After spending more than a decade writing about relationships and yacking about them on the radio, I’ve decided to try and make money doing something I’ve been doing for friends for years: writing and editing online dating profiles! Keep reading »
Tag Archives: online dating
Mind Of Man: Where To Meet Men
I’ll tell you where to find eligible, sensitive, loving, manly men are, and that’s Queens, which is like Brooklyn, if Brooklyn didn’t try so hard. This magical borough in New York City is positively thick with emo blog hacks from Texas. But if this gritty urban paradise isn’t convenient, then the next best place to meet men is, you know, wherever. Keep reading »
Get Paid To Date (Er, Escort?) On WhatsYourPrice.com
Don’t waste your precious time and money on dinner and drinks with a fugly troll. And don’t be punished for your “high standards.”
Instead, pay the beautiful ladies of WhatsYourPrice.com for their time. Yeah, I don’t understand What’s Your Price, either, other than it sells itself as a “dating site” rather than an escort service. Keep reading »
Dating Site For Vegetarians Lets In (Gasp) Meat Eaters
I have been a vegetarian for, oh, most of my life. Yet, only once have I dated another vegetarian. I won’t lie—it was very convenient. When we went out for dinner, we could always split dishes. And I appreciated not getting the verbal poking and prodding as to why I’m a vegetarian and what I’m missing out on, something my meat-eating paramours have all tended to do. (For the record, even if you don’t get it, it’s important to me. It isn’t something I plan on changing.) Still, I wouldn’t say that I’d prefer to date vegetarians. It’s just one of those things that doesn’t rank on my scale of Things That Really Matter.
But that probably isn’t true, however, for people who join the British online dating site, Veggiedates. The homepage shows a woman feeding a dude a slice of a pepper with chopsticks, and it claims to be a place for “single vegetarian men and women looking for love.” But the site is in some hot water. Because while vegetarians were paying the membership fees, the site actually uses a shared database with many other, non veggie-focused sites. Meaning that the majority of potential matches on the site are actually meat eaters.
Things That Happen When You Write About Sex On The Internet
One of the hazards of writing on the Internet for a living is how everything will show up on a Google search. On a day-to-day basis, I’m mostly an open book writing about my opinions, my sexuality, my depression, and even my love life. My private life is private, but a lot of topics that other people consider private are the very things I write about daily.
There are times, however, when I regret being as open as I am. Not everyone is accepting; my openness makes me vulnerable towards people I barely know. I’m still human and I still care what people think about me. Sometime a girl wants people to get to know her good parts first and the rest of her human-being-messiness sl-o-w-ly. Nowhere is this more apparent than in dating — especially online dating, where as soon as you find out someone’s last name you Google it and make sure they’re not a serial killer. If a gentleman caller Googles me, there is lots to read. Imagine how an ordinary person feels about her employer finding her Facebook page and then imagine the guy who have a crush on having access to your id.
Yet, to a certain extent, blogging acts as a “douchebag filter” by keeping certain guys away. Recently I was chatting with a fellow I met online who I’d really been into until … well … he completely blew it before we’d even met. How’d he screw up so bad? He wrote to me in an IM conversation, and I quote, “But how could I ever date someone that if my parents Googled her, there is writing that she likes to be called a slut?”
How indeed. Our IM conversation, for your perusal, after the jump: Keep reading »
7 Awkward Online Dating Scenarios You Failed To Consider
Love it, hate it, or feel meh about online dating, if you play the game, you may find yourself in some awkward scenarios you failed to consider. And when I say game, I mean “Magic: The Gathering”. Say for instance, that you meet someone online who just happens to be a blogger. When you go on a date with The Blogger, you reveal your status as the world champion of “Magic.” I suppose you had considered that The Blogger may write about the experience. But not in an completely crappy, privacy-busting way, mentioning your first and last name for all the world wide web to gawk at. My apologies to the man who found himself in this awkward scenario. Just for the record, Jon and I were born in the same town in the same year. I know this because his date also posted his Wikipedia page. Hey, I’ll bet our parents know each other! But I digress. After the jump, some more weird situations you might find yourself in if you dare to date online. Keep reading »
Soapbox: Assorted Thoughts On That Gizmodo/OKCupid/Magic The Gathering Dating Essay
Even if you’re not a tech geek or a self-identified nerd, it’s highly possible that you’ve heard about an essay that ran on the blog Gizmodo on Monday (it’s received almost 800K hits as of this writing). In the piece, writer Alyssa Bereznak described how her first attempt at online dating resulted in her going out with a guy who, at first, seemed “normal,” until he revealed that he not only played that admittedly geeky card game Magic the Gathering, but was, in fact, the world champion. In the story, Bereznak also reveals his full name, generally a big time no-no when it comes to writing about personal experiences on the internet. (Although it becomes clear that she almost doesn’t have to give his name, as Jon Finkel — that’s his name — is a legend among the Magic community because of his “world champion” status.) Keep reading »
The TV Shows And Phrases Guys Should Mention If They Want To Attract The Ladies
OKCupid loves crunching the data on its daters. This week, they took a look at the most common words and phrases in the profiles of New York singletons. The results are fascinating. For both genders, not only is the most common phrase a TV show, it’s the same TV show—”30 Rock.” From there, the lists diverge, but there are an awful lot of TV shows on both gender’s lists. For men, the most used words are: “30 Rock,” “Arrested Development,” “Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Bob Dylan, born and raised, and my iPhone. For women, the list is: “30 Rock,” “True Blood,” Jay-Z, obsessed with, ice cream, and wine.
Presumably, people mention these TV shows because (a) they like them and (b) they think liking them will appeal to potential suitors. And so we’d like to give the straight guys out there some help. After the jump, the shows guys should name check, in addition to “30 Rock” and “Arrested Development,” if they want to pique a woman’s interest. Plus some more random words that will help, too. Keep reading »
An Online Dating Site For The Sexless
So, maybe sex is off the table for you for whatever reason — emotional, physical, or spiritual — does that mean you shouldn’t have romance in your life? No, of course not. There’s a place for all of us in the dating world. Created by a cervical cancer survivor, 2Date4Love.com is a dating forum for people who cannot (or do not want to) engage in sexual intercourse, but still seek love, companionship, and intimacy. After founder Laura Brashier underwent chemotherapy, she found sex to be too painful, but did not want to give up on the hope of finding love. “I didn’t want to be alone. This was the reason I went online,” Laura said. “My reason is to help a lot of people like me if I can.” I really think this site will help people. As someone who has mixed feelings about the gimmicky slickness of many online dating sites, I find this to be a really wonderful concept. [NY Daily News] Keep reading »
5 Rules For Happier Hunting In The World Of Online Dating
I’ve been online dating and I have not met my one true love, my soul mate, my Prince Charming, my knight in shining armor, or my other half. You may consider this a failure, but by my metrics, it’s going just fine. I’ve met fascinating, attractive, intelligent, opinionated, funny people and enjoyed a ridiculous range of conversation over a delicious assortment of snacks and beverages.
I have a lot of male friends who are online dating as well, and I’ve learned that the rules are a little different for straight dudes. What follows are some suggestions for gentleman who want to meet some ladies from the safety of their living rooms. Caveat #1: I cannot speak for all ladies dating online, I can only speak for myself. That said, my advice is aimed at men who want to appeal to the set of women whose profile features more than a bikini pic. Caveat #2: This is not advice to get you laid. Keep reading »
