Online dating

[Rockport]

Pepper spray is better.

 

[DanteEXT]

I’ll try and make this short but I spent a lot of time with this and met my wife of 17 yrs on it. Being that I was on so long ago may mean that some of this is outdated but here is what I liked etc.

I got on because in my late 20s snd early 30s I was the only guy in my group not married snd bar hopping solo was not fun. I usually had beer at BW3…not exactly girl central. I had a broken engagement and so I spent a few years on Match.com in Dallas and Houston

1) Enjoy it and meet as many people as possible in person. I loved knowing that all these people were in my area and we could meet at any restaurant or wine bar etc. I thought this was the best way to see if there was a match. I only met one really crazy person but it may be different from the girls side.

2) With all that is said above, obviously go out in a crowded place and make it as safe as possible

3) Don’t limit yourself to just “the one” type people. I was early 30s and met 50 yr old women, 22 yr old women etc. I honestly took it as a shot to enjoy going on dates.

4) Make your profile blunt. When I met my wife I rarely traveled and at the time was a fearful flyer. She worked for an airline in corporate, traveled the world and her name was “TravelPro” so obviously I knew what to expect and once we started traveling on her passes around the world my fears etc went away. She told me straight up..”if traveling a lot is an issue, this won’t work.” I had also tailored my bio to pretty much lay out my likes/dislikes

5) Finally don’t be desperate. I have a brother that tried it snd he’d quit after a month because he couldn’t get people to talk. He also was only reaching out to “short hot girls.” I was my wife’s first date snd as she put it “you’re a Match *****” So just enjoy the interaction and with the whole thing.

One last thing. There are people here saying it’s bad. Yes I heard from women I went out with that guys were bad at times. Yes some people want to hook up on the guy side. But there were plenty of women who wanted me to be a boy toy too so it’s not all one sided. I enjoyed the process and now I have a wife and 3 kids from it

I would add good, recent pictures. Not from my own experience, just from someone I knew. They went to meet a guy, and while it was the same person in the pictures, just from several years and pounds ago.

 

[Runwildboys]

There are also a buttload of scammers and catfishers. It gets easier to spot them with experience, but some are so stupid, they speak in their profile from a woman's perspective, but have their sex listed as male, or vice versa. Some claim or otherwise lead you to believe they're born Americans, but the way they write, you can tell they're from Russia, or wherever. Some just have a lot of discrepancies in their profiles. Some just outright steal other people's pictures and/or profile. Don't be afraid to ask them to post a picture of themselves doing something specific, and post it in their profile, not texted or emailed to you.
Some sites now have links to Facebook and such, which probably makes it a little more secure, but I don't know.

 

[Dunks3001]

Online dating is what you make of it. If you want a serious relationship you can probably find one. If you want something short term or causal you can find that too. I always liked it because in this climate online dating sites means you're there to date and flirt. Everyone signed up for the same reason so start swiping and don't discuss too much over chat. Save the real conversation for when you meet up. Pick a coffee place and see if you hit it off. No pressure and you won't have to spend a lot

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Take chicken livers for cat fishing.

On a serious not. Good luck and be safe.

 

[Xelda]

Make sure they aren't an Eagles, Giants or Washington fan. There's no future in that.

 

[VaqueroTD]

My long-time gf and I met on Match. Virtually every couple I know at this point met online. I had nothing but good experiences. Met lots of cool people I would never ordinarily encounter, that was something I really liked about it. So ymmv obviously, but I can't relate to the negativity here (except obviously about needing to be careful safety-wise).

At least someone did. Reading all the posts here — bring a taser, bring your drink to restroom so it isn’t drugged, beware foreign scammers — sounds like a trip to jail more than a date. Yikes!
That’s the next step, marriage.

 

[Kellsbells]

Make sure they aren't an Eagles, Giants or Washington fan. There's no future in that.

Or 49ers.

 

[Miller]

At least someone did. Reading all the posts here — bring a taser, bring your drink to restroom so it isn’t drugged, beware foreign scammers — sounds like a trip to jail more than a date. Yikes!
That’s the next step, marriage.

As I said I loved it too and got married off of it. I think it’s what you make of it! JD was dead right

 

[nightrain]

"Recently single" sounds like you have time to take your time. "On line" is so fraught with grifters, I would hate to rely on that platform in search for a mate.

Think about what you are looking for in a mate and make yourself available to mingle in select settings that will expose you to your desired match.

My guess is it will happen for you when you least expect it.

 

[rags747]

We should have a Singles section within the OT section of Cowboyszone. Which Mod can jump on that pronto?

 

[Jammer]

I met my wife on Match.com. When my first wife and I separated I joined some meetup groups and started picking the brains of the women as far as do's and don'ts. Most women hated men who were only looking for a hookup or a "sugar momma". I was not in the market for hookups or a financial bailout so it was easy for me to avoid those pitfalls.

The day of my divorce I created a profile on Match. I made the profile funny and had a few pictures of myself and me with other people having a good time.

I had a lot of success with women reaching out to me. I never reached out to the women myself. I had not reached enough confidence to do that as it had been nearly 35 years of being out of the dating pool. I dated a few women. Some were boring and some entertaining, but none I would want to go to the next step with.

I then might my future wife. I knew IMMEDIATELY this woman was differently. The first date was an instant success. Two years to the day of my divorce we got married in Hawaii. Lots of ups and downs but I would do it again without hesitation.

Even if I didn't meet my Love I would still give the experience a thumbs up. It probably has a lot to do with my age (mid-50's) and looking for women in my own age group. My criteria wasn't numerous, but there were a few things I wasn't willing to ignore. One of my biggest turnoffs was of women who only had dozens of selfie pictures of just themselves and not with other people. Right or wrong I took it as a person who was too interested in their looks and nothing more. I got to met a few women I would not have otherwise and it got me out of my shell. I will admit it was an ego boost being contacted by women instead of the other way around.

It was a win for me.

 

[john van brocklin]

Be careful, lots of jerks and predators out there.

Scary!

 

[john van brocklin]

We should have a Singles section within the OT section of Cowboyszone. Which Mod can jump on that pronto?

Lol

 

[timb2]

Make sure they are not secretly married. That happened to me twice from online dating.

 

[Runwildboys]

Make sure they are not secretly married. That happened to me twice from online dating.

They found out you were secretly married?

 

[timb2]

They found out you were secretly married?

Yuck yuck

 

[VaqueroTD]

They found out you were secretly married?

 

[LonnieElam]

Finding myself recently single after years off the market, I’m considering dipping my toes into the online dating world. I’m nervous about it. Do you have any experience or tips for me?

Adultfriendfinder.com

 

[Doomsday]

Two years ago I signed up for a site that was supposed to be for golfers. I thought it would be cool to meet some female golfers to be friends with and it might lead to dating but of course, it was bogus, not one of the girls who I reached out to actually golfed. I ended up deleting my account after a few weeks.