Dating Apps/sites

carzony

Hey Lads,

It's a bad time to be asking, given the current situation with restrictions/lockdowns ect..

What is the best way to find a partner? I'm tempted to try Tinder, POF but have heard it's very difficult.

I was wondering if anyone here has had success?

Covit

carzony wrote: »

Hey Lads,

It's a bad time to be asking, given the current situation with restrictions/lockdowns ect..

What is the best way to find a partner? I'm tempted to try Tinder, POF but have heard it's very difficult.

I was wondering if anyone here has had success?

Ya I’ve had good bit of success since lockdown on tinder women just meeting for quick shag

Irish_rat

carzony wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone here has had success?

Its a hard time with the lockdown but can be done depending on the individual. Many are too scared to go anywhere with the virus though.

I've never used tinder as just seems to be associated highly with quick shags which is grand for some but not for me.

Pof would be your best bet as it has the biggest pool but you could be a long time searching for someone genuine. I met someone nice after several months of messages and "meet me" from others that didn't interest me.

I would avoid the social media influencer looking types, selfie mad ones, posing with the birthday number types, the b*tchy types.

It's a fine art to search but you'll get there. There is other sites with smaller pool and higher % of more genuine sound people like ok cupid but the interface is terrible imo.

Gael23

Interested in this too.

I’d be looking for lads instead of girls but same principles apply

billyhead

Is Bumble any good and do you need to upgrade and pay a fee?

carrollsno1

Had three dates from Bumble and Hinge this year, two of them turned out to be one night stands. Definitly different gravy compared to what we were used to back pre covid, a lot are nervous about meeting up with the restrictions in place which is fair enough abd you have tk resoect that. Biggest problem ive had is being catfished. Im no supermodel myself but my profiles as honest as i can have it i.e. most recent photos, no filters, no photoshop, full body pics etc however im finding most women are using old photos, filtered and photoshopped photos as well as mainly selfies as well. Ill probably be called a pig for saying it but thats my experience so far snyway. Biggest problem i find is that the local pool here are all the bitchy type as described by a previous poster or else there all teschers too much dramas with both those groups. Ghosting is also snother problem with the online dating and to be honest id rather just be told at the start im wasting my time than putting effort into flogging s dead horse. Its also made me realise how small Ireland is too as a friend messaged me today to tell me i was messaging such and such a girl on bumble a while back as if i wasnt aware of it, wed live about 60+km away from each other.

Lockdown Romance

I had zero luck with Hinge and Bumble, the supposdely 'proper' dating apps. On Tinder I would get one match a week (literally) but the girls would never reply to my messages.

On Stephen's night I was drunk and paid for a month's subscription to Tinder. One of the benefits is you can set your location anywhere in the world. After a few goes I went to Manila.

Holy hell boys, I am like a rock star! My phone is constantly blowing up with new matches and messages. And I'm not in any way good looking, I am a 4 at best, but just being white is enough to be considered attractive over there.

Even if you don't like Asian girls, give this a go. If only for the confidence boost.

Now to save up and get jaw surgery so I can be handsome and crack the Hanoi market

Jafin

Lockdown Romance wrote: »

I had zero luck with Hinge and Bumble, the supposdely 'proper' dating apps. On Tinder I would get one match a week (literally) but the girls would never reply to my messages.

On Stephen's night I was drunk and paid for a month's subscription to Tinder. One of the benefits is you can set your location anywhere in the world. After a few goes I went to Manila.

Holy hell boys, I am like a rock star! My phone is constantly blowing up with new matches and messages. And I'm not in any way good looking, I am a 4 at best, but just being white is enough to be considered attractive over there.

Even if you don't like Asian girls, give this a go. If only for the confidence boost.

Now to save up and get jaw surgery so I can be handsome and crack the Hanoi market

I don't want to be reinforcing Asian stereotypes or anything here, but I taught English in Hanoi for 6 months a few years back and a good few of my Vietnamese teaching assistants tried very diligently to set me up with their friends. I had to keep coming up with different ways of saying no without ever telling them that the real reason was because I was gay.

I would not class myself as a very good looking guy, maybe a 4 like you said yourself, and I was quite a bit overweight back then. I don't really know if it's a genuine attraction or if it's seen as a status thing if you have a "foreign" partner, but a lot of my fellow male teachers who would likely struggle to find dates/partners over here were making out like bandits with offers while I was in Hanoi.

Another thing that is part of the culture over there is that women tend to try to get married quite young, because if you pass a certain age (25) and you're unmarried then people seem to think there is something wrong with you. It's really all quite bizarre in comparison to Western culture.

That was my experience at least, can't say it's the same for everyone throughout that whole country.

Lockdown Romance

Jafin wrote: »

I don't want to be reinforcing Asian stereotypes or anything here, but I taught English in Hanoi for 6 months a few years back and a good few of my Vietnamese teaching assistants tried very diligently to set me up with their friends. I had to keep coming up with different ways of saying no without ever telling them that the real reason was because I was gay.

I would not class myself as a very good looking guy, maybe a 4 like you said yourself, and I was quite a bit overweight back then. I don't really know if it's a genuine attraction or if it's seen as a status thing if you have a "foreign" partner, but a lot of my fellow male teachers who would likely struggle to find dates/partners over here were making out like bandits with offers while I was in Hanoi.

Another thing that is part of the culture over there is that women tend to try to get married quite young, because if you pass a certain age (25) and you're unmarried then people seem to think there is something wrong with you.

That was my experience at least, can't say it's the same for everyone throughout that whole country.

Absolutely. Being a white man in South East Asia confers high status, no matter what your looks and you are right on the 25 thing. But who cares? Even the older Vietnamese girls I saw on Tinder are gorgeous.

Anyway once the Pandemic is over I'm going to SEA.

Samsonsmasher

carzony wrote: »

Hey Lads,

It's a bad time to be asking, given the current situation with restrictions/lockdowns ect..

What is the best way to find a partner? I'm tempted to try Tinder, POF but have heard it's very difficult.

I was wondering if anyone here has had success?

Hinge Bumble and Tinder.
POF is full of time wasters.
It's hard work.
You have to swipe thousands of times to get a few dozen matches and you are lucky to get a handful of dates a month.
I use these apps but found it far easier to chat up women in the real world.
Pre covid the average guy on a Friday Saturday or Sunday could easily have multiple women lined up for a half hour chat in cafes and pubs.
Now because of covid and distancing and masks women will not meet up unless you meet a like minded woman who isn't taken in by this insanity.
I can only assume there is mass despair loneliness and frustration out there which is at bursting point.

Kiith

I met my wife on Tinder, so make of that what you will :P

99nsr125

Kiith wrote: »

I met my wife on Tinder, so make of that what you will :P

Me too :-)

con___manx1

Bumble is the best. Just make sure you put up photos of you doing some activity like hiking or what ever you like to do. not just selfies. It makes it easier for the girls to send the first message and gives you something to talk about straight away. Keep the bio short. You Don't want t give to much away.
I had more success on bumble than any other app when I was single.

yoke

Originally Posted by Kiith
I met my wife on Tinder, so make of that what you will

99nsr125 wrote: »

Me too :-)

you met his wife on tinder? probably better to keep that private

99nsr125

yoke wrote: »

you met his wife on tinder? probably better to keep that private

:-))

TheBoyConor

bumble is gone down hill. There used to be loads of matches on it but i think people are gone away from it.

carrollsno1

How are the rest of ye finding it these days with the current lockdown? Awful quiete compared to before and nobodys really up to meet up due to the 5km limits etc. Im rural by the way, is it any different in the Cities?

TheBoyConor

I notice it too. Apps way quieter. Way less matches.

Hardly surprising I suppose.

carrollsno1

TheBoyConor wrote: »

I notice it too. Apps way quieter. Way less matches.

Hardly surprising I suppose.

Yea the interest is gone altogether really. Was hoping to meet up with a one in early march that i had been messaging fairly strong in January myself but i suppose i ended up half ghosting her in a way as it unlikely restrictions will lift at sll now and i just couldnt face the same conversation over and over again.

cj maxx

I got all in to the apps at the end of last year and bored already,

Barna77

Gael23 wrote: »

Interested in this too.

I’d be looking for lads instead of girls but same principles apply

I hear you. I haven't used any app in more than a year and I don't miss them at all. But I hear the gaybourhood has been business as usual (for some), regardless of lockdonws

con___manx1 wrote: »

Bumble is the best. Just make sure you put up photos of you doing some activity like hiking or what ever you like to do. not just selfies. It makes it easier for the girls to send the first message and gives you something to talk about straight away. Keep the bio short. You Don't want t give to much away.
I had more success on bumble than any other app when I was single.

I lived with two girls who who'd give out that all the profiles had the same type of photos: night out with the lads holding a pint, backpacking in Asia/Australia, and sports

shawki

These type of photos really annoy me, seen them about 100 times now. Don't really understand what they add to a profile.

Irish_rat

shawki wrote: »

These type of photos really annoy me, seen them about 100 times now. Don't really understand what they add to a profile.

You will find a lot of sheep on pof. Don't forget the birthday photo with the big balloon with numbers on it. Everything is copy and paste from social media

Samsonsmasher

Don't forget forget to stay 2m apart at all times and wear a mask to protect one another from covid 19...

Gael23

Barna77 wrote: »

I hear you. I haven't used any app in more than a year and I don't miss them at all. But I hear the gaybourhood has been business as usual (for some), regardless of lockdonws

Is gaybourhood an app?

aismac

Barna77 wrote: »

I hear you. I haven't used any app in more than a year and I don't miss them at all. But I hear the gaybourhood has been business as usual (for some), regardless of lockdonws



I lived with two girls who who'd give out that all the profiles had the same type of photos: night out with the lads holding a pint, backpacking in Asia/Australia, and sports

I’m a girl so you might delete this but there’s still lots of girls interested. Can I say to ye about profiles:
- Post lots of pictures of yourself smiling
- Holiday pics are grand but don’t do topless, or pics of motorbikes or drunk with the lads
- Do, do, do write a profile. Girls read them a lot and it’s often the difference between a swipe or not
- Do read our profiles and if you send a message, comment on something. We hear “hi how r u” 5 times a day and those conversations are always really hard to get going. Good luck! 😀

Galwayguy35

aismac wrote: »

I’m a girl so you might delete this but there’s still lots of girls interested. Can I say to ye about profiles:
- Post lots of pictures of yourself smiling
- Holiday pics are grand but don’t do topless, or pics of motorbikes or drunk with the lads
- Do, do, do write a profile. Girls read them a lot and it’s often the difference between a swipe or not
- Do read our profiles and if you send a message, comment on something. We hear “hi how r u” 5 times a day and those conversations are always really hard to get going. Good luck! ��

thats all grand but if the lad is good looking he might have 3 words on his profile and would get more interest than an average Joe who wrote half his life story.

The photo is the most important bit.

Ultrflat

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

thats all grand but if the lad is good looking he might have 3 words on his profile and would get more interest than an average Joe who wrote half his life story.

The photo is the most important bit.

So is your sense of humor!

Online dating is a numbers game, so you need to switch your emotions off for that aspect of it.

Unless you're Brad Pitt, most women won't match with you. Most of those that do will only chat for a while before stopping. Those who do agree to meet, some will cancel. Those who you do manage to meet, I would say most won't result in a second date, this might be your decision or hers.

When you sit down and do the maths, most of the women you browse online you will never meet.

Like I said, just switch the emotions off, at least until you get to meet them.

Plasandrunt

Apologies if this sounds shallow and I'm certainly no Brad Pitt but are some of these woman serious with the photos they put up?

It's really bad on Hinge I've noticed, some woman there with photos of her during or directly after running a marathon, covered in sweat. I don't understand.

Galwayguy35

Plasandrunt wrote: »

Apologies if this sounds shallow and I'm certainly no Brad Pitt but are some of these woman serious with the photos they put up?

It's really bad on Hinge I've noticed, some woman there with photos of her during or directly after running a marathon, covered in sweat. I don't understand.

In fairness maybe the reason is people want to show what they look like in everyday life.

In my own case I have one pic dressed like I would on a night out and another in jeans and a t shirt that I have on around the house.

SnuggyBear

Plasandrunt wrote: »

Apologies if this sounds shallow and I'm certainly no Brad Pitt but are some of these woman serious with the photos they put up?

It's really bad on Hinge I've noticed, some woman there with photos of her during or directly after running a marathon, covered in sweat. I don't understand.

The quality on hinge is seriously bad. Bumble has the best quality in my opinion.

YellowLead

SnuggyBear wrote: »

The quality on hinge is seriously bad. Humble has the best quality in my opinion.

I think which app works best varies by gender, which is interesting. And it also comes down to what you consider ‘quality’ on an individual basis. For anybody wondering which is best, just try them all and you’ll find your best fit.

Musicman2000

A lot of these Apps are after taking advantage of Covid and charging for extra features , Unfortunately I have found a lot off these apps have gone down hill, the ratio of Male to Females is a lot higher making it even harder for guys to get matches .

I have tried most apps and have had success . A lot of the popular apps such as Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge use a ranking process , so the more likes you get their algorithm ranks your profile higher and is visible to more users , the less likes you get your ranking is below average meaning less users will see your profile.
Is it worth paying for premium features ? Your profile will get a temporary boost and you may see some results but it will taper off after a few days so not its not worth paying for .

POF- was good up to 5 years ago, unfortunately the ratio of guys on here has increased meaning getting a reply is near impossible and its a lot of the same female users on it over the last year . Guys - avoid it .

Tinder - A lot of Instagram wannabes , selfie lovers but the one I have had most success from after paying for the premium features but it takes a lot of effort on here . The key really is good Pictures .

Bumble - was excellent in the early days but the female ratio has dropped , trying to get a match on here is hard work . I ran a little test and changed my location to Manchester on Travel mode I had 10 matches within a few hours , Changed back to Dublin Nothing. Really is down to population on a lot of these apps .

Match.com - is behind a pay wall and has an older user generation but a lot of the same faces . If you are looking for a serious relation ship might be worth trying .

From a guys point of view , you really do have to put in a lot of work to get any success from these apps . Females get the priority on these apps , and the apps are taking advantage off guys paying for premium features .

My recommend dating Apps

Tinder
Bumble
Hinge
Match
POF

YellowLead

One tip is to delete your account if you have been on it for ages (this works with tinder anyway) and you will be given priority as a new user and suddenly see lots of new faces you haven’t seen before as the algorithm puts you in a better stack.
Also it’s tells people they better super like you to stand out as you are a popular user, when in reality you are just new.

Another tip if you are em on the older end of things is to enter an incorrect date of birth regarding the year but then put your real age in the wording on your profile. Because most people have an upper age limit this makes you visible to more users, yet you are night lying as in your profile wording you come clean.

Sonics2k

Tinder also gives a lower amount of right swipes to men than it does to women. Presumably because men are more likely to pay for it.

YellowLead

Sonics2k wrote: »

Tinder also gives a lower amount of right swipes to men than it does to women. Presumably because men are more likely to pay for it.

Ah I didn’t know that! It’s also probably because women are more selective whereas men are more likely to swipe right endlessly on almost everybody hoping that will get a few matches they can pick from.

Sonics2k

YellowLead wrote: »

Ah I didn’t know that! It’s also probably because women are more selective whereas men are more likely to swipe right endlessly on almost everybody hoping that will get a few matches they can pick from.

There's a few articles on it too, but Tinder of course remain tight lipped on it.

It's anecdotal but I've also tested it myself with a few friends, both men and women and in a 12 hour period men got like 40-50 right swipes and the women got about 100

YellowLead

When I rejoined tinder only 3 minutes in my likes were 83 and counting. Once it gets to 100 it no longer tells you how many, unless you pay. Deffo worth doing anybody out there who has been on it a while! You get bumped up and seen by loads.

Jafin

YellowLead wrote: »

One tip is to delete your account if you have been on it for ages (this works with tinder anyway) and you will be given priority as a new user and suddenly see lots of new faces you haven’t seen before as the algorithm puts you in a better stack.
Also it’s tells people they better super like you to stand out as you are a popular user, when in reality you are just new.

Another tip if you are em on the older end of things is to enter an incorrect date of birth regarding the year but then put your real age in the wording on your profile. Because most people have an upper age limit this makes you visible to more users, yet you are night lying as in your profile wording you come clean.

Since you mentioned about age, for anyone that pays for Tinder it's also worth noting that the older you are the more they charge for subscriptions. As soon as I turned 30 I noticed that the price went up dramatically when the option to subscribe popped up. I did a bit of a search online and sure enough they up the price when you turn 30. I think they got in trouble for it in the US and had to reverse it, but over here they seem to be able to get away with it.

SnuggyBear

Tinder is so scummy

YellowLead

Bad Boyo wrote: »

I have made Chadfishing profiles on Tinder and Bumble. My profile was was three bedroom selfies of a hot guy and a couple of lines about his height and interests. After an hour I had dozens of matches. After a couple of days I had hundreds of matches.

If you aren't a handsome man then don't bother with online dating, it's 100% about looks.

Obviously it’s going to be EASIER if you are very good looking. Yes you will get more likes, same goes with genders reversed.

But it’s certainly still worth a shot if you are average and have good photos (ie. where you are smiling and don’t have your top off or all group shots etc) and you have interesting text in your profile wording. Now if all you want are supermodels then you might be out of luck alright as they will likely swipe on the handsome dudes only...

YellowLead

Bad Boyo wrote: »

Good photos and a well crafted bio will do nothing if you are ugly or plain looking. Why would a girl pick you over the hot guy? Because of your bio? Come on, be real.

By all means try but don't be down if you get no results. And for the love of God don't hand your shekels over to these companies.

Perhaps if you are very ugly or overweight yes you are going to struggle online. Most people are average though? It’s a minority that are very good looking or very ugly (though it is subjective).

If you are average you absolutely will have success once you set your profile up correctly. I mean there might be other factors that could reduce success such as lack of info about employment or living in a dodgy area. Or if you say something cynical.

SnuggyBear

I saw an interesting post before. This guy made 3 fake accounts. 1 was a model, 1 was average and 1 was ugly. Same bio and swiped right on 100 women.

Obviously the model got around 90 matches. The interesting thing though there was very little difference between the amount of matches the ugly and average guy got. I think it was something like 9 to 2.

YellowLead

SnuggyBear wrote: »

I saw an interesting post before. This guy made 3 fake accounts. 1 was a model, 1 was average and 1 was ugly. Same bio and swiped right on 100 women.

Obviously the model got around 90 matches. The interesting thing though there was very little difference between the amount of matches the ugly and average guy got. I think it was something like 9 to 2.

In awful at maths but doesn’t that mean the average guy had about 70% more likes than the ugly guy? I’d call that a huge difference. That’s really not bad going - to match with basically 10 per cent of ones swipes.

SnuggyBear

Here's the thread, it's an entertaining read

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tinder/comments/23gvy0/its_hard_being_average_my_tinder_experiment/

Grey Fox

SnuggyBear wrote: »

I saw an interesting post before. This guy made 3 fake accounts. 1 was a model, 1 was average and 1 was ugly. Same bio and swiped right on 100 women.

Obviously the model got around 90 matches. The interesting thing though there was very little difference between the amount of matches the ugly and average guy got. I think it was something like 9 to 2.

This makes sense. In my experience, most women on tinder are trying to punch well above their weight and seem to believe there is a prince charming out there who will sweep them off their feet.

Sonics2k

Grey Fox wrote: »

This makes sense. In my experience, most women on tinder are trying to punch well above their weight and seem to believe there is a prince charming out there who will sweep them off their feet.

To be fair I'd say a lot of lads are "punching above their weight" (I hate that phrase) on dating Apps too.

YellowLead

Open the pubs

SnuggyBear

Sonics2k wrote: »

To be fair I'd say a lot of lads are "punching above their weight" (I hate that phrase) on dating Apps too.

More like they are punching like a maniac hoping to hit anything

Grey Fox

Sonics2k wrote: »

To be fair I'd say a lot of lads are "punching above their weight" (I hate that phrase) on dating Apps too.

Doubt it. Women are way more selective with sexual partners than men. Which is why the likes of Grindr must be an absolute free for all by comparison.