Geek love

June 7, 2005 2:26 PM

Tall, Dork, and Handsome The online dating website where guys who love Star Trek can meet women who will reformat their hard drives. Do these profiles speak your language? This guy "prefers to make love under black lights." This nerdette has "realized that the book 'the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' has all of the qualities I'm really looking for [in a guy]." Only thing verboten on the site: No pictures. via
posted by onlyconnect (40 comments total)

From the section "Why Geeks Make the Best Match":

Geeks don't cheat. Geeks know that the grass only seems greener on the other side. . . . Their social skills are also not well developed enough to support an affair.

Maybe. Of course, a geek could just hire one of these.
posted by brain_drain at 2:40 PM on June 7, 2005

Holy Toledo. The "nerdette" you link to was one of my best friends in college. This is not a joke. For what it's worth, gentlemen, if you can meet her high standards (I certainly couldn't), she's a fine woman.

Small world.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:42 PM on June 7, 2005

Have we all forgotten the dangerous Trekkie-Pedophile link so soon.
posted by OmieWise at 2:54 PM on June 7, 2005

Sorry, but the way someone looks *IS* important. That doesn't mean I'm buying in to a mainstream standard of beauty, but pretending that physical appearance doesn't matter is a mistake.

Pictures are important...

Also aparently missing is a way for them to link to their own site/blog...
posted by glider at 2:55 PM on June 7, 2005

I clicked straight there. As soon as I clicked the link in your post my eye caught your "no pictures" caveat. Never hit a "back" button so quick in my life.
posted by sourwookie at 2:59 PM on June 7, 2005

No pictures? But I loves the soft flabby, dead-fish-white flesh in the Star Wars Jedi costumes, I loves it.
posted by orthogonality at 2:59 PM on June 7, 2005

OmieWise writes "Have we all forgotten the dangerous Trekkie-Pedophile link so soon."

And I assumed, until I clicked, this was some The Onion-style joke.

My only consolation is that I've always disdained "popular", space-opera sci-fi.
posted by orthogonality at 3:04 PM on June 7, 2005

Try consumating.com.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 3:05 PM on June 7, 2005

Pictures are important...

So, you chat with someone first, and then see if you're sufficiently interested to care what they look like. I think the photo-free format is a good idea-- it gets rid of the preening peacock displays you find all over other sites.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:09 PM on June 7, 2005

I think pictures are important as well. Even when you really like someone, I think it's good to have a sense of what they look like. I suppose you can just exchange via email.

orthogonality-wierd, right? I guess it was kind of debunked, kind of not. I stopped following it.
posted by OmieWise at 3:12 PM on June 7, 2005

So, you chat with someone first, and then see if you're sufficiently interested to care what they look like.

There are a lot of really nice people that one can be into on a personal level, but if they don't have a look that strikes your fancy I'm just not convinced it can be made to work. Maybe I'm petty that way, I don't know. I wouldn't waste my time unless I could see what they look like...
posted by glider at 3:13 PM on June 7, 2005

Ok, I'm bored and an asshole so:

Clutter and cats - run! NOW! Still here?... While I'm far from Martha Stewart (no prison record), I can sometimes be found baking creations for special occasions, or creating costumes for the Ren Fest or Halloween. I'm a Halloween addict with 8 boxes of decoration compared to 3 for Christmas. [emphasis added]

And between the sheets she's a -- ghost?

Geek Activities: fishin huntin campin.... i luv any thing outdoors... motorcycles and 4wheelers too.... i'm a down to earth gal who tells it like it is and pulls no punches.....don't lie me for me then get the hell out of my world.....

Is she really clear on what a "geek" is, or is she so clear on it she's using the older, "carny geek" meaning? Huntin' an' fishin'?

I'm definitely a fandom geek. I'm a huge Warshipper, OT and EU not these "prequels". (I've got the Rebel Alliance crest tattooed on my back and my license plates read JADESBR.) [emphasis added]

Oh dear god.

It's funny, I love technology, but hate it at the same time: I've been using computers since I was three, but I often wonder if life would be simpler without them. My other passion is music. I love going to live shows, and I even play the trumpet in two bands.

Presumably, without technology, friendly elves ewokds would make his trumpets and run sound-boards made of dried squash connected with vines at the live shows.

"commondore69": Since this isn't like burger king I'm not ordering up a specific type of girl I'll just stop here.... Sense of Humor: Dry, Clever, Obscure.

See, it's a pun on the Commodore 64 computer and "69", a euphemism for reciprocal oral sex. See, it's funny. See?

I'm easy going but have my share of pet pevees, like why the website in gk2gk profiles don't link to the website (except for my one)[....] I'm counting 2 ..maybe more... terms of use violations...can you spot them? [annoying... ellipses in origonal] [He coded his profile to launch a javascript message box reading "This guy is really amazing. Please be seated before proceeding".]

An amazing control freak, perhaps.

I could go on, but, no, actually, I couldn't.
posted by orthogonality at 3:53 PM on June 7, 2005

This guy "prefers to make love under black lights."

The first thing that came to mind is that he likes doing this because his entire body glows.
posted by Snowflake at 3:58 PM on June 7, 2005

This nerdette [...] Only thing verboten on the site: No pictures.

No pictures, eh?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:58 PM on June 7, 2005

I don't know what you're implying, C_D, but that's not her.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:44 PM on June 7, 2005

A low-income, poorly educated, unhappily employed, not-very-attractive, slightly overweight and balding man who posts his photo stands a better chance of getting some response emails on a dating site than a man who says he makes $200,000 and is deadly handsome but doesn't post a photo.

From a Nerve interview with Stephen Dubner.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:46 PM on June 7, 2005

User Friendly's [p2p] has been around for several years already.
posted by dhartung at 4:49 PM on June 7, 2005

C_D-What is that site? I've looked at the front page and I still can't tell.
posted by OmieWise at 4:50 PM on June 7, 2005

I don't know what you're implying, C_D, but that's not her

Hmm. I just did a quick Google search using the username (seemed obscure enough), and found this profile which is another "personals" ad of sorts that sounded sort-of similar. Unfortunately, I didn't look at the age or location. Clearly, the thread that shall (not) go unmentioned has affected the detective in me, and I jumped the gun.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:29 PM on June 7, 2005

I think this may be a closer match.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:30 PM on June 7, 2005

Civil_Disobedient: are you having a hard time clicking on links with "otakubooty" in the URL? Cause I know I am...
posted by hototogisu at 5:33 PM on June 7, 2005

The online dating website where guys who love Star Trek can meet women who will reformat their hard drives.

Oh, you've got to be KIDDING ME!

(reformatted both HD's last night... only recently clawed my way back online...)
posted by dreamsign at 5:43 PM on June 7, 2005

I just go where the Google takes me. If it were NSFW, I would have labeled it so.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:44 PM on June 7, 2005

...

C_D wins. That's her.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:02 PM on June 7, 2005

C_D: I'm not worried about the content, it's more of a spritual difficulty. Not a labeling problem at all...
posted by hototogisu at 6:04 PM on June 7, 2005

A low-income, poorly educated, unhappily employed, not-very-attractive, slightly overweight and balding man who posts his photo stands a better chance of getting some response emails on a dating site than a man who says he makes $200,000 and is deadly handsome but doesn't post a photo.

Not to mention that no one will believe guy #2.

*sighs. washes Porshe*
posted by dreamsign at 6:06 PM on June 7, 2005

from the Otakubooty link picture:

"I'm the good one"

Dammit!
posted by Parannoyed at 6:33 PM on June 7, 2005

I would've used this site when I was single. The lack of pictures could only have helped me.
posted by tommasz at 6:45 PM on June 7, 2005

Try consumating.com.

'Cause girls who dress up like Margo Tenenbaum for their pictures are WAY cooler/moredesirable/lessterrifyinglynerdy than girls who dress up like Padme Amidala...
posted by lalalana at 6:57 PM on June 7, 2005

Not for gays. You can't say whether you're looking for a man or a woman. There *are* gay geeks - I'm one.
posted by mike3k at 6:58 PM on June 7, 2005

Dreamsign, that's *why* the ugly guy gets more hits. That's precisely their point.

In any case, the Dubner (*cough* Levitt) excerpt is irrelevant here, because the people on this website all go there with the explicit understanding (and interest in) the no-photos policy. Something tells me an all-nerd website where full of trekkies and HD reformatters is not a representative sample of the population in terms of superficialities.
posted by mowglisambo at 7:10 PM on June 7, 2005

'Cause girls who dress up like Margo Tenenbaum for their pictures are WAY cooler/moredesirable/lessterrifyinglynerdy than girls who dress up like Padme Amidala...

The Wanton, though she knows its dangers,
Needs must smear kohl about her eyes
And wake the interest of strangers
With long-drawn hoarse erotic sighs.
posted by kenko at 7:17 PM on June 7, 2005

There are also geeks (single or otherwise) outside of the USA.

Perhaps what geeks really need is some sort of secret handshake (or bat signal) so we can find each other. It could really save a lot of time finding non-suicide-inducing conversation at social events.
posted by Lionfire at 7:19 PM on June 7, 2005

That's precisely their point.

He could be ugly but rich.
posted by dreamsign at 8:46 PM on June 7, 2005

"Perhaps what geeks really need is some sort of secret handshake (or bat signal) so we can find each other."

A Metafilter account is not enough?
posted by jscalzi at 8:49 PM on June 7, 2005

No, goddamnit, geeks shouldn't be allowed a dating site. They should spend all their time in IRC, trying to find out whether or not the person they're talking to actually is a girl and actually does like Babylon 5 instead of being a 12-year-old male troll from the middle of nowhere.

Worked for me...
posted by Katemonkey at 2:00 AM on June 8, 2005

It's spelt Margot.
posted by mleonard at 4:32 AM on June 8, 2005

"Perhaps what geeks really need is some sort of secret handshake (or bat signal) so we can find each other."

I go by smell, myself.
posted by spazzm at 6:50 AM on June 8, 2005

Having seen the title, I'm disappointed we're not discussing this.
posted by fFish at 7:26 AM on June 8, 2005

It's spelt Margot.

And I left the accent mark off of Padme, too! I guess I'm ineligible for geek dating...
posted by lalalana at 7:44 AM on June 8, 2005