Rather late to the game, I’ve decided that it is time to use the Internet for dating. My first effort is
http://philip.greenspun.com/romance/clarissa/
Comments as to how to make this more effective would be appreciated.
[Comparisons to http://www.stallman.org/extra/personal.html (photo) will NOT be deemed helpful.]
1) Internet dating works. I met my fiancée (well, she contacted me first) on a social networking site. It would never have happened any other way (she lives in London, I live in San Francisco).
2) That said, a more purpose-specific site would make much more sense. My guess is the majority of your site’s readers come for your pithy prose, not the flight or photo related articles.
3) I know the psychological pressure from the “biological clock” must be overwhelming, but she should not settle.
4) On the other hand, she should methodically try to increase her exposure to as many people and social circles as possible. That takes a significant commitment of time and money, and should be approached as professionally as any other project.
5) The third-person perspective is interesting, but you should assume the audience is not necessarily going to be the interested one, but rather someone who knows someone else who might be interested. If she is Jewish, I might have someone in mind.
6) The profile is a little bit light as to what kind of person she is looking for.
If she doesn’t already, she might try going to church/temple. Years ago a young bachelor neighbor, whose mother lived with him, politely observed that my wife was really neat – and he wondered where I had met her. I replied, that oddly enough, it was at church. He said, ‘I never thought of that!’ Six months later he had met a nice Jewish girl, and last i heard they had three kids.
And by the way, I’m here for the aviation stuff.
The verbal descriptions of her attractiveness are all very well, but the photos don’t necessarily corroborate the entire description. I’m not saying she needs to pose in a bikini (that would be counterproductive), but you need at least one good picture of her without the heavy winter clothes and the obscuring large objects. A picture of her at a social gathering next to one or more less attractive friends would work *very* well.
A flattering full-body photo would help. These two shots seem to be composed with an eye to showing off the dogs more than her.
For instance, a photo of her sitting in the chair next to the dogs would be more appropriate in this context than one of her mostly hiding behind a chair following a photo of her mostly hiding behind a shrub.
And yes, mentioning whether she has a religious affiliation or preference wouldn’t be out of place.
Phil, maybe you are a trendsetter once again… perhaps a social networking site, where only your friends are able to do a write up on you (rather than the individual him/herself doing the writing) , would be a niche hit among the eharmony and match.com’s of the world. Is datemyfriend.com a domain that is still available?
Patrick, there are sites like that already. For example:
http://greatboyfriends.com/
–in line with others above, I suggest that you lose the dog(s) and focus on the actual subject in at least one photo.
–while I appreciate that in the interests of time you want to pre-filter the respondents, I think having “marriage and children” in the wish list ups the ante excessively, and is counter productive. This is one subject for which discussion has to be deferred to some amount of time after a successful first date.
The picture of her on the left is lovely. She’s wearing a lovely herringbone, be it slacks or a skirt. If it was a skirt I would be super impressed. Kind of Ann Taylor stuff. She’s quite a looker as well.
I say ditch the photos with the dogs. Get her in a different setting. Nothing wrong with dogs of course. No need for any photos as suggested in earlier comments. Her face tells the whole story.
I wish I could apply, but I’m already married.
Best wishes.
She sounds like a “keeper” to me. How did she get to 37 without finding some smart guy who was looking for her type?
I met my wife, pre-social networking era, via the Sierra Club. I wanted someone who was outdoors oriented not indoors shopping oriented. She had to tolerate pulling hard on the jib sheet of a small sailboat in races in the San Francisco Bay.
The only drawback is that she is a horse person. That means I had to learn how to ride horses. Fair enough.
The best use of computers (as opposed to internet) for matching was the Operation Match experiment at Harvard circa 1965, described at one of my blogs (link below):
http://www.thedailyjudge.com/id73.htm#annals_of_judicial_cyber_dating_part_1
I believe if Facebook were smart, it would add an OperationMatch feature, limiting matches to people within defined parameters (e.g., matching college students in Boston with each other).
http://www.settleforbrian.com
re: photos of Clarissa
My husband and I are acquainted with Clarissa, and I can attest to her attractiveness. Hubby described her as good “wife material” to the person she was dating when we met her.
Nicolas Sarkozy’s new wife Carla Bruni is all over the web both bikini-clad and fully-covered, including headscarf, when visiting a Muslim holy site in Egypt. To me, she looks much more glamorous covered in Chanel designs, but if you were to query my husband I’m sure he much prefers the more revealing poses.
Bruni has mentioned that she is non-believer in monogamy, so this should be lots of fodder for Paris-Match.