Online dating, relationships and encounters discussion.

[Anchuent Christory]

Okay, so leading on from Chris' latest attempt to snare a sweetheart, I thought it would be cool to start a thread for stories, etc about online encounters.

The internet has revolutionised the way we interact, particularly when it comes to friendships, or romantic and sexual encounters.
Gone are the days when we would have to set up a garishly painted sign detailing our requirement in a potential mate on our college campus or fast food joint. We no longer even need to stalk our town shopping centre, throwing paper hearts with red string attached at passers by.

The internet allows us to zero in on others that may be potentially interested in us with dedicated sites, or even just forums dedicated to mutual interests can bring people together who never would have met otherwise.
I mean, I know we have at least one couple here who have been brought together by the power of Chris.

That said, it can also allow people to be somebody else in a way that simply wouldn't be possible in a face to face meeting.

So does anybody have any tales to share, such as...

Success stories.
Failures.
Funny stories.
Scary encounters.
Tips or advice.
Warnings.

Or do you maybe think this whole online malarky is too autistic and you think we should be doing things the old fashioned way?

Pro Tip, here's what not to do.

 

[Null]

My OK Cupid account once got a message from a hippie foot fetishist transsexual. I then closed the account.

 

[EI 903]

Had several conversations where it became apparent that me and the girls I was talking to weren't compatible for whatever reason.

Had one girl agree to meet up, and then get cold feet and never respond to messages again.

Every time a girl has ever initiated a conversation with me online, she either outweighed me or owned 2+ cats.

Then I ended up meeting a girl and getting married to her.

Summation: online dating is weird, annoying, and a total pain in the ass until it works.

 

[Payday]

it's fucking shit and i hate every second i turn on okcupid

 

[Conrix]

I don't actually use dating sites, I found a few lovers by talking normally on internet forums and through mutual interests. The current result of these "endeavors" is a transgender girlfriend, an open relationship, and a big pretend family.

 

[FramerGirl420]

Ya, I've never used actual dating sites before. So I've never experienced the true horror that is okcupid, match.com, etc.
But I am now engaged to a member of this forum and it's easily been my best relationship.

 

[CWCissey]

Never used dating sites, but I did meet a girl on a forum site, we met a couple of times, had a relationship for about 6 and a half years until I left her because her growing religious fundamentalism was starting to scare me and her attitude towards sex and drinking was hypocritical and unhealthy respectively.

 

[Watcher]

I've used online dating websites.

When I used OKCupid I met this girl who I talked with fairly regularly. I even added her on Steam. She wanted to be a game designer and went for one of those expensive "Game design" courses at an art school.

About a day in she let it slip somewhere that she went to this guy's house. I asked her who this guy was, and she mentioned it was another guy she met on the site. I asked her if they were an item and she said "basically yes".

After that we didn't really talk that much. I wanted to do the whole "friends" thing but it was clear the rejection was there and eventually she stopped responding to my messages. I dunno if I felt the last laugh or not considering she hasn't likely found much success in her field given her LinkedIn page.

Since then I haven't really used any online dating websites. I've had online relationships before (one that even sprouted on this forum) but they've usually fizzled out. I don't see much success with them in the future.

 

[KatsuKitty]

I dunno, I can't ever seem to make it work. I get very few to no messages from people I'd want to go out with. That's assuming I even get any messages to begin with.

 

[Watcher]

I dunno, I can't ever seem to make it work. I get very few to no messages from people I'd want to go out with. That's assuming I even get any messages to begin with.

This

Whenever I answer personal ads it usually goes back and forth for a few messages and the other person stops responding entirely.

This happens so often I'm usually wondering if I should just ask the person out immediately or if I'm just boring the other person asking questions about them. It really has confused me.

 

[Overcast]

I'm currently using Match.com.

So far, I haven't had any luck. None of the girls I was interested in responded back. I kinda wonder whether I should tell them that I share their interests, ask them out immediately, or simply say hi.

 

[AveraDiane]

I tried okcupid last year, it was full of people wanting to hook up. I got to meet this guy who tried dating a friend of mine, but he ignored me after.

This was until I met my boyfriend of almost 10 months on Facebook via my ex best friend. It can work, I guess.

 

[Fialovy]

Kiwi is the best dating site.

On June 29th, Dun and I will have been together for 2 and a half years and probably many more to come. What I liked about it was that is just sort of... happened...

Oddly enough, my cousin met her boyfriend a month apart of a dating site and they are still together too. According to her, her and her friend sort of did it originally for the lulz to see how many creeps they would attract.

 

[Marvin]

I know people who got married who met trolling Chris. I think there's at least one baby who's been born. Chris has indirectly produced new life.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

I know people who got married who met trolling Chris. I think there's at least one baby who's been born. Chris has indirectly produced new life.

Chris is better at completing love quests than he knows, just not his own sadly.

 

[EI 903]

I'm currently using Match.com.

So far, I haven't had any luck. None of the girls I was interested in responded back. I kinda wonder whether I should tell them that I share their interests, ask them out immediately, or simply say hi.

That's always the hardest part. Crafting a message that isn't a long essay, but is still interesting enough to stand out from the big pile of messages they get every day. There are actually some guides to that sort of thing if you look around online. My reply rate went up a lot after reading a few and sort of getting a feel for correct length and what to say.

Of course just from the sheer traffic most attractive girls get your reply rate is never going to be great. Endurance is the biggest factor behind success in the online environment.

 

[Zim]

I got messaged on OK Cupid (back when I had it) from a woman who was 20 years older then me looking for another guy to add to her manharem. Other then that it was pretty normal I guess minus one girl who clearly used a photo of her much younger self. I've only gone out with 5 girls I met online. Most just turned into friends. I haven't been back on in years.

 

[The Fair Lady]

I've been iffy about dating sites for a while now. On one hand I've never been in a relationship (I know, pathetic) and would like to have at least one boyfriend before I die. But on the other, I'm not very comfortable with putting personal information online. I've also heard plenty of not-so-good things about dating sites in general.

So yeah, it's kinda tempting, but I'm still not sure whether I should try it.

Edit 2: Switched over to OkCupid. A bunch of guys liked my profile, and two just tried to chat with me. Eeek.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

I've been iffy about dating sites for a while now. On one hand I've never been in a relationship (I know, pathetic) and would like to have at least one boyfriend before I die. But on the other, I'm not very comfortable with putting personal information online. I've also heard plenty of not-so-good things about dating sites in general.

So yeah, it's kinda tempting, but I'm still not sure whether I should try it.

Edit: Just made a Match.com account... We'll see how well that goes.

Good luck with that, just put enough information to give people something to go by, but there's no need to put anything sensitive up. I'm sure folk here will be happy to give you some tips as well.

 

[SU 390]

I used OkCupid and Plenty of Fish back in 2011 up until 2012 just for the hell of it. My success rate on both those sites were abysmal at best. For the most part, my match percentage was quite high with most women on there (surprisingly high with the attractive one which is weird since I'm ugly as fuck but anyway). Like @Cuddlebug and @KatsuKitty I had the same problems they did. I managed to stay in contact with two women (both fairly attractive mind you) for a short time, one via Kik and one with FB.

I now somewhat use Tumblr (yes, social media belly of the beast) as a dating option but not heavily. Just like @R.A.E.L. I've never been in a relationship because of low-self esteem and shamefully superficial reasons. Never finding anyone attractive to date or consider dating which again, I'm not all that special to look at. Things are slowly starting to pick up for me so I may decide to use online dating websites again but I doubt I'll have success again.

I may try geek or interracial themed dating sites next time around but I doubt I'll have much success like the last time.