Has anyone ever mentioned

[hateroftheyear]

yeah, i definitely want to find my potential life partner from a subpopulation of anal-retentive, computer-latched pre-med psychopaths with the same gift basket of neuroses that I possess.

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[Shredder]

Well, I am less thinking of a dating site and more of something along the lines of facebook. I mean personals could certainly be a part of this site, but not the only reason to use it.

I see; I was just sticking to the OP there. Along the lines of facebook huh...what is not being fulfilled through myspace and facebook though? So I guess we are talking about an SDN social networking site, as distinguished from the OP (I don't care about digression, only clarification). Considering it's Student Doctor Network, it seems that would be sensible

MySpace is a social networking website based in West Hollywood, California offering an interactive, user-submitted network of blogs, profiles, groups, photos, MP3s, videos and an internal e-mail system. According to Alexa Internet, as of July 2006, it is the world's fourth most popular English-language website and the sixth most popular in any language[1]. It is the most popular site in the United States, accounting for 4.5% of all website visits

So even if it is lame, it's got some impressive credentials and a sound model

Way to be positive there hater. Really though, there are some studs and some duds no matter where you are. I've met ppl I hate on SDN as well as ppl I really value. Also there's a difference between matrimonials and dating--potential life partner, that's pretty grandiose. I think especially for professional girls, it's perhaps valuable to have an outlet for finding suitable guys since girls aren't prone to dating down professionally. I think young, busy, upwardly mobile professionals are purportedly well represented in the online dating world

 

[dapmp91]

hey guys, just don't forget me during this whole dating revolution,,, rmbr a great man once said "chance favores the prepared mind" (is this quote pertinent to the colloquial milieu of this forum )...any ways maybe I meant to quote the quote about someone starting the sparks of a fire of a great revolution...um... ...yea thats it

 

[DrBowtie]

I know, just found it the other day. However it's expressly stated not to be a place for hookups. More for issues singles face--seems like lots of commiseration, to name one issue.

I wonder if SDN will eventually include some hookup area, given the seeming recurrence of requests for it. It would take away from other aspects of the site though, and I guess that's why proposals seem to be shot down consistently.

Good links Brett, you're always on top of things. Those sites looks a little cheesy though, nothing like top notch dating sites. The trouble with any form of elitist dating is that it's hard to round up enough users in any given area to form a critical mass. Network externalities or something. Ebay and Amazon can succeed because distance isn't an issue, but it's huge in dating. I think elitist dating sites--if they're based on a for-profit model--may have to charge a high premium to users if they want to be viable. Probably lots more than the 20 or so per month most sites charge. Dunno, this is technical but interesting I think. I'm not sure what the costs are of maintaining a high quality online dating service. Up-front costs or operating costs. Ah, business is great.

Actually Brett those sites seem pretty bogus, checked them out much? I wonder if there's opportunity in the niche dating market.

I admittedly didn't actually poke around any of those sites. I'm not in the market for those type of things so I didn't see if they were legit.

Just passed along google search results.

 

[dapmp91]

OMG bretbachelor posted on my forum --he's my favorite sdnr,,,he's ubiquituous

 

[Severus]

Where have I been? I never knew there was an SDN singles forum. Woah....


Edit: On some level, it's a good idea. My buddies and I were discussing coming up with something similar which would include like grad students and postdocs because really, we're all into science and have little to no time to go out on the prowl.

 

[Shredder]

we're all into science and have little to no time to go out on the prowl.

Exactly--for busy ppl dating can be cumbersome, but it's still necessary. I think "dating" online is a much more efficient way of doing things. Any stigma I believe has declined over time and should continue to do so. I think the SDN singles forum is relatively new, and I recently stumbled upon some other new ones I hadn't seen before. There are a whole lot of forums now. A huge issue with having it on SDN would be the anonymity though, which could clearly go out the window.

Yeah Brett, tons of dating sites cropped up in the last several yrs as the internet took off and dating was an obvious thing to capitalize on. Lots of chaff though and little wheat, as with many other types of sites. It does make me wonder if there's opportunity in the elite online dating arena. Still, the issues of critical mass and distance are important.

 

[DrBowtie]

Exactly--for busy ppl dating can be cumbersome, but it's still necessary. I think "dating" online is a much more efficient way of doing things. I think the SDN singles forum is relatively new, and I recently stumbled upon some other new ones I hadn't seen before. There are a whole lot of forums now.

Yeah Brett, tons of dating sites cropped up in the last several yrs as the internet took off and dating was an obvious thing to capitalize on. Lots of chaff though and little wheat, as with many other types of sites. It does make me wonder if there's opportunity in the elite online dating arena. Still, the issues of critical mass and distance are important.

Meh. I don't see an elite dating arena online. Too easy to lie about credentials, or too costly to do checks on people.

A localized by referral only model would probably work better.

 

[Shredder]

That's why I was thinking a relatively steep fee may be the only way to filter for it. Similar to elite neighborhoods and shopping districts. Sites typically charge per time ($/month or yr) or per usage ($/message or a lump fee for a number of messages). Referral models would take a lot of "viral" growth; considering the network effects at play on a dating site--even more so than social networking sites I'd say--I wonder if that would do the job.

Also viral growth would fly right in the face of any stigma attached to dating online. For rich folk, it may be worth it to pay others to round up ppl for them, otherwise referrals are about the same as traditional dating and matchmaking through word of mouth. Then again, docs seem to use referring successfully. Not sure

 

[DrBowtie]

That's why I was thinking a relatively steep fee may be the only way to filter for it. Similar to elite neighborhoods and shopping districts. Sites typically charge per time ($/month or yr) or per usage ($/message or a lump fee for a number of messages). Referral models would take a lot of "viral" growth; considering the network effects at play on a dating site--even more so than social networking sites I'd say--I wonder if that would do the job.

Also viral growth would fly right in the face of any stigma attached to dating online. For rich folk, it may be worth it to pay others to round up ppl for them, otherwise referrals are about the same as traditional dating and matchmaking through word of mouth. Then again, docs seem to use referring successfully. Not sure

It would be easier to facilitate interaction on the local scale. Probably not best for the introvert type though. The overhead for an online site is much less than a personalized matchmaker, but the service is less and might not attract these high ticket clients you seek.

 

[Shredder]

Local scale, yes that seems true of most dating except serious matrimonials. Even something like this on SDN would segment into different schools or cities, states at the most and probably smaller ones at that. Since the number of elites is ipso facto small, therein lies the difficulty of building up the network effects so important for all of this business. Something like match.com with a bunch of chumps has no problem herding ppl up and dumping them together to mingle. Same with myspace or fb--when there's no selection at work then markets start to look awfully big. I would venture to say SDN right off the bat limits itself to the top quartile or decile of the population, and since networks (social, anyway) I believe grow in proportion to the square of their number of members, that is very inhibitive.

Personalized (human, that is, as some sites have quite intricate algorithms) matchmaking just seems so antiquated, like a Jane Austen book/movie or something. I read a quote from Wired on Wikipedia saying that one day traditional dating would be see as the equivalent of browsing randomly through the library for something interesting vs using the catalog to pinpoint. And I thought that analogy was really telling, which is why I've begun to question the efficiency of traditional dating markets.

Also not necessarily high ticket, just noticeably more than what avg sites of this nature charge. If dealing with the higher parts of the SES bell curve it shouldn't be too problematic. I willingly pay more to visit Target instead of Walmart when possible, for example. And if each contact on such a site is valuable, then in theory a high fee could be justified, like buying into society memberships.

 

[lublufsb]

Meh. I don't see an elite dating arena online. Too easy to lie about credentials, or too costly to do checks on people.

A localized by referral only model would probably work better.

lol. if they lie about credentials, they get found out when they meet for a date.

 

[alwaysaangel]

It would be a good idea. Pre-meds are a bit too idiosyncratic to date non-pre-meds, so may as well accept that, get jiggy, and make future pre-meds.

Are you serious? Wow, I would NEVER date a pre-med. Why would I want someone with my same neuroses - you're supposed to complement your partner. God no - no premed boyfriends. (wheres the puke smiley???)

are you talking internet dating? eew like u never meet them you just talk to them like creepy old mustached men who live in iowa and prey on the well cultivated minds of beautiful premed girls? hahahha i'm a bit biased toward my gender

I met my current bf of two years on an internet forum - its actually not so bad. Pretty good for someone who is anal retentive because you get all the compatibility stuff and expectations dealt with head on before the first date.