“Success is when preparation meets opportunity” (Nick Cummins, The Bachelor Australia)
The times they are a changing. Gone are the days you were guaranteed to meet someone out on the dance floor and if over 30, there’s no more single friends to introduce! So we resort to online dating and trying to get matches. Most sites are random. You throw in your fishing hook in a designated pool/area and decide whether each one you (swipe right) try to pull up or (left) let off the hook. Then you try to strike up a conversation. Hopefully make a date. See if you get along for a second date. But that fishing line can get snagged and snap at many stages.
One of Matthew Hussey’s strategies is to ask a man (in real life) to take a photo of you to break the ice and make contact. But what if you can’t see a man you want to approach? I figure that is probably still better than seeing someone you like but not knowing how to approach them. I have probably let many opportunities pass me by over the years! I’m working on being prepared.
So what are some of the options for online dating in Melbourne?
- Bumble
- Tinder
- POF (Plenty of Fish)
- Ok Cupid
- RSVP
- eHarmony
I’m using Bumble at the moment. The success rate seems to be about 1 in 5 matches with 50% response rate.
For example, if 100 men liked me, I would then find 20 are a mutual match. If I contacted all of them, I would get a reply from 10. From that, at the moment, I’d be lucky to get 1 date.
What are the best days to fish?
I’ve had the most responses on Wednesdays and Thursdays as well as Sundays. There seems to have been a big increase of the amount of guys online since the Bachelor Australia started 2 weeks ago! (Screening Wednesdays and Thursdays but it could be a coincidence).
When you are talking online, you need to have some talking points in mind. The most responses I have received have been after saying Hi and asking them a question about something in their profile or pictures.
I got 0 replies with these lines
Hey there 😁
2 truths & a lie…. ready, set, go!
These got 1-2 responses
There’s a lot of pressure making the first move, be nice to me 🤣
What’s one destination you haven’t been to yet or that you must go to before you die?
Almost Friday, can you describe your weekend ahead in 3 emojis?
Friday nights I get less matches but it seems easier to start a conversation ….they just don’t really go anywhere. I think Friday & Saturday chats are for quick hook ups. I got 3 replies with just ‘Happy Friday 👌’
I’d really rather talk to single people in person. I heard somewhere that if you read a magazine backwards in public, it’s meant to mean you are available! Some other countries have small gestures to show whether they are available. In Samoa, if you have a flower over the left ear you are taken, right side you are available. In Ireland, if you wear a Claddagh ring on your left hand and you turn the ring pointing away from you, this indicates you are looking for love. India has different coloured bindis where single or widowed women wear black or white bindis, with red signalling married.
Apart from traffic light parties at University, what could we start in Australia?
If you have one of these customs in another country, do they work as signals?
What online chats have worked for you?
My Life in the Ocean 