eHarmony.

It sounds like they're getting fat off the hopes of the desperate, to me. There's nothing wrong with meeting people on the internet in and of itself, but paying $110 for an online matching service is the very definition of desperate. And I'm sorry, but desperate people tend not to be the most ideal mates. It'd be fun to try for a lark were it free, but that's just a borderline scam, considering you're essentially throwing a hail Mary pass.

How ya doing, buddy?

Quote:

Posted by Minion
I'm very happily in a relationship of over 6 months thanks to eharmony, so I don't know what the hell you're on about.

You are transparent as glass. You're touting eHarmony as a superior method of acquiring a mate, because it worked for you. Consider how egocentric this is. The thing that worked for you must be the best, because everybody is just like you, has the same experiences as you, and the same opportunities as are available to you. I have to conclude that this is your mindset, because these are the only circumstances under which your sweeping generalization could work.

Just because you went out to bars and clubs night after night, being rejected by the fairer sex and having no luck at all, hardly means that it is an "inefficient" means of finding a partner. It simply means that it didn't work for you. It is one thing to argue that for some people, eHarmony works just well. But unless you're going to follow up by insisting that all people should be just like you in thought and deed, you're overreaching by suggesting that eHarmony is superior.

Throwing your weight around as a moderator doesn't win you any points, either.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Quote:

Posted by Minion
Why the hell would I care what works for you people anyway? I don't get a commission and I could give less than a rat shit about most of your love lives. I'm confident in my opinion. If that bothers you, you know where to stick it.

If you don't care then why are you still here telling people they're luddites if they don't care for a fee-based dating site? Or are you just here to mock those who don't share your views?

Quote:

Posted by RacinReaver
Shit, eHarmony charges $50 a month? I guess that helps weed out people that don't have a somewhat decent form of income (poor grad students being left lonely again ).

I was not aware of a $50 monthly charge on top of the $110 entry fee. Like I said, getting fat off the hopes of the desperate. This is only slightly less distasteful than televangelists convincing people to send them money in the name of Jesus.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Quote:

Posted by Minion
I got upset because Lehah was being as obvious goddamn troll for no reason.

Now if he was actually trolling, I wouldn't have felt the need to jump in here. But you started waving your badge around because he said mean things to you on the internet. You were so busy being outraged by his personal attack that you were oblivious to how he was shooting down your flimsy arguments.

I don't see anywhere in the board rules where people have to be nice about pointing out how someone is full of shit. It really sounds to me like you're just crying "troll, troll!" because you're lost an argument.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Quote:

Posted by Crash Landon
I would like to take a moment to point out that not all online relationships involve socially inept twits and desperate people who hook up simply because no other options exist.

I am a case in point. I never used a dating service, but the larger point stands.

That's not a good point to try and make, considering what a lot of people think of your girlfriend, Crash. <_<

I think it's just as assumptive NOT to think that eHarmony is chiefly populated by the socially apt. In an ideal world, online dating services provide additional resources to otherwise socially adept people who have few opportunities to meet people, for reasons likely outside their control. But in addition to these people, you have the wallflowers who fail at real-life social interaction, and turn to the internet as a means of last resort - i.e. the Sir VG category.

The crowd on eHarmony is going to have considerably more human failures trolling around than you'd meet in real life. As many losers as you're going to get paired up with and have to reject, it may very well be less efficient (heh) than simply driving out of your way to a club in a neighboring city.

And none of this factors in the fact that online conversation is inferior to face-to-face communication. So much is lost in mere text conversation that tells you a lot about a person, good or bad. The possibility for success is still there, of course, but it's so greatly diminished from real life interactions that it seems like an awful lot to be pinning $50 a month on.

Incidentally, heard an interesting bit of news today, too. Though they're not part of this lawsuit, just remember that it is not actually in eHarmony's interests for you to actually find love.

I was speaking idiomatically.

So is the argument still that dating sites are superior to meeting people in person, or is the argument now that you shouldn't be hating on people who try to save time by having their computer tabulate matches for them?

I want to make an argument about how more efficiency isn't necessarily better for society, but that's sort of another topic entirely.

Quote:

Posted by Minion
Who gives a damn how someone behaves anyway? It's their thoughts that matter. At least that's how I feel.

Married couples do, actually. People's little idiosyncratic habits have been the doom of many a marriage. Couples aren't just a pair of robots that beam thoughts at one another and occasionally have sex. People have odd little quirks, and while they might be individually tolerable, added up they can produce a surprising amount of friction once the infatuation fades.

This is the sort of thing you don't get to pick up on, just chatting with someone over instant messenger. Someone who seems interesting solely through the medium of text can very quickly grow unappealing when you get a chance to see how they behave in person. Like I said, personal habits and body language speak volumes about a person, beyond the words coming out of their mouth.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Quote:

Posted by Minion
Most of them, like me, just don't enjoy going to conventional meeting places.

Question: isn't that the very definition of being a shut-in?

FELIPE NO

I think Sass is trying to make the point that, since most marriages wind up loveless anyway, arranged marriages are no different than consensual marriages. Technically this is true, but that's still a pretty damn cynical way to look at it. People's typical lack of judgement in picking their own mates doesn't exactly make it equally okay to force a spouse on someone.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?