Here's One 'Dorky' Way to Make Better Love Matches

'Date-me docs' are online shareable documents that are similar to newspaper personal ads of yore
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2023 4:30 PM CDT
Looking for Love? Get Your 'Date-Me Doc' in Shape
Stock photo.   (Getty Images/oatawa)

If you're not getting the quality matches you want on your dating apps of choice, you might want to try something a little more "dorky." The New York Times reports on the trend of "date-me docs," shareable and view-only online documents (some with just text, others enhanced with photos and music) that are fleshed-out versions of the bios you might see on dating apps. In addition to the basics—name, age, interests and hobbies, etc.—these documents allow the creators to show off more of their personality, resembling more of a resume or a newspaper personals ad of yesteryear. "There is something kinda dorky about date-me docs that reminds me of the early days of the internet," says San Francisco software engineer Connie Li, who worked up a date-me doc after she found that those responding to her on dating apps weren't as serious about forging a relationship as she was.

Li notes she's had more than a dozen dates so far based on the document she posted online last fall. Like Li, the relatively small number of people who dabble in date-me docs tend to come from the tech industry or live in major cities in the US, but the Times poked around and found multiple dating-doc databases online that included profiles from romance seekers as far away as London, Toronto, and Sao Paulo. Date-me docs require "a much longer attention span than Tinder," observed Wired last year in its own reporting on the trend, calling it a "hyper-optimized quest for love." One proponent referred to it as a "'by nerds, for nerds' format." The Guardian offers other suggestions on optimizing your dating adventures, among them singles dinners and the "pear ring"—described as a "bright turquoise rubber ring that single people can wear to signal that they are open to being approached." (More dating stories.)

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