downtoearth.com Contains 100% Real People. Yum.
Then again, so was Soylent Green. Anyway, the folks at Dallas-based Match.com have launched a cost-free online dating service by the name of downtoearth.com. I can imagine the conversations that result when kids who result from this new dating service ask their parents how they met:
“Well, honey,” Mommy/Daddy would say. “Your (mommy/daddy) and I were too cheap to use a conventional dating service that charges money. Thank God for downtoearth.com! That whole cheap thing also explains why we’re using stolen milk crates for end tables.”
40 Comments to “downtoearth.com Contains 100% Real People. Yum.”
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Anything is better than the bar scene.
Btw, when did “free” become a bad thing?
The original Yahoo! dating site was free then they realized OOH we could make money off this. I agree with Puddin’, and why if they use a free site would they become theives?
PT: go to better bars
Dave, when did you become a shill for pay dating sites? I’ve heard from probably a dozen people that eHarmony is an expensive joke. I’d expect people go to free dating sites because they’re tired of being ripped off.
I prefer http://www.TruckerCupid.com
Where are the “better” bars. No one wants the bar scene…so where do you meet someone? Where do all the people go that hate the bar scene?
I may ponder these questions too much.
It’s basically a gateway drug to the paid service. “Oh, it didn’t work for you, well, the *real* algorithms are behind the pay service.”
I think this works in reverse:
“Mommy and Daddy met on match.com”
“So I was born to morons who couldn’t make it work on the free site, and you had to pay?”
@Mark: I guess I’m not really shilling for anything. Do you have something in mind?
Men pay for women no matter what:
Hookers
Strippers
Gold-diggers
Wives
Divorces
Mistresses
Girlfriends
In fact, one male friend of mine has paid out on all of the above…and that’s just one guy! That’s a ton of money!
Dating a stranger while both of you watch like hawks for signs of chemistry sounds excruciating.
Just excruciating.
If you’re single and over 35, just learn to like it. Things will happen in about the same time frame as with a dating service, minus however many excruciating evenings in between.
If you’re under 35 and need a dating service, I’m sorry, there’s something wrong with you.
What’s wrong with the bar scene? If you don’t like that, what about art and culture events or concerts… Has anybody noticed how much there is to do in this city and how many singles there are? If you don’t like ‘bar’ material, try getting out to some of the other greatp laces in our city.
I’m with Daniel…waiting for that connection and trying to make it happen at every turn sounds awful and, well, excruciating.
Daniel’s got the right idea, I’m under 35 and I figure out how to meet people without dating sites… but over 35, get over it, learn to love yourself, things will happen. Be patient people!
Is this the opposite of “The Beautiful People” club , aka $30,000 Millionare club that was going on about two years ago? Did that thing die yet?
Online dating serves a very useful purpose. If your job involves travel, or you don’t work in an office setting, or if you don’t belong to a bunch of local orgs, or you are over 40, online dating is a great way to meet people.
It only sounds excruciating if you are currently attached. If you are open to meeting new people, and you can screen the potential dates via their emails and pics (which you will learn to do pretty quickly), then you’ll meet some great people and have some fun experiences.
You have to go into it with idea that it will NOT result in marriage, but will extend your circle of friends.
Geez Dan and Will, lighten up.
Actually Julie, I totally agree with you. You need to go in with the mindset of meeting people, not meeting your partner or suitor. That might happen, but if you’re banking on it, you’ll be way too wrapped up to actually get to know anyone.
Julie, you make a good point… consider me lightened
I gotta agree with Daniel. The process of online dating sounds about as pleasant and promising as a root canal. And for the record, I am not currently attached, under 35 and yes, it still sound excruciating to me. As one of my good friends said once, “Shut the computer off and get out there. There’s drinks to be drunk and songs to be sung and you’ll end up meeting real people and not staring at someone’s touched-up headshots.”
Also, a friend of mine (who I pray does not read FrontBurner) is my age and relies exclusively on paid online dating services. Let’s just say that the dudes they are matching her up with are enough to scare me off dating, online or offline, for life.
Ok, Dave. Let’s here the love story of how you met your wife. Apparently no dating service or stolen goods involved. Or anything free?
Dave,
I don’t think this has as much to do with the people/audience as it does the logical evolution of Internet business models.
FrontBurner’s free, too, right? Lots of down to Earth people on your site (and mine).
ph
Amanda, the trick is to not go with a service that does the matching for you. I think that’s what E-Disharmony does. The best way to do online dating is to set up a profile, and then hide it from the general members. Then, you pick out who you want to talk to further, and you send them your profile.
That way you evade the 100 emails from the swingers, the 22 year old guys looking for their first ‘older woman’, the trannies (not that there’s anything wrong with that), etc.
You might deduce from my posts that I have a certain level of experience with this topic. You would be correct.
I enjoy it. It’s fun. I’ve met some wonderful, accomplished, professional men, most of whom are still friends.
PS…you would be very surprised to find out which “titans of industry” in the DFW area are online dating. Lot’s of CEO’s, CFO’s, VP’s.
They are not on Match, Yahoo, or Eharmony either.
Oh, God. Let’s hear.
@julie: CraigList???
@Phil – My first wife and I were introduced at a wedding in Decatur, Ill. So, no cash changed hands as far as I know. Since then, I’ve used several paid dating services with mixed results to land my other three wives.
@ Julie
Actually, I should ammend my comment. My friend is picking the guys out from the site which probably says more about my friend’s taste in men than the dating site she is using.
In the end, different strokes for different folks. I won’t knock a person for using those sites. Just doesn’t appeal to me personally.
Who’s to say that the whole cheap thing isn’t attractive to some just because it might denote thrift? A whole lot of marriages have been busted up due to differing opinions about how to spend money.
Facebook is soooo much easier. (Some people are still using MySpace, but that’s so yesterday!)
Dave, I don’t care.
ph
Okay, I take it back that “something is wrong with you” — didn’t mean to be as insulting as I sounded. Definitely not my cuppa, let’s say.
dave, shouldn’t you be living in Utah or some compound somewhere?
Julie,
Call me.
I’m with Amanda on this one. At least with the root canal, you get to look at a few good magazines before you get drilled.
I don’t think Dave really cares if e-dating is free or paid or yours for only three easy payments of $19.95. I think he just wanted to blog about Soylent Green.
Certainly Soylent Green is a staple in most households. But have you tried Soylent Yellow lately? It’s got improved texture.
It’s hard for some to meet people when their job doesn’t allow them to go out drinking and carousing every night. It may work for Amanda and Daniel but that scene has left a lot of people disappointed.
There is so much hot tail at Park Cities Presbyterian Church it would make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.
@ luniz
A few points.
#1. I don’t go out carousing every night because I work 9-5 but I pick and choose a few nights a week to go out and stay out late-ish.
#2. I wasn’t saying that the bar scene is the answer for everyone and I know some people just don’t like that kind of vibe/atmosphere. But I was also including things like art gallery openings, concerts, sporting events with a group and parole hearings.
I always wonder why Match.com is looking for a new PR Manager every 3 months.
Ha. I know someone applying for that PR Manager job! Prolly because the perk of all the free internet dating you could want is not all that great of a perk. It ain’t exactly Southwest and free flights, ya know?
That said, I’ve had some great stories and friends come about from online dating. If you open yourself up to opportunity…It’s pretty good.
Facebook is so this morning. LinkedIn is right now.
Or Plaxo?
Promatching.com beat downtoearth, hands down – no questions asked.