I stepped away from eHarmony for approximately 1 week and found that very little had happened. The same issues still applied: blank profiles, few profiles and bugs in the system. I was discouraged so, I decided to make some changes.
I altered my distance to focus on specific states instead. I chose the one I live in and the one next to me. I believed that there must be a few matches in 2 states, right? Well, after another week, I realized I was wrong. Apparently, there are very few men that the algorithm would consider a "match" with me. Again, more discouragement.
Once more, I decided to expand on the area and broadened my distance to my country. With a chant "let's go USA", I launched into highly unlikely dating opportunities. What have I discovered? Men in New York, Ohio, California and Pennsylvania are matches for me according to the algorithm. Of course, the chances of meeting any of these men is limited. I don't plan on going on any extended road trips or flights for a date. That being stated, I don't expect a man to do so either. No one really joins a dating website to develop a long-distance relationship or a pen pal. Do they? The key here is dating website.
A friend of mine sent me a recent article from NPR on online dating. He thought it may be of use for this blog. The article uses a vague breakdown from a poll conducted by the Pew Center and splits this information to negative vs. positive experiences. What did I take away from it? The percentages of sites used. Only a quarter of those polled (which excluded ages and gender details, by the way) used eHarmony. The majority of those who were seeking love online were using Match.com.
Now, I'm unsure of the details as I mentioned above. The Pew Center website that linked to the survey only noted that those polled were 18 or older. I feel that statistics on gender, age, sexual orientation, type of relationship sought and specifics (i.e., religion, hobbies, etc.) are all significant. Let's just say that in world of older women in the Christian community that are seeking a Christian marriage the percentage would be different than those of young women without religious preference to open the door to causal dating opportunities. I believe that the more specific the details in a poll are (including niche sites: dating for bikers, specific religions, etc.) would further illuminate the online dating picture. That being said, this article is just fluff. Judge for yourself. The link is at the bottom of this entry.
Where does this leave me? Well, let's just say I opened the door to new pen pal opportunities via eHarmony.
Comments anyone?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/10/21/239084643/online-dating-is-on-the-rise-but-there-are-still-haters?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20131021
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