Sunday, August 10, 2008

thoughts from the trenches...online dating

Just sitting here drinking coffee and thinking about the dating world..(imagine that) This is what this blog is for so lets delve into it, shall we? Tonight I was reading something about eharmony. Yeah, that commercial with the creepy old guy stating how they "Match you up on 29 dimensions of compatibility" Sheeesh!! He creeps me out. Well recently I was bored, it was late, I had way to much coffee and I got curious...Yep, a dangerous combination was brewing. So I joined eharmony (they say on their advertisements that you can join for free and review your matches for free. More on this so called free part later) and went through the questioning process. I was honest in my answers. Hey! They promised the love of my life and I wanted this to be perfect so no fudging with the answers. I was curious to know what was out there. After answering a zillion questions it seemed I posted a picture and awaited my matches.....and waited.....and waited. I had to increase the area of my search out to 300 frekkin miles and finally I got 4 matches. Finally my true loves were all lined up and waiting for me and they were just a click away...... I clicked on their profiles to see and I my patience was rewarded with a pop up stating I had to join to see their pics. AARRGGHH!!! So I sit there and ponder my next move with this outfit that was keeping from my true loves. I fire off a email stating that it was stupid for me not to see my matches, as physical attraction is always the first thing that clicks and starts the interest between the male species and the female species and before I drop the high price they want per month I would like to see them first...Right?......Wrong...So very wrong. Nope, not in eharmony land it isn't.

In the email they stated that through their research they found the inner beauty was what kept a relationship strong. I stated that that's correct but if they are uglier than homemade sin I don't see us getting to that inner beauty part no time soon. (No response from that one...Was it something I said? ;-)

So I broke down and like a dummy I payed for a month. I then got permission to see my matches...(Drum roll please!!)..........Well. I am no looker myself, never claimed to be but with my first 4 matches all I could say was "Bless their heart" or OMG!! Dont make eye contact. Back away slowly from the monitor Rick.....I waited for more matches and more started coming and and I passed out more "Bless your heart" and OMG awards as the days passed. Most matches were at least150 to 3oo miles away from me and after 3 days I cancelled my renewal. The matches kept coming in and the BYH/OMG awards flew. These people were no where near my match. I do hope they find who they are looking for.

eharmony is a joke and I am reading more and more how people are not very happy with them. Whats the price for finding that special someone?? I don't know but these idiots have it down to a science. Separating you from your money is what they do best. I give the a 0 out of 10

Lets move on shall we? You see I dated online from 98 until 03. I had fun and I was curious if things had changed over the last 5 years. So next in line was Match.com. I joined and was able to view actually pictures of people I might like to meet. What a concept! Hey eharmony!! You goons paying attention?? I created a profile and paid the fee and started looking. At the writing of this blog I have a week left on my subscription and do not plan to renew. Its a great site but the main problem is that people want to window shop and nothing more. They say they are looking for all this sweet and wonderful stuff, but they need to get their head out of the romance novels and into reality. I might sound bitter but I am not. You cant candy coat reality and it's what you wake up to everyday. But after a while every profile started to look the same. Only 1 in 10 got my attention. I have had the email swaps back and forth but not with anyone I would consider meeting. There is still a few days left though and who knows what might happen. I give them a 7 out of 10

And lastly good ole Yahoo Personals. I have had a fair amount of luck with this site and actually met a few people to go out with and had a pretty good time. Its a mixture of "BYH" awards and Match.com for functionality. My subscription ran out a week ago and for now I don't plan to renew. One good thing is that most of the women are local or with reasonable drive to meet. Maybe at a later date I might consider rejoining, but not now. I give them a 9 out of 10

So in the final wind up I see a lot of people who are searching.... a lot of people like myself. They are all coming to these sites to people watch. Hoping that maybe Mr or Ms right will log in. It never ends until you get tired of the ride and hop off...

Exit stage left......

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