Pitt students seek love online

Editor’s Note: The students’ names in this story have been changed to encourage open discussion…. Editor’s Note: The students’ names in this story have been changed to encourage open discussion. ‘ ‘ Joe is a Pitt freshman who’s looking for love ‘mdash; online. He joined free dating Web site OkCupid.com in 2005 at the age of 16. ‘My main purpose for joining when I was 16 was not for dating at all, because OkCupid has a ton of tests, and I really enjoy taking online tests,’ said Joe. ‘I think they are a lot of fun and most of the time very hilarious. Back then I didn’t meet a lot of people because I wasn’t looking to meet people.’ Between dorms, classes, clubs, dining halls, sporting events, bars and parties, some Pitt students still find it difficult to make connections with their peers. So, they’re turning to online dating services to find friendship, a date or even a lasting love.’ Joe said that now that he is in college, he has been more active in connecting with others through the Web site. ‘I have gotten a couple of messages from other people on the site. Some are from Pittsburgh and others are from Jacksonville, Fla., where I live,’ said Joe. He said he met a student from Chatham, whom he hangs out with on occasion, but, ‘We are just friends, mainly because she is a senior.’ Joe said that he isn’t counting on meeting too many people through OkCupid. However, he isn’t opposed to meeting more people from the Web site in person, since it turned out well the first time. Although he uses the Web site to find friends and dates, Joe admitted that he has occasionally seen people he knows on the Web site and has ‘subsequently made fun of them for it.’ Joe is only one of a few of the 150,000-200,000 people who log into OkCupid on a daily basis, according to Eli Gwynn, a programmer for OkCupid. Of the 5,000 people who sign up for OkCupid in a given day, approximately 1,500 are college-aged, said Gwynn, although he’s not sure how many are enrolled in college.’ ‘ ‘Gone are the days of being paranoid that everyone you meet on the Internet is going to be some sort of social outcast, recluse, serial murderer or rapist,’ said Gwynn. College students are turning to dating Web sites, especially OkCupid, because it is ‘easy, safe and cheap,’ he said. ‘Economic times are rough and fewer people have the money to go to a bar or to throw a party ‘hellip; You go online, you browse around, you chat, you flirt, whatever. If you don’t like it, you leave.’ While Joe has sought pleasure in taking quizzes on the site and has found some humor in his membership, Dimitri, a 21-year-old Pitt junior said he joined several online dating services because his ‘normal method of meeting girls was not getting ‘hellip; results.’ Dimitri said he joined OkCupid during winter break, because he and his friend were having bad luck meeting girls in Pittsburgh. ‘We decided it would be worth our time to check out the online dating scene,’ said Dimitri. ‘Although I have yet to go out on a date or meet anyone, for that matter.’ His friend, he said, ‘hasn’t had any luck yet either, as far as I know. He has sent messages back and forth with girls, but nothing has materialized into a date.’ Dimitri said that while he and his friend were ‘in the heat of things,’ they decided to join multiple online dating sites, including Match.com and Chemistry.com. While he created a profile on these sites, he doesn’t use them because they require payment in order to receive and send messages to other users. ‘They lure you in by using the word ‘free’ gratuitously, and the first thing they make people do is answer a copious amount of questions as a type of investment of time and surprise them with a subscription fee after they finish,’ he said. Overall, Dimitri said he hasn’t had any success through the Web sites so far. ‘I usually get ignored completely, and I’d like to know why, but I never asked because I always assumed they would simply ignore me once again,’ he said. According to his OkCupid profile, he is a ‘genuinely nice guy, but people tend to take advantage of that.’ However, Dimitri hasn’t become discouraged enough to quit using any of the Web sites. Unlike Dimitri, Sebastian said he is willing to pay for sites like Match.com. He is also a member of Plenty of Fish and OKCupid and is thinking about joining E-Harmony. Sebastian, a graduate student at Pitt studying biomedical informatics, said he ‘doesn’t really meet girls because [his] program is mostly guys.’ So far, Sebastian said he has met a few girls locally, ‘but nothing has come of it yet.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ While Joe, Dimitri and Sebastian haven’t found success yet, Melissa, a Pitt senior, has had better luck. ‘ ‘ ‘ She has been dating her fiance Brad since she met him on OkCupid in July 2006. Like Joe, Melissa said she joined the site because she loved taking tests. She wasn’t expecting to find love. ‘My profile said that I didn’t want to receive messages, and Brad sent me a message saying I needed a night out,’ said Melissa. She replied to his message because ‘I think mean people are intriguing.’ Melissa and Brad had met by the end of the next week. They’ve been inseparable ever since. ‘We tell everyone we met at the library,’ said Melissa. ‘It’s more interesting and sweet than saying we met online.’