SingleGirl: Ok Cupid = Ok Stupid?
Posted by SingleGirl - 28/06/10 at 08:06 amOk, so I need to pop in with a little rant today. But before I get going, I know you were all dying about last week’s story so I can’t forget to tell you that the Millionaires called me about a guy they “have in mind” for me. He’s Indian American (not that it matters but I’m a white chick), successful, rich, well traveled, romantic, etc. Or so they tell me. Anyway, the next step is for them to pass my info in front of him and then they’ll let me know if he likes what he sees. *gulp* But all of that is on hold for the time being anyway because he’s in Europe on business………. naturally. 
Meantime, I’ve been hearing a lot about this OkCupid site for online dating a way to meet people online and date in the real world. And its free so what the hell, right?
I’m aware of Plenty of Fish and mostly find it to be user-unfriendly and full of scary men. So I went into the OkCupid site with a sense of wary.
I was pleased to see that the interface is pretty good and there are plenty of selection criteria to weed out the scarys. I even like that there are dating questions you can match up. Questions like, “Are you ready to get married?” can be enormously helpful in screening out the playahs (are you listening to me Match.com? No. I didn’t think so).
On first glance, I saw a line-up of decent looking men with decent enough things to say about themselves. Huh! Maybe there is something to this, and its FREE!
But here is my problem so far. It seems that OK-C doesn’t spit back exact matches for me but instead spits back matches by their % match. That is scary because it means some VERY weird stuff manages to slip through. For example, there was the guy who matched most of my criteria: age, bachelor’s degree, and we had a lot of ethics questions in common. Problem? When listing what he was looking for on this site, he mentions BOTH “long term dating” and “casual sex.” EEK!
But allow me to take a moment to THANK him. Thank you to him for his honesty and thank you to Ok-C for asking that question. Because there is one more bullet dodged.
For the record, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting casual sex. Just don’t shit where you eat. You can’t go fishing for a long-term girlfriend and a fuck-buddy in the same pond (pardon my french). Or at least–you shouldn’t.
My final concern with Ok-C is that it may be full of “career daters.” It’s tough to tell because, after all, I’ve been on and off these sites for years myself and its not for lack of wanting something serious. But SOME people, I fear, are addicted to it. Not only to bail on new relationships when they get a little tough (why deal with it when you can always go find another woman online?) but also for the ego-stroke of having online correspondence with multiple people. For some, it becomes very hard to commit to someone and break off that feel-good pipeline, especially when its free.
And yes, yes, women do it too. I”m only saying that THIS woman doesn’t. And it’s my post so that’s how it works, see?
That’s my rant. Thanks for listening.
Now that I’m done, I will say that I think OKCupid is superior to Match and E-Harmony, has better selection, more clever functions, and is an all-around better experience. So have at it! And if you strike gold, come back and tell me about it so I can feel jealous.
Thanks!
