[Zsinj]

I don't mean to spill my priivate life out on you guys, but I'm wondering if any of you could please tell me how to solve this problem I have.
You see, I've put a profile of myself on the Yahoo Personals dating service, and I sent an icebreaker to this girl on there I'm really interested in. This girl lives in the town adjacent to mine. IMy icebreaker said I wished to talk to her, and she replied, sending an icebreaker saying "Let's Talk" The problem is, that to talk to her, I'd have to join the service and pay a freakin' ridiculous $19.95 a month!! That's just plain evil, in my opinion. I think dating services should be free! So, therefore, I'm not able to talk to this girl unless I join the service, but I don't want to spend the money. I could try to find this girl in the town adjacent to mine, but that would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack! Does anyone have any advice on what I should do?

[Rocket Sheep]

Go take a cooking class at nightschool. You'll meet lots of girls, get to know them before you ask them for a date and get something for your money. Girls are always impressed by guys who can cook.

What self-respecting girl would use a dating service anyway?

Oh yeah... I'm a mod, so I should probably warn you that this is a speculative fiction type messageboard and we don't always do Agony Aunty stuff, there are more personal message boards out there. But I suppose this is vaguely about the perils of the net... I'll leave it for a GD mod.

[kahnovitch]

The "free icebreakers" are a sprat to catch a mackeral, i.e. your cash.

But, put it this way, if you really like this girl, pay the fee so you can email her properly etc and then once you have her contact details etc, cancel your subscription.
You could spend a small fortune meeting people and paying for meals/cinema tickets/social clubs etc and there's no guarentees of anything (not that I'm saying online dating guarantees anything), but put in perspective I don't think the cost is that bad.
And it may well be worth it.

Failing that I suppose you could always advertise in the local newspaper personals using your account name and hers.

EG if your login is "HotGuy4U" and she's "FoxyLady121" you could put a meesage in the paper saying

""HotGuy4U" seeks "FoxyLady121" for..." etc.

Although this may cost as much as the sub anyway.

[Sammie]

I would suggest trying to find a girl though more...umm.....usual channels before resorting to paying to meet via the net. After all, like the Sheep says - why is this girl using a dating service?

In answer to the sheep's question, in the absense of a GD mod, I hearby designate this thread officially 'ok' :D. Just bear in mind that GD is for on-topic discussion.... You guys choose the topics, but it's more rewarding for everyone if we can kinda stick to/around them.

[kater]

A little obvious perhaps but if she only lives the next village away could you not just go and meet her? Cheap and easy :D

[kahnovitch]

While on the subject, I do have a related story about dating online....

I filled in one of these online IQ test thingys for a bit of fun, not knowing it was a pre-requisite form for a dating agency (which shall remain nameless).

To cut a long story short I filled in the whole profile and made myself sound like a total chauvinist pig, my only redeeming quality being that I supposedly earned in excess of £150,000 a year.
I posted a pic of Denis Leary as my photo, which was duly accepted. :D

I told my GF about it and she laughed at all the terribly sexist comments on my profile and said I'd never attract anyone like that.

To date I've had over 30 replies in the form of ice-breakers and e-mails etc.

And the moral I suppose is...
"Looking for a soul mate", can quickly become, "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!", depending on the shallow nature of some individuals.

DISCLAIMER;

This in no way reflects my general opinions on women and is only applicable to the persons mentioned in my tale.


;)

[Zsinj]

A little obvious perhaps but if she only lives the next village away could you not just go and meet her? Cheap and easy

Well, as I said, that would be kind of hard, seeing as though I don't know where she lives in the city or even what her real name is. I just have her picture.

[kater]

F.B.I database? :D j/k Is there a way of getting her number, or arranging a meeting without actually signing up, like sending an icebreaker asking for her number or something? It seems awfully expensive to talk to someone in the next village.

[asimovian]

Originally posted by kater
A little obvious perhaps but if she only lives the next village away could you not just go and meet her? Cheap and easy :D
Too cheap and easy, I think.
I suspect this option is just not possible due to technical reasons, i.e. it's impossible to find out her real name and address at this stage...