Boomers and Beyond: Internet dating can be great fun

We’ve all had friends who really scored big time with Internet dating. Have you, or anyone you know, tried it?

Being the curious type, I finally gave it a go. What an eye-opener!

Although I did not actually “join,” I did accept one of the offers for a free, one-month membership (adventure) in one of the “find-your-mate” sites.

After my bio and photo were successfully pasted into the site, I started to receive replies, or “hits,” as they’re called. Out of the 22 hits I had, there was only one with whom I could actually have an extended series of chats … the rest became shockingly pornographic (perv heaven) after the first chat.

Internet dating can be an anonymous venture, and you’re in control of your own destiny. In your bio, you can tell it like it is, or paint yourself as a “super-find.” These bios are fun reading. Some are amusing, others blatantly egotistical; they’re indeed fascinating and deliciously entertaining.

Do people tell the truth about themselves in their bios? Duh … Lying is a big Internet dating problem, with age and marital status being the most frequent fibs. Married people better think twice before lying about being single – they can be found guilty of fraud and subject to civil and criminal penalties under federal law. These laws authorize fines up to $250,000, even jail sentences to five years.

On the site I was on, we were to make up our own code name. Some of these code names bordered the limits of decency; some were downright naughty, some were hysterical. Here are a few of the printable names: Super Stud Muffin; Sixty-minute Man (was it really Jerry Lee?); A Perfect Ten; Barbie – Lookin’ for Ken; Silver Fox; Silver & Sexy; Golfing Beauty; Idol Eyes; Satin Doll; Peachy Dancer; Slick Chick; Beautiful Woman; Handsome Hunk.

All in all, I thought it was great fun. It’s no wonder this is such a popular pastime.

My 70-year old neighbor told me he had been Internet dating for 10 years and had met a lot of very nice women. Three years ago he met a woman who has been his bicycling buddy ever since. “No romance,” he said, “but I found a great friend.” Still looking for romance, he made yet another find … a lady living three states away. Last month he went to see her, and she’s visiting him this spring … hmmm, sounds serious.

“Which sites did you use?” I queried him. He said he’s had good results with seniorsingles.com; seniorfriendfinder.com; and a couple of others. “Did you ever use eHarmony.com?” I asked him. (Their ads are so alluring!) He said he did for a while, but “his ‘matches’ were not regional, and traveling for face-to-face meetings, to New York, for example, was cost-prohibitive.”

My own personal experience with this site was not so good, but for a different reason. Immediately after my visit to their site, my e-mail suddenly became the target of every purveyor of sexual-performance enhancing drug and apparatus on the international market – and it is still growing!

For older women, the reality – in the Internet (or any) dating game – is 60-plus guys, are looking for fortysomething women. (Who can blame them?)

There many very good-looking women on dating sites. Surprise, surprise, the younger ones got the most hits, as did those women whose bios described them as a property owner, and as “financially independent.” These women must be wary of guys who are down on their luck, looking for a place to live, or worse yet, looking for a “nurse and purse.”

If you want to join the millions in this “fun for all,” do it. It’s convenient, it’s easy and it’s affordable. Remember, writing your biography, takes a lot of thought to avoid attracting the wrong element. Get a hit from someone that sounds too good to be true? Well …? Find someone you’re really keen to meet? Time to call “The Closer,” a company that will do background checks for you – checking for felonies, records of police activity and arrests, criminal and or sex offenses, divorces/marriages, bankruptcy, etc. Find it at: www.thecloser.cc/.

For an in-person meeting, the man should do the traveling. Obviously, meetings are to be in a public place and friends should be apprised of all the details.

If one has the time to play the Internet dating game, it sure beats Free Cell. And, if you stay anonymous, it’s good clean fun and nobody gets hurt. (But, then, nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh?)