Zoomba

Join Date 11/2002

+114

Dancing Geek 2 Geek

Finally, a dating site for Geeks!

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Perhaps you read my previous article about the need for Geek Personals sites. Maybe you’re a fellow geek that has had no luck with the likes of eHarmony or Match.com. Maybe you’re just a geek who has trouble finding a date, finding someone who understands and accepts your geekiness without ridicule.

Until recently, there was nothing for you. The vast expanse of dating services out there were more about hooking up and going to bars and clubs, leaving the nerds dorks and geeks in the world out to dry. Even The Internet, the place geeks INVENTED, had abandoned us. The future was bleak indeed.

Well, around the time I wrote my original article. A few of us in #JoeUser Link(CariElf, Cordelia, Danny Bassette, CerebroJD and myself mostly) were talking about what a Geek Dating site would have, what it would be like. We even liked the name “Geek 2 Geek”. At the time the site wasn’t showing up on the first few google search pages for “Geek Dating/Personals” so we mused over it and theorized on what would make the ideal site for geeks.

Turns out the site already existed, even with the name we thought up. I discovered it by reading an article from the NY Daily Times that was featured on Slashdot about Nerds making better lovers. While the article had a few “issues” in accuracy (They call Tiger Woods a geek simply because he plays Golf…. Right) it had a link to this site, http://www.gk2gk.com I went and checked it out and did the free-profile/signup process. If you do the profile bit, you’ll know this is a site designed for geeks… it asks you whether you prefer PCs or Macs. While parts of the profile are confusing to fill out, it asks what seem to be some of the right questions.

Once I got signed up and started browsing through, I shared my discover with #JoeUser. CariElf jumped in and signed herself up too. You can see her review of the site here Link

Her comments are pretty spot-on. I just want to supplement them with a few of my own:

1. Geography Problems
Now, I may be wrong here, but Auckland, New Zealand is definitely NOT within 50mi of Hartford, CT. Neither is China. Or Eastern Europe in general. The site is US-centric and does not have much capacity to deal with international users right now it seems like.

2. Search is inconsistent to say the least
I get different results on the same search sometimes. A girl will appear in my list at one point, but vanish when I try that same search again. I can’t figure it out.

3. Search is too limited
Like Cari says, there just aren’t enough search criteria. What if I wanted a Mac user? What if I’m really looking for another gamer? I have to just scan all generic search results and narrow down the list manually. This is frustrating when you’re already filtering out matches that live on the other side of the world.

4. The matching system is… odd
I can’t figure out how it scores people, there’s no explanation anywhere on the site about how the whole process works. Plus, on my member page it lists 577 current matches, but no matter what I do, I can’t see more than about 30 of them. Where are the other 547 of them? Why can’t I access them? Do they actually exist? It also doesn’t filter out women beyond my specified age range. Sorry to be ageist, but at 23, I’m just not interested in dating a 40 year old woman.

5. I can’t figure out what their revenue model is
You don’t need to pay to contact other members (unlike every other service out there), in fact you don’t need to pay for anything at all. There also aren’t any banner ads, no spam to be seen yet, nothing that would indicate the site is making any money off of this whole thing. It makes me nervous to be honest, we have NO clue who runs the site, how it works, how it makes money etc… It’s a bit too black-box.

Despite the problems, Gk2Gk is a very promising site that offers a service that really and truly is unique among personals sites. If you’re a geek looking to meet other geeks, I highly recommend you check the site out. Let your friends know, have them tell their friends too. Help this spread so we can attract more people to it. The more there are, the better everyone’s chances are of finding a potential date!

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I went and checked it out, doing a couple of simple test searches. You would think geeks could produce a better site. The geography is definately not right. I live 15 miles from down town Tampa and yet the search indicated that a tampa resident lived 59 miles from my zip code. I suppose that's true if you take the, ummm, long route

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Zoomba

Join Date 11/2002

+114

The site is obviously a work-in-progress. The geography thing probably being the first thing they have to fix. I'm not sure how exactly you would calculate distances based on zip codes, but since so many sites do it, it must be a relatively simple process.

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Actually calculating distances via zip code isn't all that difficult. The database contains lat/lon entries associated with each zip code. There are a variety of applications designed to translate lat/lon differences into mileage.

I think they just need to fix their database.

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Yeah. Once they get all the bugs out, it will be great.

I thought of something regarding the lack of any way to make money. While there aren't a lot of people on the site, they can build up a user base more quickly by not charging. So it's probably kind of like a beta stage at this point. Trillian was free for a long time before a pro version appeared.

When I checked at lunch today, I had 3 messages from guys.

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Mwuahahahaha!

I have to laugh! This is a riot!

I am glad I am not Zoomba!

I met my wife on line. A normal dating site. She is a para legal, I am the geek!

Thanks for a reason not to be Zoomba!

Look for love, not common careers!

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Look for love, not common careers!

Careers? you mean geek is actually a career? Hell, sign me up! I thought it was just my genetics or something.

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Zoomba

Join Date 11/2002

+114

Not so much common careers as common interests. I relate to, and get along with geeks much better than I do "normal" people.

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Not so much common careers as common interests. I relate to, and get along with geeks much better than I do "normal" people.

That is important as well. But there are not a lot of female geeks (altho I am taking a SQL course this week and there is one woman - no not a looker, but the teacher is a woman).

Best of luck to you. LW met Simon on line, so it is possible.

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I relate to, and get along with geeks much better than I do "normal" people.

Ditto

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I'm trying other matchmaking sites as well, and been to a couple of speed dating events, but I haven't had a lot of success yet. At least with the geek 2 geek site, you know that you have some things in common with the other people on the site. I want to date someone who can be my best friend as well as my boyfriend.

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