“Hi Brian, what’s your favorite color?”
Here is a unique example of an Ok Cupid message I received about 24 hours after browsing this girl’s profile, writing her a polite message expressing what I found interesting and asking if she would be interested in meeting up.
Now, a couple of things are going through my mind:
1) This person is crazy. She genuinely wants to know what my favorite color is before she divulges her name, let alone decides if she wants to go out on a date with me.
2) This is a test. I should be clever in my answer. Funny, if possible.
3) TROLL! This girl is a troll!
But being a man who has been unlucky enough in love to resort to a dating website, I of course stumbled over my words and responded in none of the ways anticipating one of those responses would suggest.
“Um, blue? Why do you ask?”
Wait approx. 12 hours.
“Well is it blue, or isn’t it? I don’t particularly care, but I like a man with conviction.”
Here’s where I try to save myself:
“Conviction? Sure, got it covered. Blue? Meh.”
Wait 12 hours.
“Right.”
Now, I’m not entirely sure who’s in the wrong here. I am, after all, bad at this. But I would like to presume that the human proposal I sent initially did not return the polite, human response I expected. I don’t understand women. Tell me if I’m wrong.
What I am coming to understand is that a dating website, or Ok Cupid in particular, has nuances in communication just as any other social media platform does.
But what it does additionally is prove that although many people today resort to dating websites out of bad real-life experiences, shyness, rejection, fear, etc., dating online is no less difficult, frustrating or different than dating can be in person.
Continue reading “Ok Cupid: A Normal, Nice, Non-Crazy Guy's Experience”