Private dating forum

][cEMAN**

Dunno is there one of these already?

OK sounds a bit rediculous but hear me out. Reading a lot of PI threads i've seen there's a lot of people out there who are lonely, in the same area, and think they have nothing in common with other people. Well hey - you read/post on boards.ie, and so do the other people here. That should be enough to start a tantalising conversation over a few pints. If not - what the hell do you guys do at the boards beer parties? Hmm I dunno..

Anyway. I know there might be serious things to consider here and that there might be muppets out for a laugh, so in a case like this you would need to set it as a private forum. Have a responsible mod to run it. You would need in order to let people join, somewhat personal details to confirm their authenticity (so we don't get weirdo's in it). Um...anything else we need?

Like I said it might not be a plausable idea so i'm putting it up for SERIOUS suggestion and looking for SERIOUS replies. If there are no legal presidences against it then I don't see why we can't have it just as we have PI. It would deal with a large portion of the people, and as it's private, there would be no need for outside embarrassment.

Maybe something along the lines of an advanced BIO people can post with their real likes and dislikes and general area that they live in, then they can PM each other and arrange to meet up sometime. Obviously get a bit more info from PMs. That way it's entirely optional to give up sensetive info, and then up to the people PMing each other to decide if they feel secure and confident enough about meeting up.

Possibly people in there could also suggest good places in their local areas for meeting up for such things. Maybe highly populated bars or somewhere they would feel safe. I suppose there would need to be a VERY strict policy put up for the board....

But the thing is I don't expect people to reply here to say yes to this as they might feel awkward about saying they're single or looking to date. I would be looking more for an indication from mods etc who would give their opinions on wether this would be a good idea and/or if they would be willing to mod it.

If it's a really bad idea....that's OK - just putting up a suggestion.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

if it's not so much of a posting forum, as it is somewhere where people can just post their bios and whatnot.. and they can receive/send pm's to/from people they are interested in meeting in private.. then it might work

but having to moderate thread upon thread of stupid irc-like flirtation would drive any moderator mad.

angelofdeath

ill second this, sounds like a good idea

yellum

I don't think a forum style structure would work for dating for one.

As an addon it might work since and you can view an online past history of a poster from their profile already.
You can look at their views on numerous things dependng on where they post.

There probably would be a concern about trolling though and people not taking it seriously.

Speaking as someone who's dated a few people and (god help me) even fallen in love with someone from boards it can be a good way to meet people who you are matched with. Whether a section dedicated to dating is a good thing or not I'm still undecided.

ecksor

Nah, I'm sorry, but I have to ask, "What's in it for boards?".

A public dating forum on the other hand would provide us with an excellent opportunity to test out the idea of 'reality forums' following on from the 'Gordon goes to Greece' series.

bettyboo

Erm, I think the main problem here is that i'd imagine that 90 % of posters are men....

Sangre

Originally posted by ecksor
Nah, I'm sorry, but I have to ask, "What's in it for boards?".

FFS! It's always about boards, is that all you ever think about? Boards?
Boards, boards, boards!

For once, won't somebody please think of the children?

ecksor

Originally posted by bettyboo
Erm, I think the main problem here is that i'd imagine that 90 % of posters are men....

I'm not sure that's as big a problem as you make out ...

(I can confirm that at least 90% of me is a man however).

ecksor

bettyboo, a/s/l?

Do you post here often? And what is a nice girl like you doing in a dump like this anyway?

(seriously, are you going to the boards beer? We can have a couple of drinks, I'll show you around and introduce you to everyone, we can get to know each other better ... )

Beruthiel

Originally posted by ecksor
I'm not sure that's as big a problem as you make out ...

(I can confirm that at least 90% of me is a man however).

and the other 10%? *me raises an eyebrow*

ecksor

She only asked about 90%.

I don't actually know what the proportion is gender-wise on boards.

][cEMAN**

Possibly even if the mods of PI could give their input on this from what they've seen over the years (months if that's the case) if they think this would be a good idea or something that could be used as a basis for an idea and worked on from there?

I don't think, as mentioned already, it would be a place just for general chat and/or spam, but more like a place to put up people's notification that they're looking to find someone, or even just a place for them to make a thread with their details and have the mod lock it. They can then have people browse through a list of people's details and contact them if they so wish. If someone gets sorted they could even PM the mod to have their details removed from there.

It's a work in progress idea but I think it would be fair to give it a go to see if it would help a few people on boards, or friends of people who post on boards.

Beruthiel

Originally posted by ][cEMAN**
Possibly even if the mods of PI could give their input on this from what they've seen over the years (months if that's the case) if they think this would be a good idea or something that could be used as a basis for an idea and worked on from there?

I personally would have no particular input on this, nor do I know how exactly it would work, some of us know each other too well in here for that imo. I don’t really think you can do better than the boards regular piss ups, it’s a more natural way to meet people and easier for something to happen in a less forced way.

However, there seems to be lots of lonely people out there who maybe interested, donno, perhaps a poll?

Victor

Originally posted by yellum
As an addon it might work since and you can view an online past history of a poster from their profile already.

You mean to see if they are cybar sluts? /me wonders of a certain ear-rapist.

][cEMAN**

*Bump* Can we get some serious feedback on this as to wether it would be a good idea and if we could get this organised. Just that the discussion on this has dried up without resolution.

Littletinyman

Poor Iceman

][cEMAN**

Well par I did post this with you in mind. I was hoping something like this could relieve you of some of that teenage angst and frustration. Maybe even put up a link to that secksay photo of you with your hair in that "I just got out of bed and my mommy won't help me find the comb" look

amp

Wow, []ceman$$ made me laugh.

/me looks around for other signs of the apocalypse.

Sangre

Can I help anyone here?

Bard

Originally posted by yellum
I don't think a forum style structure would work for dating for one.

As an addon it might work since and you can view an online past history of a poster from their profile already.
You can look at their views on numerous things dependng on where they post.

There probably would be a concern about trolling though and people not taking it seriously.

Speaking as someone who's dated a few people and (god help me) even fallen in love with someone from boards it can be a good way to meet people who you are matched with. Whether a section dedicated to dating is a good thing or not I'm still undecided.

Sorry to be quoting someone in their entirety here but I agree with every single word yellum has said above.

Every single one.

][cEMAN**

Well in whichever form works best tbh. I mean it would be nice(TM) to have something that might help out what seems to me, at least 30% of the people posting initial threads in PI.

Woden

i think it could be a good idea if it was properly run. as yellum mentioned perhaps an add on in a private board where people post private information they don't put in their profile and other people which are part of the forum can look for someone with similar interests

The user could also add or remove themselves from the active list at will depending on their current relationship status. I suppose each application to the forum would have to be thoroughly vetted. also i would think all mods on other forums would need to be vigilant in case someone one took advantage of someone elses trust by flaunting there info all over a public thread.

data

Gordon

It could be a good idea, we've had quite a few threads in the past that I have wanted to move to the non-existant dating forum. However, it could cause a massive spill into other boards as it would be very very f*cking chatty like many of the private boards. To be honest, most of boards can be like a dating board anyway, as long as the actual topics aren't of dating requests. There is always the pm feature.

I pity the poor schmuck that has to moderate it if it would come to be. Plus the liability of people posting up meeting places and if anything goes wrong it'd be sh*t. Just look at the hassle the For sale board gets a lot of the time.
"Moan moan - he didn't buy the meal"
"Moan moan - she didn't go down on me"
The karma system would be in bits!

And whats all this about me moving to Greece?!

DeVore

What yellum said basically.

DeV.

lili

i think it could be a good idea this dating forum, it could be fun.

][cEMAN**

Originally posted by DeVore
What yellum said basically.

DeV.

Well then would it be possible as an add-on? Or would we have to deal with the rejection of a forum on this matter? I would love to see this happen. I can understand all the reasons for it not happening, but......maybe it's just me......I see so many people posting on the PI forum that with something as stupidly simple as this could be helped. Or at least given the light at the end of the tunnel.

Just hope it can be worked out.

LURCH

yep, i really have to agree with Yellum on all of his points.

This sort of thing could be very beneficial to a lot of people, being a bit of a "loner" myself, i don't get out much, nor am i much of a conversation starter, with this sort of opportunity, it's very easy to get in contact with people that might find you interesting without the usual crap . It seems at present, the best method of getting dates and meeting people is going out and getting pissed in the pub, being a non-drinker, this sort of thing really doesn't appeal to me, i also find being in the presence of drunk people unsettling due to my own personal issues, but we won't go into that now .
I think that, properly moderated, this could be a good way for a few of the more introverted people out there to meet people.
But enough of my badly structured and written post, i'll sum up with this, a dating forum would be good

Kold

ASL??? LOOLOLOLOL IM SEXY, HONEST! PM ME FOR SEX...OR MAYBE MORE...

GuanYin

I'm totally against this sort of thing as I think in the long run it would take away from the community that is currently boards and bring a mass influx of people who would be in for the dating and contribute nothing benificial. I'm all for the idea of expansion and opening new avenues but I would just see the whole signal/noise ration go to hell with something like this.

However, if I were to add something constructive, I'd suggest a system like the old sparkmatch site.

That way the PM system is already in place along with IRC. All you'd need to create is some sort of match/search facility and I'd say the guts of code for that sort of thing already exists on the interweb someewhere. You could create a forum to back up the section. so in effect you are making a separate entity (boardsmatch.ie?) that compliments but hopefully doesn't interfere with the current set up.

You may need some age verification thing, I'm not sure what the story is with underages, but you really would want some safeguard for boards, even if it was only for legalities. I'm not really au fait with how these workd, I'm surethere are other models to "borrow from".

Funky

you could create a 'faceparty'esque section... wouldnt be so different to photopost

Kold

Originally posted by Funky
you could create a 'faceparty'esque section... wouldnt be so different to photopost

Think you're shootin yourself in the foot there mate