Whatever happened to just having REAL friends that you picked with an eye NOT toward what they could DO for you, but toward genuine common interests and compatible personalities and just plain 'ole LIKING THEM? Whatever happened to just helping someone because it's the RIGHT THING TO DO? And not something you do in order to GET something from them? Does anyone out there even GET that anymore?
Nothing happened. People still have real friends, and people still help each other out of compassion. I'm not sure what that has to do with dating services though.
Apparently she just felt like writing a book length rant.
Well, no one forced you to read it, for one thing. But I was only trying to HELP
Emher in my first post, and in my second post (of which only a couple of lines were conveniently taken out of context), I was only trying to relate to another poster's comments about how the social networking sites (including the dating sites, but it extends much further than that) have managed to turn the basic act of meeting people into a commodity to be bought & sold. Which by the way, were alot more authentic posts than was yours, which was simply intended to be mean.
Which in an odd sort of way, was exactly my point about the anonymity of the internet, since most people would not be as rude as you were to me in real life. Or I would hope not, anyway, given my fundamental desire to help.
And if you would stop to THINK for ten seconds (I mean, about something other than trying to impress the other clever little boyz with your snarky comments from the peanut gallery
), the fact that the world IS a less personal place than it once was has EVERYTHING to do with internet dating services. In fact, that growing lack of personalization in the world is the
very thing that lead to the need for them, not to mention the widespread use of them, and the fact that so many people apparently get burned (financially and otherwise) by them and the people they meet on them.
Somehow, pre-1994, people managed to find each other. Without E-Harmony, Match.com or any of the other sites. We struggled through...meeting people through our jobs, through our other friends, through clubs, churches, synagogues, or whatever. And when we met a person, we met a REAL person. Not a 'persona' on the internet who we had to PAY some OTHER person (or worse - pay a big corporation) to meet and who maybe was/maybe wasn't anything at all like who they said they were on-line.
And I don't care WHAT you say - you learn a lot more about a person via sitting across the table from them and just talking than you do via reviewing their 'profile' on a dating site and hoping they are not a wackjob stalker or something.
So let me connect the dots for you here, buddy...since, in your attempt to be 'clever', you apparently missed the point., while making it at the same time.
Pre-internet world: more personal, with 'brick and mortar' relationships leading to more authentic interaction, whether that be in friendships, business arrangements, or dating.
Post-internet world: more impersonal, leading to commoditization of relationships (such as on dating sites, for one example, but applies to other areas too and is thus part of a larger trend) as well as uncertaintly and lack of trust, since you have no idea as to whether any given person you meet (whether on a dating site or anywhere else on the net) IS who they say they are.
Summary of findings: Better to meet someone through real life channels, if at all possible. You know...like the good 'ole days before the internet. When one had to rely on their real life qualities of kindness, intelligence and generosity to meet new people, make friends, and win hearts....as opposed to now, where 'making up a bunch of clever shit for an internet profile' can get even the scummiest scumbag (who is simply out to get, get, get - or even take, take, take) into the game....at least for a while - often at the expense (both emotional and financial) of a kind soul just trying to make an authentic connection.
