There’s a budding dating site called HowAboutWe that attempts to hook people up based on a shared interest in a particular first-date activity, such as going to a Wilco concert or checking out a new rock climbing gym.
By eschewing the traditional personal profile (and, hey, there’s nothing wrong with Hooksexup’s), the site gives you fewer reasons to talk yourself out of meeting someone. The emphasis falls to the potential date’s interests alone or, in the case of the below daters, their one-off interviews with HowAboutWe staffers, which puts people on the spot and generally strips away the unbearably snarky witticisms that dominate about 98.9% of profiles.
These "Love Seat" profiles of specific members can be revealing and helpful for the potential date in ways that profiles can’t be. (The site is only available in New York, so let’s look at these and ask ourselves if this approach could help improve other dating sites. Did you learn more from these daters than you would from their stats?)
Here’s a sampling of the advice we picked up from reading these Love Seat interviews:
Anna:
"the one" isn’t in bars and girls who just want to have fun are probably not on dating sites.
Jonathan:
[Turn-ons] A woman’s smell, walk and provocative glance … and, oh yeah, a good sense of humor and irony and intelligence. [Turn-offs] Social conservativism.
As an "evilitarian", I am currently precluded from eating anything that hasn’t been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to have been "evil" in its own lifetime. Most of my friends, however, are meat eaters, so I’m very comfortable in bistros, and I’m assuming I’ll revisit my dietary habits many times again.
Maya:
[On what people should know about her] I laugh constantly (and loudly). I don’t feel alive if I don’t have a smile on my face. I have too many half-finished projects. I love to hear other people’s childhood stories. I’m a big fan of whiskey. I’m very supportive. 85% nylon, 15% elastane. . . . That wasn’t a real answer.
Julie:
[On what attracts her] Presence. How you appear in a crowd of people or at a dinner table. Presence is important. Looks not as much.
[On her date’s fashion sense] Classic. No t-shirts that say things on them. Also, good jeans are amazing and earn you some points. But I don’t want a date to dress better than me. I like having a little work to do, someone who appreciates my help in the fashion department.