

The moment I try and actively look for a compatible 'other half' I always ended up with the TOTALY wrong person, married women etc (I know, I am going to hell for that one). But the moment I stopped looking/worrying about it all. I met a girl I had known for YEARS online, and now 2 years later I am thinking about popping the question.

Life throws us whatever it wants to. Trying to look around is not a bad thing, just dont get desperate and DONT settle. Settling is possibly the WORST thing a person could ever do.

 

[beemoh]

which paired me with no one

That's got to hurt.

 

[Takoto]

Ok I clicked the link in the article and this was the image that came up.

I'm not too confident in this site.

That woman has a tiny head, and I can't stop laughing.

Anyway, luckily I don't have to venture onto dating sites like OKCupid... xD

 

[Anarien]

That's got to hurt.

EHarmony's algorithm deliberately excludes certain people. A minority, sure, but maybe it was the case here. They were sued for not providing service to gays, for example, but they also exclude atheists, people who've ever had depression, and other categories.

 

[Rigs83]

I can see how this concept will run smack head on with the scientific fact that most gamers are fat, depressed, losers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93968-Science-Says-Gamers-are-Fat-Depressed-Losers].

Plus people kind of do this on WOW already. They call it erotic role playing or ERP for short and it just makes my skin crawl to think that a Night Elf somewhere out there is typing one handed.

Shivering in disgust.

 

[UnravThreads]

SoulGeek? Is that a dating site for, well, geeks?

It very much is. That's where I met the dude I went on a date with. He was incredibly creepy, and people around us noticed. He was all, "Ah, you must be Jacki! It is nice to meet you! HA HA!" Picture a rather tall dude with a bowler and a long, green, spotty tie on. Him standing in line for movie tickets, slightly ahead of me, and a woman a few feet ahead of us occasionally glaring back at me to see that I'm still alive and perplexed as to why I was with him. Funny thing is, we saw Yes Man, and right after the movie, I basically told him that my mother wanted me home by a certain time, and flew out of there in a hurry.

Dating online is risky.

I bet! I've "used" sites like Facebook/MySpace and really only ever tried to find ladies in the same school/college as me. Not the greatest idea, but as a gamer, means less time off games!

Might give it a look later, if I get bored enough, hehe.

 

[JackiJinx]

That's got to hurt.

EHarmony's algorithm deliberately excludes certain people. A minority, sure, but maybe it was the case here. They were sued for not providing service to gays, for example, but they also exclude atheists, people who've ever had depression, and other categories.

Did not know that. Explains a lot. Thanks, dude.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Jeez. This story is depressing. Did you at least get some phat loot?

 

[HentMas]

I... actually got into that site... years ago.

I always took it as a joke but now, after reading this article I tried to really get in touch with people, so I wrote the best essays I could, answered all my questions "AGAIN" truthfully and started surfing, I am a working man, I can afford to go an visit anyone anywhere in any part of the world whenever I want to, but I just can?t get anyone to answer... and I think that´s mainly because I am "Mexican"

I always thought being "racist" was stupid, but in the end people want to know or have a relationship (be it friendship, love or something else) with people from their same area, and that is actually kind of weird considering OKCupid caters for multi-national people, there are so many people from the U.S. that I feel like a tiny little spot in there... like that time I went into forums for the first time only to realize that people were calling me "stupid" just because I was Mexican and didn´t had a lot of grammar and spelling right, now it´s even worse because they don´t even try to even write to me...

and it´s not just me, I have seen people get ignored in the past in that page (I have being for about 5 years or so) and when stating "I´m moving to LA" or the U.S or U.K or anywhere where the community is stronger they immediately start to get all kinds of messages and requests for being friends, I remember a single polish girl that opened her account in April of 2008 and left the same year 2 months later, I contacted her and she stated "no one even wanted to talk to me", coincidentally, she was really hot and seemed like a nice girl.

Well... I guess what I want to say is that these kind of sites takes us back to the "racist" area where people don?t really care about anyone outside their little community and disregard anyone else as being ?not worthy?, this taken from my personal experience as a foreigner that tried to penetrate their little bubble.


(PS. is this a good place to post letters to the Editor?? I wanted to do just that)

 

[Jakkar]

Worthwhile note: As with MMOs, the quality of those you play with directly correlates to the quality of the experience and the fun you have. I've met some good friends via the website, but few and far between - Keep your standards high and eventually it links you only to geeky and rather beautiful genius girls. The website is improving over time, surprisingly.

 

[Anarien]

Well... I guess what I want to say is that these kind of sites takes us back to the "racist" area where people don?t really care about anyone outside their little community and disregard anyone else as being ?not worthy?, this taken from my personal experience as a foreigner that tried to penetrate their little bubble.

That's not racism, that's a general geographic preference and a little xenophobia. Personally, I wouldn't date anyone outside my city because I don't want a long-distance relationship. It's much simpler when you live in the same place. It doesn't mean a person isn't open to dating someone outside their culture, race, or ethnicity. Sure, some people are closed like that, but it's not the majority.

Also, since the site is US-based, there's bound to be at least some userbase skewing going on.

 

[HentMas]

Well... I guess what I want to say is that these kind of sites takes us back to the "racist" area where people don?t really care about anyone outside their little community and disregard anyone else as being ?not worthy?, this taken from my personal experience as a foreigner that tried to penetrate their little bubble.

That's not racism, that's a general geographic preference and a little xenophobia. Personally, I wouldn't date anyone outside my city because I don't want a long-distance relationship. It's much simpler when you live in the same place. It doesn't mean a person isn't open to dating someone outside their culture, race, or ethnicity. Sure, some people are closed like that, but it's not the majority.

Also, since the site is US-based, there's bound to be at least some userbase skewing going on.

yeah, i know, i just didnt knew the "right" word to say "geographic preference" so i went with racism, thanks for clearing that up, and i understand what you are saying, but what stops people to say "hi" or something like that, i am nos saying i want to date or have a relationship with them except "pen-pals" or someting...

but anywhay... i think OK cupid is quite a complete page, it just lacks a "filther" for people that don´t want to talk to guys from out of their country...

 

[Admiral Stukov]

Sapped girls can't say no.
That's common fact, they don't have to write an article about it.
And no I'm not serious nor did I actually read the article <.<