Several months ago, not long after ending my most longterm relationship to date, I decided to reenter the world of online dating. It seemed like as good a hobby as any, especially when I felt like making out with someone would be a fun thing to do. It's not like I had much else going on, and most of my friends seemed to be spending their evenings watching TV shows on Netflix with their very committed significant others, which frequently left my single ass drinking beer at home with my cat. I didn't really know how to go about meeting girls in real life, because I'm terrified of talking to strangers and girls certainly never come up to me. (I like to blame femme invisibility, but I have also been called stand-offish plenty of times.)
I don't claim to be an online dating expert. If you are going into online dating with some specific goals (and I don't really think you should), you might actually see my experience as remarkably unsuccessful. But I feel like I've learned some things along the way I would like to share with you.
This article appears in Feb 7-13, 2013.