Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Problem With Plenty Of Fish

damaged goods –noun
[dam-ij-d goo-ds]
1. a person who is impaired, corrupted, or defiled

A few months ago at a dinner party the topic of Internet dating came up, specifically two sites Plenty of Fish, a free dating site apparently run by one guy out of his Vancouver apartment, and a paid site called eHarmony.ca, developed by Dr. Neil Clark Warren. Two of my friends were trying out both of the sites, without any success. The complaint with eHarmoy.ca, besides the monthly fee, was the amount of time it took to actually get a chance to speak with someone. With Plenty of Fish, although it was free, the quality of potential mates was not really there. Although these two friends were not happy with the results, they kept their accounts going for well over 2 months.

I have always been a big proponent against Internet dating. When asked why, my only real argument was that it was too easy. Finding someone should not be like going through a catalogue and ordering merchandise. There is no thrill, no butterflies, and no spark. These were just assumptions on my part, so ever being curious and constantly Chasing Distractions, I decided to test out the world of online dating.

Being in the perpetual state of 'brokeness' I opted for the free dating site and created a profile on Plenty of Fish. Within the first few days I noticed something wrong with the potential mates on the site. No one seemed to respond to any of my emails. After changing tactics and slimming down my original contact I started to receive responses. After building what I assumed was an appropriate time on back and forth communication I attempted to plan ‘dates’, a time a place to meet someone for a drink or a coffee. It was at this point where everyone backed off. Excuses were made, or strange requests such as they would only agree to a date if I could lend them money first.
It may be hard to get the sense of someones personality through email and instant messages, but one thing that does stick out is when people are not right in some way. Now I know at this point if you have been reading my blog that last statement is ‘like the pot calling the kettle black’, but it is true. In my opinion, Plenty of Fish seems to deal in damaged goods.
Or it could just be that I am the one that is damaged goods... nah, that can't be right.
Maybe I should finally take down this ‘motivational' poster my ex-girlfriend gave me:




Grab The Bookmarketer For Your Site

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Chasing,

yes, on-line dating, what fun. I found POF had no more scams than pay sites, and you did not have to pay for the privilege of declining to be scammed. I don't know how old you are, but in my age category of mid forties, most people have a bit of baggage, and to be honest, most of the good ones are married. If we managed to get past the emails and phone calls I found that on the first date: half just no chemistry, 25% still bitter about the divorce, 20% lied about age, kids, drugs, 5% gold diggers, and 5% scams.

Took me 6 years to find someone. Most never made it to date 2, and only a handful to date 4.

Still, online dating is a great way to meet lots of women.