Once upon a time online dating was shrouded in a stigma of loserish desperation and questionable social skills, but those days are long over and now finding love on the web is as common as the other ways you find love (at weddings, book stores [if your life is a totally unrealistic romantic comedy], by just standing on the street if you are extremely attractive, or getting crazy schickered and necking someone in a haze at the worst bar in [your town of residence]).
Online dating is the norm these days, but unfortunately there’s no guarantee that the other guys and girls on your dating-site-of-choice aren’t bona fide creeps… This problem (specifically: people) formed the inspiration for a new spin on online dating which has only just launched called MayDate. The premise for MayDate is that instead of single people creating profiles and trying to meet randoms – like the structure of most Internet dating sites, singles hook up through using their social networks so friends can recommend a prospective love interest within 1 to 2 degrees of separation. Imagine how much that will decrease the likelihood of needing to deploy your rape whistle?
The brains behind the operation is Dan Joyce who told Pedestrian, “MayDate was conceived when a friend bailed me up over dinner and made really think about who I could set her up with. At first I brushed it off, but when I searched through my phone contacts a good match came to mind. I introduced them, they met, dated and moved in together.”
Dan who is himself single told us, “too often us singles don’t call out to our friends for help; and our friends are rarely proactive in really thinking about setting us up. Each MayDate campaign supports a great Australian charity, so MayDate gives singles a great reason to call out to their friends for help.”
Basically, when singles sign up to MayDate they start a “campaign” whereby they alert a select group of 3-5 trusted friends via email about their keenness for getting set up with a mutual buddy. They then pledge a dollar amount for every date that friends set them up on over a 30-day campaign period (MayDate has partnered with charities Camp Quality, Heart Foundation, AIME and The Pinnacle Foundation) so friends will feel like they’re contributing to something important rather than just pimping out a mate. And hang on a minute, isn’t the happiness of your friends something important to contribute to?!?! Win-win.
If you’re intrigued, looking for love, or just extremely horny, head to www.maydate.com, because while there is absolutely nothing wrong with being single, there IS something wrong with people who perpetually moan about it without getting involved in the dating game. [Note: If you want to meet your dream-person don’t ever use the expression ‘the dating game’. That kind of lame ass lingo is a sure-fire way of ending up desperate and dateless.]
