Internet Dating

After a friend of mine had a few successful dates from an online dating site and i thought i'd check it out for the heck of it. well, after checking out a few sites i don't know if its all just a waste of time or not. it seems great because you can pretty much get an idea of someones looks, likes/dislikes, hobbies, etc. and go from there. but what i've also noticed is that people post lists of what they expect out of someone and most of them don't seem to be at all realistic. then of course you have the idiots who think those sites are only for posting ridiculous, crass sexual comments. has anyone had any success with internet dating sites? even just meeting someone thats fun to hang out with? just curious.

I have to admit I signed up for match.com. and haven't had any luck.

-CRYPTO

I suppose there were Internet dating services back then but my wife and I met just chatting on AOL.
Next month is our 4th anniversary and our first child is on the way.
Thanks Steve Case.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

well i guess thats a success story if i've ever heard one. vote 1 for meeting on the internet. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

GJW, give me some pointers!

I met my g/f on the internet and we've been together for 5 years... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I was carying an HP calculator when I first met my wife 26 years ago /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I've met my previous girlfriend there but we broke up after three years as we grew apart. Since then I've made some great new friends that way including a girl who has the same family name and lives on the corner of my street so we've kind of become brother-sister and fooled a number of people who met us last summer into thinking we're really family.
In my experince it makes it easy to make new friends and once you go out with them more often, you automatically ncrease the chances of running into someone you actuallly like as partner.

Interesting question.

Think a lot of the answer of whether it can work or not depends on the character of those involved.

My mate and I for instance, have been together now for...eck, good question...three, four years I think, and that doesn't seem even vaguely likely to change. However, that wasn't through a dating service. Was through a random email regarding my views on a few bits of classic mythology, and therafter an IRC network. A dating service as such, I have never used.

We however are both pretty reclusive, and don't go out to parties, discos or anything like that. And I at least, have social skills which rate somewhere between bad and non-existent. I also live in the middle of nowhere, and through these various factors, probably never would have met anyone else.

Because we started out some 500 miles apart (Locations being Aberdeen and London(ish), and the communication was purely internet based, that lack of skill in "interfacing" with others wasn't so much of an issue. Over the course of a year or possibly more, the frequency of communication increased, eventually phone calls, and an actual meeting, the rest is history. I don't know if I was just lucky, or if this sort of thing working out it common, I'll leave working that out to someone who understands human behaviour better than I.

I'm by no means the only one in such a situation - and where such circumstances are present, I can see it as being a very useful thing. However, I certainly don't see technology as the answer to every problem, and think that the traditional approach is still the most appropriate for the majority of cases. Find out where people go, and go there and meet someone.

After using an internet dating site I realised that there really is no excuse for being single. The £50 I paid for 6 months membership to Udate was well worth it. You MUST post a picture along with your profile otherwise you will receive no mail or whispers. I was introduced to my current girlfriend through friends but had much fun at Udate and have a few contacts I still keep in contact with now - purley plutonic off course. I found a real good mix of people on Udate & it really did seem like there was someone for everyone.

My advise is that if you use something like match.com then make sure your profile is perfect before you post it live. You will get more hits when it's first posted (You know fresh meat). Also be honest with yourself about what kind of person that you want in your life and design your profile to be attractive to that kind of person. What ever you do DON'T give your number out to anyone in till you're sure you want to get calls from him or her. Also people don't post their pictures for a reason. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif If you start a conversation with someone that wont post or email a picture then expect the absolute worse. MAN could I tell you a story, I'm talking UGLY. Just make a rule to yourself that you won't meet without seeing them first. Also most people use multiple services so be consistent with what you say about yourself (Yes another story) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif. Your better off in your profile leaving some things to the imagination. Don't give to much information about yourself. The last thing unless I think of something else is before you sign up, check and see how many listing they have that will meet what your looking for. Yahoo and Match.com normally have the most listings.

agreed Lebkuecher - my first month after posting was very active then the responses to my profile leveled out to a trickle.

I'll second (or is it third) the honesty part.
Be totally honest about what you want and don't want and even more importantly -- about yourself.
But I'm going to disagree about the picture part.
A huge benefit of Internet dating is the chance to get to know the person before you take the trouble to go out and physically meet.
If you're both honest about things, e-mails and on-line chats can do this far more quickly and efficiently than a crowded bar or restaurant where your main goal is trying to impress (or worse -- to stroke your own ego).
If you're only going to judge on photos and first impressions you may as well just stick to the bar scene.
Speaking for myself, physical attraction is often linked to emotional and intellectual connections.