Falling

I've had the internet since I was 11 years old.

AOL 3.0 in 1996. I still remember my first screen name as well as the many chat rooms where I lied and said I was 17 years old (instead of 12).

Since then, I've stayed out of chatrooms, got rid of AOL, and I quit lying. About my age at least.

The net has changed a lot since then. Angelfire has been replaced by Myspace. Napster has been replaced by torrents. And dial up has gone the way of the dinosaurs.

Yet one thing remains the same - everybody is looking for somebody.
Whether it be just sex, just friends, or that future partner to say "I do."


I'll admit, I've gone on dates and even dated (long term) people I have met via the internet. Be it myspace, craigslist, match.com and even okcupid.com.

When I heard about Crazy Blind Date, it took all my strength not to sign up and start meeting up with people I had not even seen pictures of. (I did sign up, but I never followed through.)

I don't see anything wrong with meeting people from the net. Whether you are looking for friends or something more (just watch out for the herp.)

I have a friend who desperately wants to date and I suggested the net but she instantly brushed me off. If there's a stigma left in the world of dating besides dating a homeless person, it's dating someone you met online.
No matter how much money e-harmony or match.com spend on advertising, there will still be a majority of people who believe that meeting and subsequently sleeping with or, by god, dating someone you met from a website is creepy, weird, and downright wrong.

It's like the 50's. Only instead of being judged because of the color of my and my partners skin, I'm being judged simply on how we met.

While I am a major supporter of dating people you meet online, I can understand how it can be a problem.

Here are the upsides:

• Pictures - you know what they look like in various forms and poses. Unless they are a big ass liar, you got a pretty good idea. Better than any blind date set up by your mother.
• Information - via a profile or emails or ims, you already have a basic idea of their being, which helps break the ice and get rid of the awkwardness when you do decide to meet.
• The Net: the fact that you both are looking online for someone already shows you got something in common. An obsession with the internet.

Yet these very same things can also show why dating via the web can be a bad, bad choice:

• Information - too much information is bad. Most of the first date questions are answered in their profile so what is left to talk about?
• The Net - sure you both love the net, but while you may have a life outside of it, these people you find may not. They might HAVE to use the internet to meet people because they suck that much at the real world.

And lastly, is the pictures.
1. Old pics - nothing is worse than meeting someone in real life after seeing their myspace only to find out that all of their pictures are from 2004 before they got in that horrible burn accident and gained 400 pounds.
2. The Ex - once you break up with someone, no matter how good you looked in the pictures, either crop yourself out or delete them. We don't want to see you smiling with some girl or boy that we think is better looking than us when we are trying to pursue you.


But in the end, I've done it and I'll continue to do it.
I've met some great people.
I've had a few mishaps.
But as some people say, it's better to experience life in the good and the bad.

And right now it's good.

And I didn't even need a chatroom.
But I did have a screenname.