J w.

Well, I've thought about it and here is what I have to say about online dating. I've been involved with it off and on since 2006. From then until now I've had 3 women in my life (at different times) that would be considered girlfriends, meaning that we were dating exclusively. 2 of them I didn't meet online. The third one I did meet online very recently. She was the original reason that I made the decision to delete my account. After she terminated the endeavor (this is absolutely not directed towards her), I decided to go ahead and delete the account anyway. I will say that she was the first one in 12 years that even came close to being a successful contact. This was not because of a spark, but because I regrouped my thinking and decided to try taking time to experience who the person is. For a long time I wondered where the so called spark was that everyone that tries to sell online dating talked about. I think, and this is just my opinion, it happens but in very isolated cases. Most of the time we expect it and if it's not there upon the first meeting we don't give it a chance. Yes, I'm guilty of this and so are some of the ladies I've met. So, this most recent one was visually appealing, which like most men I noticed right away, but I wanted to get to know her and see if feelings would develop just from hanging out and experiencing mannerisms, voice tones, laughter and conversation. These are the things that are missing that create that spark. What am I talking about you say. Here it is, in most cases ramping up to the spark is the things we notice about a person upon a real life face to face interaction. So, what about the meetings after corresponding online? Well, these meetings were procured from a picture, profile, and messaging like it was designed to be by the online service. That being said, the proper way to do online dating is forget about the salespitch of love at first sight. If you get along during your first meet and they haven't lied about their age and picture, give it a chance. Something may get the attention of either one of you during the subsequent dates that create that spark. You both may not see it at the same time either. Bottom line is there are human factors that can't be put in a profile or picture. Goodby to Zoosk, and good luck to everyone.