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Internet Personals

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

One day eight years ago I sat down at my computer to write about a relatively new phenomenon in the exploding world of home computers and the internet. Internet dating and matchmaking sites were appearing out of the woodwork and their rapid growth in popularity was nothing short of astonishing.

I don't know why I was astonished at the time. I suppose I didn't know there were that many allegedly single lonely people out there looking for a way to find someone. Well, at least that sounds good.

The truth of the matter is that I was already picking up things about on-line dating and matchmaking that many people took years to realize later on. I did extensive research over the years, including becoming a member on some sites and I could quickly see that this was not going to be a pretty process.

Initially I thought, "Wow, what an amazing tool this could be. Just think, you can get on the internet and meet people you most probably would never bump into in real life." The thought that I had the power to reach out even with the confines of my own little area of the desert and find someone who might live within a mile of my doorstep yet I never would know otherwise was amazing.

The fact that I was living in a relatively barren-of-life small town in northern Arizona at the time which seemed to have a rule that you must be over 85 to live there might have had something to do with my false initial hope. You see, I never have been much of the bar type. Smoke and alcohol are not my idea of good bait for the girl of my dreams.

Some of the early sites were quite rudimentary and crude by today's standards. There are sites now where you can go to live video, live chat, see who is online right now', see who viewed your profile, and even exchange FREE initial contact of some sort. Back then you either joined or you didn't and all you got for not joining was the ability to view, in some cases, a few teasing photos of alleged members just anxiously awaiting your message.

That was not what bothered me in my early experiences. I paid more than once to be a full fledged member of multiple sites. After all, I reasoned, while I am looking for the supposed girl of my dreams it would be a good thing if I knew what I was talking about if I ever decided to write about this. To tell the truth, it didn't take me long to decide to write about it. Yet I find myself tearing up the old article and starting anew because, folks, it is worse than I ever

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