Online Dating from A to Z: Blind Dates
Welcome to the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. This month I’ll be working my way through the alphabet, one day at a time, on the subject of Online Dating. If you’ve never visited my blog before, I’m happy you’re here! Be sure to check out my previous A to Z Challenge posts and the books that were inspired by them for more alphabetical fun.
B is for Blind Dates. Because sometimes online dating can seem a lot like being set up by a friend or relative whose motives remain mysterious.
First of all, what really happens on a blind date?
Baring your soul?
Building trust?
Bonding?
Or just… boredom?
While I’ve heard that some folks have had good luck with blind dates, I’ve never known anyone personally who has. I feel like there may be some sort of conspiracy going on there, but I haven’t figured out all the details yet.
Basically, a blind date is a trust exercise. You are putting your fate in someone else’s hands, and asking them to match you up with someone else they know who might be a good fit.
When it comes to online dating the approach is similar, but instead of a trusted friend you are placing your fate in the hands of a computer algorithm that matches people based on how similar their profiles appear to be – whether that’s simply matching people in the same geographic location, or connecting people who’ve chosen similar interests or other items from a variety of lists.
Is it really a science? Kind of. Is it more about luck? Definitely.
For me, the best way to avoid jumping into a date that is 100% unknown is to try to get to know the person online before agreeing to meet up. Scan their profile for anything you might have in common, and ask them questions. You don’t need to make it an interrogation; just try to see if the other person seems generally interested in pursuing a conversation, and whether they are captivating enough to hold your attention.
Then, hit ’em up with an invite for a Coffee Date – the subject of tomorrow’s post!
Have you ever been on a blind date?
What happened? Was it a success or failure?
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12 Comments
Jayden R. Vincente
I have found that it’s so important to ask lots of questions online before meeting, but even then, as you say, it’s about luck!
Jayden R. Vincente
Erotic Fiction Writer
Laura Roberts
Yep! Sometimes they are “good on paper,” and not so charismatic in person. Sometimes it’s exactly the opposite.
Jennifer Amerkhanov
I tried to go on a blind date 18 years ago. I had a job calling people and asking them survey questions for city council. A guy I talked to asked me out. I knew absolutely nothing about this person, but I figured, why not? Could be fun! We agreed on a very public, busy place to meet. I showed up but to my knowledge, he never did.
Laura Roberts
That’s so strange that he would ask you out and then stand you up! I wonder whatever happened to him?
NamePamela
I’ve never experienced this myself but I had a friend who did online dating for a while. When she was going to meet a guy I used to make her send me his profile so that I knew who she was with. This was in the very early days of online dating so we still had major trust issues.
Great post.
Pamela @ Days of Fun
Laura Roberts
Thanks, Pamela, that is still a good strategy to use when dating today! I have read some crazy stories recently about folks who have had meetings go quite astray, which I will include in one of my upcoming posts about HELP. You can never be too careful when meeting with strangers.
Anita Hunt
I met my now ex husband on a friend set up blind date. We were together for 15 years after that and are still friends now 30 years later. As for online dating though, if it is down to luck then i obviously have not got very much of it. They have all been dreadful! The worst had to be the one who was definitely at least 10 years older than when his photo was taken and asked how much i earned before we had even walked in the door of the pub…
Mrs Fever
Posts like this really highlight the generation gap for me. Get to know each other online? Pffft. I didn’t even need to use a computer until after I’d graduated college. Online dating came even later than that.
I sort of had a blind date. Once. (He was a friend of a co-worker and we’d met/been introduced at a gathering once prior to our ‘date’.) That was pre-internet-dating (which I’ve never participated in), and particularly… Un-memorable. He had red(?) hair, I think. Worked… I’m not sure where. He had a job; that I remember. But I don’t even remember his name. o_O
NameLaura
I went on one blind date. It was a success if you consider we dated for most of the summer and had a lot of fun. Thankfully he turned out to be something of a chore because if I hadn’t gotten mad at him I would never have met my husband!
NameMorgan
I’ve never been on a blind date. If I ever do get set up, I would definitely take a moment to look up their online profiles so I know we would have something to talk about.
NameRed
People’s motives are very weird! One person wanted me to meet a guy because “you’re both Christian, and you’re both non-smokers” which I guess was his criteria.
At one point in my extensively lengthy single-dom, I decided that I would start saying “okay” to friends who wanted to set me up. They all thought they knew the perfect guy! After this, only one date actually happened. We went out a few times, then it fizzled, and I now proudly claim to have been his rebound romance (a year after his divorce).
Most dates just never happened.
Printed Portal
Just catching up on some of your blogposts as I stopping by from the #AtoZChallenge Road Trip!
You have made me realise that I’ve actually never been on a blind date.