Online Dating

[chomerics]

www.jdate.com

That's where I met my wife.

It's a little strange to the extent that you don't know anything about someone before meeting, but it made a lot of sense in NYC given that the bar scene is far more oriented to random hook-ups.

I think if you go about it the right way, and you're honest and forthcoming, you can really find somebody worthwhile. I know I did.

Congrds Iheart. . .kind of the position I am in right now. . . but I have to add, living in Manhattan gives you a wee bit better chance of finding the right one on Jdate then say Laramie Wyoming

[Guest Gichin13]

Met my wife of almost four years on udate.com. It actually is a pretty funny story ...

She refused to put up a picture. She rated herself as very good looking. She kept popping up on the top list for me, as I did for her. I tried to message her and she blew me off. Finally, she contacted me and we talked a bit. She gave me her cell phone number.

We ended up spending about 2 plus hours a day talking on the phone for a couple weeks. She absolutely refused to send a picture as her whole stated purpose was to get away from bar superficial pick-up interaction. I was pretty intrigued with her personality and spice (she is from Puerto Rico, bi-lingual, absolutely hilarious).

We set up a dinner date. My then roomies were taunting me saying she was either nuts or hideous, why else the lack of photo? My reply was I had enjoyed talking with her, I honestly believed she was being straight with me in the description part, and regardless I thought I would have a fun time since I had enjoyed talking to her for weeks already and found her particularly intriguing.

I go to pick her up on Connecticut Avenue for dinner after work on a Friday night. My god, she just looked absolutely stunning. Still does even after five years and having a child.

In the end though, she is way more fun and way funnier than she is good looking, and she really is gorgeous. A great combination!! Her spin of making it be about other things first and then seeing if there was physical attraction started our relationship on a whole different slant than the years of dating from age 15 through age 35 when we met. I am an advocate that if you do it right, meeting folks over the computer is better than meeting random chicks in bars for sure.

And at a minimum, what Westbrook said LOL.

[twa]

No, I was married before the net...Just asked my wife could I try it

She wasn't very open to the request

[Cdowwe]

Better watch out Chom, I watched Dateline last night and they had some interesting gentlemen on there trying to meet children. I dont wanna see you being the victim of a 65 year old man showing up with a 6 pack of Mikes Hard Lemonade and condoms...claiming he was going to sell the 13 year old boy a house, and thats why he showed up.

[MissU28]

Dude, I hope you are not such a political nut you won't date someone with different political ideals then yourself. I see the Liberal and Conservative dating websites and shake my head.

I never went through a dating website but I've heard a lot of good things about eharmony.com. I met my wife on AOL and we have been happily married for 7 yrs now.

I don't know...I dated an EXTREMELY liberal guy... and we were able to be cool with it by not talking about politics... we both knew where each other stood and didn't agree but didn't really discuss it because we liked each other. One day his parents came to his house and saw the bumper sticker on my car (Bush/Cheney... this past summer, MONTHS after the election)... and they reamed him out for dating me, since they in no way support anything that Bush does or has done. At the time, he defended me to his parents, but later on (when our relationship started falling apart) we got into a huge debate on politics which actually was the end of our relationship. He basically told me that I was heartless and apathetic about the world around me, which is what most democrats think of republicans.

It can work as long as the two people aren't stubbornly political (which I definitely am) and if they don't have staunch views on certain topics. I love to argue, fight all the time, and am very stubborn when it comes to being a republican. Moderate liberals I can deal with...but he was FAR left. The range is a tad excessive.

[MissU28]

I had a LOT better success and far more attractive options (to be blunt) when there was Love@AOL and it was FREE.

When all these sites went pay-for-play, it tilted things dramatically in favor of women. Hell, in the space of a few weeks, I had 3 VERY attractive women I met from Love@AOL. With match.com, well...meh.

yeah...Love@AOL when it was free...that's where I met my ex boyfriend that I was on and off with for 5.5 years. He became one of the most important people in my life. Met him when I was 18.

[Ghost of]

Agree with MissU28.

I'd rather date a born-again Christian. If someone is, for instance, FAR left I find their beliefs and EVERYTHING they support to be reprehensible. How can you claim to love someone who believes what you despise?

If political differences aren't important then you could date a full-fledged Communist or Nazi or some Wahhabist.

BS they don't matter. I couldn't respect MYSELF if I dated someone whose beliefs and values I detested.

[DeanCollins]

No, I was married before the net...Just asked my wife could I try it

She wasn't very open to the request

Just do like I do, tell her your helping out a friend

[MissU28]

Agree with MissU28.

I'd rather date a born-again Christian. If someone is, for instance, FAR left I find their beliefs and EVERYTHING they support to be reprehensible. How can you claim to love someone who believes what you despise?

If political differences aren't important then you could date a full-fledged Communist or Nazi or some Wahhabist.

BS they don't matter. I couldn't respect MYSELF if I dated someone whose beliefs and values I detested.

exactly. I would not be happy with someone who believed something totally opposite than what I believed. There are some issues where I lean left (moderately) so a moderate democrat wouldn't be a big deal. There would be a couple issues we'd disagree about but it wouldn't be horrendous. But if we disagreed on EVERY issue? Very hard. People search for others with similar morals. Aren't politics based on moral issues?

[Bonef1de]

About 6 years ago I guy that I worked with the navy came up to me and told me that he had an ad on line and that he was getting responses from a lot of hot chicks. I was skeptical but after showing me some pics I quickly changed my tune.

So I setup an account with Love@aol posted my pic and kicked back. We had to go underway for 2 weeks and when I got back I must of had about 10 responses. I couldn't believe how many good looking women browsed these ads. I went out on probably on 4 dates and slept with everyone of them on the 1st date. None of them stood out to me as really worth dating so I never called any of them again.

My friend ended up marrying one of the girls who responded to his ad. We'll I gotta tell you she hit the jackpot because my friend worked so hard in the Navy that he got a commission and is now a liuetenant making major dough and they are stationed in London.

Not the best story in the world but that was my experience with on line dating.

[Coooleeey]

Hey Chom, How did this end up working out for you? I'm curious about these websites. A few years back I was on match.com and it sucked pretty bad.

Anyone else have any more stories to add?

[Xameil]

Hey Chom, How did this end up working out for you? I'm curious about these websites. A few years back I was on match.com and it sucked pretty bad.

Anyone else have any more stories to add?

well....lets see...met my gf on match, and we have a baby daughter.

[Bang]

I met my wife in a Yahoo chatroom.

Almost ten years ago my ex walked out on me and our one yr old son. When I was ready to try dating again, I found it very difficult to go the standard routes of meeting women,, when you have a toddler you don't have much time for socializing.. going out at night is impossible without babysitters, and even though I did use a sitter once in a while, I didn't like it.

So, i looked online. I found the yahoo local rooms and started hanging out in the DC area rooms. I met quite a few interesting people, and more than my fair share of beautiful, and i mean BEAUTIFUL women.

I was amazed at the women I was meeting and dating. Out of my league.

On the downside, I noticed about half of them had the tell-tale mark of a ring-just-removed. (Married women out screwing around.)

That was the ONE drawback, was the marrieds out messing around. I have strict rules about such things, and won't do it.

the thing about false pictures, etc, happened to me once. Girl told me she looked like Terry Hatcher,, she did,, if Terry gained about 300 lbs. While we ate our lunch I casually mentioned how much I liked the place, and that my partner Brian would love it.

She got a real funny look on her fat face when she figured out I was telling her i was gay...

(I'm not, but hey, she lied first. Besides, that one gets you instantly off the hook for anything she may have had in mind.)

I had one steadfast rule

I always met them in a public place for lunch first. Public is good, there's a lot of people out there looking to rob folks or worse... lonely hearts are easy and trusting targets. NEVER tell them where you live or invite them over until you've met them at least once.

(I liked to meet them in Old Town Alexandria,,, nice restauants, pretty area for a stroll,,, the Torpedo factory.. lots of things to do to walk and talk and get to know one another.)

Anyway, that got tiresome, i burnt out on it, running all over town, constantly being on the prowl.. it got old. So one day when i had decided i really didn't care if I dated anyone again or not, lo and behold I met my wife. Quite by accident, too. she wasn't looking, I wasn't looking, we started out just as online friends, and it grew from there.

We've been married five years now.

~Bang

[stuck_N_virginia]

um am i the only one stating the obvious? myspace? hello? i've done pretty well on there..and made some really great friends too!

[drums and skins]

Lets see...

I've basically met 3 girls online.

First was just out of high school.

Another was through an online friend that I knew, but not really well. She lived 30 minutes south of me and basically had a crush on me throughout my senior year in high school (despite knowing that I was already in a relationship. I had a 2.5 year relatikonship in high school, so I guess that kept me grounded from getting too promiscuous ). Anyways, right after graduation, my friend met someone from her class. At graduation. She ended up dating (and eventually marrying) him, but we still talk as friends and she hooks me up with her friend. I like her, but its just all a little too awkward. She had a few mental problems (apparently she was a nympho before me, but started to settle down...and was pretty religious...and kept getting sexually harassed at work by her boss, but didn't do **** about it. He --a 30yr old, married guy-- ended up banging her --an 18 year old girl-- because he mentioned she'd get a raise. Yea, she wasn't all there. That only lasted maybe 4 months.

The next was maybe 2 months after that. We met through being in the same activity (percussion in the marching band). We've talked online for years (throughout high school). She lived a little over an hour away though. Now that I was driving, we decided to try to make it happen. It lasted something like a little over a year. But, for a kid working in retail making six bucks an hour, it wasn't very keen to filling up the tank just to visit her. We still talk, and when/if I was single, still had fun together .

Now, I met my current girlfriend through the same website I met the previous one. She's awesome. We've been dating for over 2 years now and I think things are looking really well. I'm finishing up my undergrad degree, and she's a 2nd year in med school right now. Its long distance (she's at WVU's med school), but the idea is that I can graduate, and get a job near her, maybe in Pittsburgh.

[Coooleeey]

um am i the only one stating the obvious? myspace? hello? i've done pretty well on there..and made some really great friends too!

I thought about that but there are a lot of people I see on myspace from highschool that I don't want to interact with.

[CandaceM23]

I thought about that but there are a lot of people I see on myspace from highschool that I don't want to interact with.

I keep my myspace profile private ... so others can't see it ... which doesn't really help the online dating cause.

I tried match for a while and ended up meeting a schmuck. I gave up on match very quickly.

[Coooleeey]

I keep my myspace profile private ... so others can't see it ... which doesn't really help the online dating cause.

I tried match for a while and ended up meeting a schmuck. I gave up on match very quickly.

Yeah I had the strangest date of my life with a girl I met on match and cancelled shortly after it.

[Heidenreich]

I thought about that but there are a lot of people I see on myspace from highschool that I don't want to interact with.

I see a ton of people from highschool on myspace, but I'm in the same boat. I don't want to talk to any of them.

I dated a girl i met on myspace over the summer, it didn't work out.

The only downside is when they post a blog telling people what an ******* you are! That's always fun....

[SkinsHokieFan]

After the recent stalking episode, my myspace profile is set on super duper private

I occasionaly respond to craigslist personal ads, but only God himself knows who you are talking to

One girl and I seemed to hit it off real good (a craigslist girl) and we talked on the phone a lot, I mean hours, and had a lot in common, but 2 things set off alarm bells for me. 1) She only sent me one picture and refused to send me any others and 2) She was the biggest flake ever

So after that sorry episode (and good grief my dating life has been absurd this year) I think I am gonna pass on the online stuff for a while

[CandaceM23]

I occasionaly respond to craigslist personal ads, but only God himself knows who you are talking to

You're pretty brave ... I avoid Craigslist at all costs. I don't even mess with it to look for tickets, etc.

[SkinsHokieFan]

You're pretty brave ... I avoid Craigslist at all costs. I don't even mess with it to look for tickets, etc.

Boredom at work drives me to ES and CL :laugh:

[AsburySkinsFan]

You didn't have a choice for me, I haven't tried it but think its worth while to try. When my father was ready to start seeing other people again (he was widowed several years ago) he went to eHarmony.com and met the woman who is now his wife. I was actually fortunate enough to be the pastor to marry them back in October.

[Mr. S]

You're pretty brave ... I avoid Craigslist at all costs. I don't even mess with it to look for tickets, etc.

I tried craigslist a bit too, but stopped bothering soon after. Had lots of "great first and 2nd conversation" girls, and then we try talking again and didn't click. Guess I shoulda tried to meet first instead. I pretty much stopped though, for every decent bio/post I saw, there were about 100 weird ones and I got tired of trying to weed them out.

There is a free online site where I do have a profile, but I really don't put much stock into it. I notice most of the people in my age range, probably including myself, have profiles there but aren't too serious, it's basically like having a myspace or facebook. I have been talking to one girl who contacted me through it, but we are a fair distance apart.

[BayouBrave86]

Haha wow I never knew online dating was so successful. I was actually thinking about trying it out as a joke this summer when campus is dead and everyone has gone back home (this is of course if I'm not seeing a lady by the time summer rolls around). One of my room mates is staying in town this summer too and we are each other's ultimate wingman's, he said he is down with the idea of trying it out too to meet some lovely ladies, man this could be a fun summer. :laugh: