Orkut, Friendster, The Tribe, etc. and your love life
» Richard Evans Lee
Most of the comments folks leave here are simply dumb. Some poor folks think the comment for is a way to post to a chatroom. Leaving me spending time deleting "Hey," "Looking for action" as well as the attempt to use my weblogs as a way to sell Viagra, discount trucks and travel services. The good comments are much appreciated. By good I don't mean remarkably insightful. Some folks politely point out errors, for which I'm grateful. Others leave a friendly howdy to let me know they enjoy the weblog. Those comments are my real reward for keeping the site online. (There are the little ads, but trust me, the few bucks a day they bring in won't be buying me a limo or Lear Jet anytime soon.)
Yesterday I got an invite to Orkut. Poking around the - ahem - social network reminded me of my days on Yahoo, AOL chatrooms and even a stab or two with dating websites like Match.com using the web to meet people. Internet dating has really caught on since then. Some dating sites actually turn a profit. A few folks have even learned how to use them (others actually pay to have their personal ad, profile written for them).
In looking to see who was near me on Orkut I was startled by the slim pickings. But Orkut is invitation only for now. That set me to wondering what success folks have had using Orkut, Friendster, The Tribe and the like for meeting people. For serious dating, romance or what is often called "no strings fun." Or maybe your dates are professional, meeting people for pay.
Perhaps a few of you could be persuaded to share with me (hopefully via the comment form) tales of your luck or failure using online dating services, virtual communities or any old website for meeting folks.
Comments
I know so many people who have gotten ass from friendster. As for myself, I can definitely say that it’s caught me some attention of all sorts—friends, lovers, seedy hook-ups, etc.
Enjoy your blog!
Posted by: Professor $1.50 | March 17, 2004 4:49 PM
I’ve used match.com in the past and it worked ok I can’t say it was better than craigslist.org. Orkut and friendster are not designed as dating sites although many use them that way. match.com had about 300k paying memebers at one point not sure if that was over a quarter or a year but trust me they turn a profit. They are owned by ticketmaster.com which also owns citysearch.com. eharmony seems to be the current leader for people finding real “romance” while alt.com and friendfinder.com work for getting ass.
Posted by: asad | March 17, 2004 5:25 PM
In playing with Orkut’s search feature a little it seemed biased toward dating. You really surprised me by saying that alt.com had produced results. When I tried using it a few years ago it seemed more like a personals graveyard. I went by a few days ago and noticed that they were much tighter about giving you little without paying. And I guess meeting people by the web has become more commonplace.
Posted by: Richard | March 17, 2004 5:45 PM
If you hadn’t heard, there’s a “gay friendster” now. It’s called Downelink. http://www.downelink.com
Posted by: J-I | March 20, 2004 1:37 PM