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Seems that companies are all too happy to reveal the bizarre nature of some of their customers or users. Last week BT revealed its top 10 quirky consumer helpdesk calls, and now dating website SnogLondon.com (what, all of it?) has given us a glimpse into the slightly scary world of online romance (or lack thereof).
Simon Dale, who owns the site, says, ""We try to filter out the spam, the scams and the downright bad before it ever makes it onto the website. Some are unimaginatively predictable, the simply bad: 'Lking 4 a fittie for fun tonite', and a thousand, not very different variations on the same theme. Others are more intriguingly specific."
Here's a couple of the best (or worst) ones they've seen:
'I'm searching for someone who doesn't eat meat, is 5'3" tall, olive skin, green eyes, who likes cats. Must be a non-smoker, enjoy travelling by bus and doesn't mind staying in most nights. If that's not you please don't contact me.'
The smelly food fetish:
'I have a thing for garlic. Most people get embarrassed about garlic breath and are very self-conscious about it. I don't. I love it, both on me and my partner. The more garlic the better.'
The site reckons that for every legitimate profile that is published, three or four don't make it because they're either incomplete, illegal, or offensive.
Women complete their profiles more consistently and comprehensively than men, with a word count showing women's profiles are 43% longer than men's.
Simon Dale notes that, "Women definitely make more effort than men. Women tend to go into more detail about their own character and what they're looking for, whereas men's profiles are more blunt and to the point, usually describing physical characteristics (6ft, brown eyes, dark hair) rather than what makes them tick."
Men tend to outnumber women 60:40 in online dating, so the moral seems to be that men should pay more attention to their profiles if they want to stand out from the rest. And maybe eat a bit less garlic...
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