Online Dating For Pretentious Weirdos
Who says the socially handicapped can't be elitist, too?
Spend 10 minutes browsing "elite" dating sites like DateSmartPeople, SquareDating and GoodGenes, and you get the feeling you've stumbled into a sinister breeding experiment. "Your dating options shouldn't be limited because you're an intelligent and well-educated single, or are looking for one," one site tells you. Ohhhh, so that's why I can't get a date! I'm too smart. Also, I can't play basketball because I'm too tall.
The euphemisms are equally precious: You're not a snob, you're a "discerning single." It's not a dating service, it's an "introduction network." We imagine there's no such thing as sex in this world, only "amorous networking." Hot!
The question here isn't, "Who the hell would sign up for this?" Plenty of students already treat college like marital windowshopping (Dartmouth, Hillel, we're looking at you) so it makes sense that the stragglers would need somewhere to convene. The question is, "Who the hell would want to date the kind of person who would sign up for this?" Because the only thing worse than an online weirdo is a pretentious online weirdo. ("What are you wearing?" "Just my monocle.") Still, you gotta hand it to these sites for tearing down all populist pretense and playing to the unholy terror among some students that someday, God forbid, they might have to date outside their IQ percentile (read: tax bracket).
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October 19th, 2006 at 9:49 am
I think you got the wrong idea about DateSmartPeople.com. That quote, I think it’s about the other “elite” dating sites. Their whole schtick is that anyone can join. They claim that’s what makes them different.
October 19th, 2006 at 11:14 am
Anyone can join? I contend that might allow conspicuously un-smart (though computer literate) people to join. What a crock.
October 19th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
datesmartpeople’s top age is 45!
fuck that!!
October 20th, 2006 at 11:49 am
Please don’t knock these dating sites. They keep pretentious online daters in their own little box so that the rest of us aren’t exposed to their, uh, monocles.
December 14th, 2006 at 4:30 am
Ha. That’s funny – I just realized that DateSmartPeople.com hasn’t included Brown on their list of “Elite” schools. They do, however, include “Washington University in St. Loius” and “Carnigie Melon University”, which makes me a little suspicious of DSP.com’s founders’ own intelligence…
I don’t know whether to be offended or relieved.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:49 am
i am laughing my ass off over here–you guys all have some shit to say and it is so transparent–it is because you are ALL JEALOUS AND STUPID!!! if you were only good enough to get into these sites you would have something else to say! it is hard for those of us who are smart-we don’t want to be matched up with some fucking dumb ass. it is all about match so stay with your own kind and leave the rest of us alone. i know i will get lots of shitty stuff said about my comment now-but it is all about your own insecurities. deal with it
April 28th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
To Bearcub- Do NOT knock Carnegie Mellon (especially if you can’t even spell it right.) It is a very good school, and plenty of brilliant people attend and teach there. Also, last I checked Carnegie Mellon was actually ranked better than Brown so I don’t know what that says about your own intelligence…
I don’t know whether to be offended or relieved.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
To Bearcub- Do NOT knock Carnegie Mellon (especially if you can’t even spell it right.) It is a very good school, and plenty of brilliant people attend and teach there. Also, last I checked Carnegie Mellon was actually ranked better than Brown so I don’t know what that says about your own intelligence…
I don’t know whether to be offended or relieved.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
To Bearcub- Do NOT knock Carnegie Mellon (especially if you can’t even spell it right.) It is a very good school, and plenty of brilliant people attend and teach there. Also, last I checked Carnegie Mellon was actually ranked better than Brown so I don’t know what that says about your own intelligence…
I don’t know whether to be offended or relieved.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
smartone you are one asshole