About a year ago, I used Tinder for a few months. I’d been off the market for a while and was eager to try the trendy app that so many people were talking about.
Meeting people online has its perks. You have more time to think of meaningful replies, get to carefully choose how you present yourself, and don’t have to worry about as much as you would if you were meeting someone face-to-face. (What do I wear? Is there something in my teeth? Where do I put my hands when I talk?)
It also removes a lot of the consequences that would otherwise come with saying wildly inappropriate things to a stranger.
Some of the messages that were sent to me during my short stint on Tinder were so outlandish that I was compelled to screenshot them, à la Tinder nightmares.
And now I can share these NSFW and highly cringeworthy lines I got with all of you.
(For those of you unfamiliar with Tinder, the blue messages are me, and the gray messages are people I’d “matched” with.)
Oh, of course. So logical.
To be fair, asking people questions is the best way to get to know them.
If at first you don’t succeed…
Ah. Forced, stilted language and an obvious superiority complex. My favorite traits in a partner.
This was his opener!
Some of you might be thinking: Maybe she just had bad luck last summer. Maybe she’s the exception, not the rule. Maybe Emily had a patch of bad experiences on Tinder, but overall, it’s not that bad.
I asked my colleagues if they’d had any experiences similar to mine. BDCWire’s own Brian Burns had some gems to share with you guys, too.
Who says romance is dead?
For all we know, the question was about Brian’s height.
“One sad boy?” Isn’t that the kind of thing you say to a despondent puppy?
From two different people? Six months apart?!
I was curious to know if the pool has improved in the past year, or if I’d simply had back luck. So I reactivated my account Thursday night for about 16 hours to see how many inappropriate things people would say to me in such a short span of time.
The men of Tinder didn’t fail to deliver.
Swoon?
And then there was this recycled pickup line I got twice in my incredibly brief time on the app:
Is there a “bad pickup lines” Twitter account they both follow?
For the record, I’m not saying Tinder is bad.
And I’m definitely not trying to talk you out of using it, or any dating app, for that matter. These days, online dating is only improving, with apps like Bumble coming out and upping the game regularly. And, like anywhere else in the world, there’s plenty of good people to be found online–I met my current boyfriend on Tumblr. (Don’t worry, he knows I went back on Tinder for this article.)
I blame the horrible things that these men said on them, not on online dating.
And I know not all men say inappropriate things to women. But these ones did.
So, moral of the story: Count to 30 before you send one of those possibly offensive messages you’re thinking of sending to a girl you like.
Also: I’m really glad I’m not on Tinder anymore. Godspeed to those of you who are.
