Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 6/7/83; site hao.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!hao!woods From: woods@hao.UUCP (Greg Woods) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: Dating Services, Pro & Con Message-ID: <880@hao.UUCP> Date: Fri, 16-Mar-84 11:50:42 EST Article-I.D.: hao.880 Posted: Fri Mar 16 11:50:42 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 17-Mar-84 07:02:26 EST References: <2274@ihldt.UUCP> Organization: High Altitude Obs./NCAR, Boulder CO Lines: 35 I agree with Bob about computer dating services. Someone ought to write them some decent software. I've never been in one, but everyone I know who has been says that they got matched up with people they were totally incompatible with because they had one little thing in common. With regard to video dating services: they sure gouge you there in Chicago! Here in Boulder, there is a video dating service which originally started out as a roommate finding service (which they also still do) called "Two's Company". I belonged to it for six months and actually met a couple of women through it. Nothing really great ever happened, but at least I got a few dates. They had two types of memberships: active and passive. A passive membership cost $10 for 4 months and entitled you to enter a videotape in the club tape catalog, but *not* to view other's tapes. An active membership cost $75 for 4 months and entitled you to make a tape and to select others. Needless to say, *all* the females were passive members and *all* the males were active members. (Boulder is 60% male). The trouble with these services is that they do not get a high enough rate of new memberships. When I first joined, I went through the entire catalog and picked out about half a dozen women that interested me. Only one wanted to meet me (we dated a couple of times before she stated flatly that she didn't think we had have enough in common to maintain a friendship). During the rest of my 4 month membership, only 8 new women joined, only one of which interested me. (I dated her twice before she got a new job in California). The upshot of all this is that I think dating services in general are a ripoff. I'm sure some of them have very good intentions, but at least for me it is just too uncomfortable to go out on a date with someone I don't even know (you can't learn all that much about a person from a 5 minute video, even if it is orders of magnitude better than a computer printout). I have better luck with the situations that are traditionally taboo (roommates, neighbors, co-workers, etc.), because I have a chance to get to know and become comfortable with a woman before dating her. Oh, well, to each their own. GREG -- {ucbvax!hplabs | allegra!nbires | decvax!stcvax | harpo!seismo | ihnp4!stcvax} !hao!woods