Dog owners and dating: What people-dating sites can teach dog owners about what to ask
Should dog owners choose pet dating sites exclusively?
Worldwide health outbreaks are about the worst time to try to find a significant other, but there are brave people out there who are still trying their best to date in a coronavirus world. I fall into that category, too — sorta. One month ago, I was hired to join approximately 30 dating sites. I’ve sifted through 19 so far. Am I looking for a date for myself? No. (Two years ago, I joined Match and OkCupid for personal reasons so I’m not opposed to online dating though.) This time around, the goal is to figure out the highs and lows of each of these sites and decide whether they’re worth paying for.
In the middle of my research, there was one dating site (Plenty of Fish, or PoF) that caught my attention. If you’ve never seen MTV’s “Catfish,” Season 8, Episode 8, with DeJohn and Cashay, the couple who met on PoF is better than almost any comedy special I have ever seen. I will not ruin the episode, but the entire scene on the couch and “reuniting” left me in a fit of giggles. I rewound the “start-over” scene at least four times to crack up laughing all over again.
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By the time I reviewed Plenty of Fish, I realized the sign-up process — although invasive — had some particularly interesting questions that were no laughing matter. One stand-out question inquired about the relationship status of each user’s parents. My first instinct was to think, “None of your business.” But the question was fascinating because in 19 sites, this was the first site that asked users to answer anything other than questions related to children, politics and social justice.
Recommended Read: “Black Lives Matter: The black heart for OkCupid members ~ Online dating site puts controversial topics front and center”
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The question that made Plenty of Fish stand out among many
I can say with certainty that your parents’ status in a relationship does not always affect the children. My older brother married his high school sweetheart, who he has been married to for 21 years and has two children with. I, however, have never had the desire to have children and am indifferent about marriage — even though my parents just celebrated 40 years of marriage together in August. Two siblings raised in the same household by the same people turned out to have completely different futures.
Recommended Read: “Please stop lying about owning dogs in your dating app profile ~ Where I went wrong on dating sites: Not looking for men who own dogs”
But here’s why this kind of question should matter for pet owners who are in the online dating world: It is one thing to look for someone who has experienced whatever it is you want in a mate. It is another for them to be completely unfamiliar with the topic altogether. Whether I want to be married or not, it’d be next to impossible for me to not notice how married couples made it last so long.