wwwhat’s love got to do with it?ByErinHagedorn
Never has it been easier to date, mate and relate online.
Most web savvy students have no problem striking up cyber
conversations and embarking on virtual relationships. Here’s some
personal looks at online plug-in action.
Bowdoin College student Aimee says, "Nobody
aaies in college anymore, rou just soria nang
out. So having email and chat room friends is
cool because it’s casual."
Michael, studying in Pittsburgh, says,
"there is certainly something to be said for
drunken hook-ups, cross-campus walks of
shame and all that. But some people are
looking for an exchange of words as well as
bodily fluids."
Princeton student Samantha offers
this: "I think that women in particular are
very taken by the written word. Just think
We signed on under
two aliases to see
what kind of a
response we'd get.
"Super Star Phoebe"
has been getting a
lot of play.
"Friendless Flute
Player" hasn't been
so popular.
ot how many romance
novels we sit around and
read—we fall for that stuff.
It's also a way for frat guys
to have actual meaningful
communication."
A woman at
Boston
University
relates this
cyber success:
"For a year, I’d
noticed this
cretin of a guy
who was always
grunting at par
ties. Around the
same time, I met
an online friend who sent me all of these philo
sophical Ayn Rand quotes and was a real deep
thinker. It turned out it was the same person."
->LuueriLi wno are willing 10 accepi tne riSKS ana —
responsibilities of dating in general have access to a
number of web sites for hooking up. Whether these
sites are dominated by the geeks, the freaks, the brave or the fun
loving depends on where you look.
Breaking the ice
The first commandment you should adhere to when choos
ing a site is "Never pay." One example of a cornball ripoff is the
College Date Line (http://members.tripod.com/~lnstitute/
college.html). The cheese factor here is exorbitantly high. It
actually starts off with "College students are known to appreci
ate and enjoy the differences and similarities of those around
them." Whatever. These guys require you to use 1 -900
number tor $2.99 a minute before signing
on. Skip it.
Fortunately, the cash-for-love scenario
is the exception rather than the rule. Check
out a site called College Matchmaker
(www.college.matchmaker.com), a free link on
the College Connection Web site.
Unfortunately, even though it’s free, this site
is extremely time consuming. After filling in
30 quick hit answers (your gender, sexual
preference, appearance, location, religion—
and pet preference!), you still have to wade
through 23 essay questions. You end up with a
really comprehensive profile of potential dates,
but it takes so damn long to fill out the form that only the truly •
dedicated (desperate?) stick with it.
Less time-consuming is Swoon.com. With free personal ads,
advice columns, horoscopes and chat rooms, this
place is all about hooking up. "I like having your
first connection with somebody center around per
sonality, rather than appearance," says Aaron, a
Chicago-based Swoon success story. About his
Internet gal-pal, he says: "So far, so great. We’ve
been corresponding and we exchanged pictures.
i We’re meeting for the first time in person later
on this week."
The best part of Collegedates.com is that
you can meet people from your own school—you
can pinpoint a geographic area and hone down
your search to people that you're likely to be
able to go see, if it works out. And you can
search by personality profile, so you can easily
weed out the people you've already met in "real
lire and didn t like.
College Chat (www.collegechatroom.com), one of the easiest
sites to use—it only takes a minute to register. We signed in under
two aliases to see what kind of a response we’d get. "Super Star
Phoebe" has been getting a lot of play. "Friendless Flute Player"
hasn’t been so popular.
So log on for love—it may be out there, after all. •
U eOclcks
-By Jack Teems
Email Test
If you wonder if your email is working,
address it to www.TestHTML@wopr.com.
This will not only prove that you're get
ting out, it will also confirm whether your
setup is adequate to receive email in
HTML format.
Who Wants to Be Prez?
You can see if you have what it takes to be
president at www.phoenixnewtimes.com/
extra/president/. The latest Shockwave is
required. Poll the electorate or call an
advisor for help; or cheat by retrying a
wrong answer on your way to 50 million
votes and election.
Is it Animal, Vegetable or HTML?
Impress your grandmother! The old parlor
game known as 20 Questions is back, resid
ing at http://207.236.3.210/avm.html. It
uses a form of artificial intelligence to build
on information gained from site visitors. •
(For more Neat Net Tricks, visit"\
www.NeatNetTricks.com. k )