Potential Dating Site

[freddiedalladay]

I'm thinking of creating a dating site for ASD people. The only ones I've seen are pretty poor in most aspects - something I would want to correct with a decent website.

So... My question is, what would you want to see from an ASD dating site? What improvements can be made from those other sites?

 

[xrobertxdavisx]

I have seen a few autism dating sites but either charge you to use or have no one in Scotland at all so useless for me.

So things I would like from it would it to be free and have Scottish people on it. Id like a meet me feature like on badoo but instead of just saying where from and name for it to say a bit below the image.

 

[. . .]

Did you ever go through with creating this dating site?

My question is, what would you want to see from an ASD dating site?

Lots and lots of hot chicks, obviously.

 

[freddiedalladay]

I'm still toying with the idea and trying to get *useful* input

@xrobertxdavisx: A meet me like feature would indeed be useful and part of the concept - possibly a chat and IM service also as well as messaging?

 

[. . .]

Implementing good rules and a good layout would be a good start. And make sure to not include lame profile fields and useless features that do nothing but bloat the site or else people will have much trouble taking your site seriously. If people can't take your site seriously, they'll troll it - trust me.

When creating the site, ask yourself "Will people be able to take this site seriously?" If you answer "Yes", all should be well.

Key things:

• Put good rules in place
• Use a professional layout that is easy on the eyes
• Don't include lame profile fields
• Don't include useless features that bloat the site

The most important thing is for people to be able to take your site seriously. People don't take the current aspie dating sites seriously because they're hardly moderated and have no/very few rules (I've seen tons of fake accounts on aspie dating sites and nothing was done about it), have awful layouts (IMO) and some of the profile fields are just lame and should be scrapped. It's no wonder these sites have awful retention rates. Who actually bothers signing back into aspie dating sites after creating their account? I created a profile on an aspie dating site some years ago and after browsing the site for five minutes knew I wouldn't be signing in ever again.

If you end up creating an aspie dating site and it doesn't fare well, you might consider creating an aspie dating forum (though you could add a forum to your aspie dating site). I think this would have lots of appeal. Sure - there are love and dating boards on various aspie forums, but I think an aspie forum that was made for the sole purpose of trying to hook aspies up would be better. People get to know people a lot better on forums than they do by reading profiles on dating sites, and I don't doubt that a dating forum would be just as good, if not better, than a typical dating site.

Good luck. And oh - I wouldn't mind seeing lots of hot chicks on your dating site.

 

[Knittingchick]

Hello, I think a dating website for those with ASDs would seem fantastic. I have had a look at some Dating websites for those with ASDs but they were not ones where someone could message others or register onto. They also had no search options.

 

[smith2267]

Male Aspies outnumber female. So I don't think this site would help me much

 

[King_Oni]

Male Aspies outnumber female. So I don't think this site would help me much

While this might be true, I still think, that like normal dating sites, even aspie females (or at least the person you're looking for), will look for specifics, and that could just as well be you.

I think for aspies in general the criteria aren't the same ones as NT people, but the entire deal of aspies looking for aspies seems just as ok as any other dating site.

 

[kasmanaft08]

I think, if done right, this is a good idea. Regardless of the male-female ratio, aspies are more likely to find some appeal and understanding in Internet dating- due to troubles in real life socialization and how difficult it is to find other aspies. For me, and many others like me, I think speaking and meeting with people online is a much more comfortable option.

The trouble I think with many aspie dating sites is that you would want someone who is close to the same area of the spectrum as you. The problem, is looking up autistic dating leads to many disability sites...which, is good if you're more "classically" autistic, but can make those with HFA or aspergers a bit leary, i think (it would for me anyways). I think if there's a site which you're honest about your autism, you should somehow have a simple way on your profile to show what level of functioning you have, perhaps. Maybe a small description?

I think what Aillas said about taking a site seriously is important. If I were looking for a site for me, I'd avoid anything that seems a bit cheesy/almost condescending, if that makes any sense. It's what turned me off some aspie sites, I choose this one (and another) because of this "by aspies for aspies" sort of feel. I don't like visiting any sites that make me feel more pathetic or misunderstood, obviously. I just want to hear from people who understand me. Most of the time I dont want to wallow in my autism.

And yeah, layout is important. I've avoided sites purely because the layout annoyed me. I imagine this isn't uncommon, especially for aspies.

 

[. . .]

I'm kind of surprised that this thread has been bumped considering that the OP of the thread hasn't logged in here for about a year now.

Anyway, if the OP has actually gone through with creating a dating site, I probably won't ever be signing up as dating sites definitely aren't for me. I'll admit that there are some better dating sites out there, but I've never been able to take any of them very seriously and feel that there are much more ideal ways of meeting people of the opposite sex.

Personally, I don't think it would be very hard to fall in love with someone on AC. However, what would be hard, for me personally, would be for me to come up with enough money to be able to see the person I was dating on a regular basis. I live in a very sparsely-populated place and typically live further than 1500 miles from anyone I meet online. If I were to "date" someone here, I'm sure they'd get sick of me and eventually move onto someone else.

 

[King_Oni]

I'm kind of surprised that this thread has been bumped considering that the OP of the thread hasn't logged in here for about a year now.

Anyway, if the OP has actually gone through with creating a dating site, I probably won't ever be signing up as dating sites definitely aren't for me. I'll admit that there are some better dating sites out there, but I've never been able to take any of them very seriously and feel that there are much more ideal ways of meeting people of the opposite sex.

Personally, I don't think it would be very hard to fall in love with someone on AC. However, what would be hard, for me personally, would be for me to come up with enough money to be able to see the person I was dating on a regular basis. I live in a very sparsely-populated place and typically live further than 1500 miles from anyone I meet online. If I were to "date" someone here, I'm sure they'd get sick of me and eventually move onto someone else.

We'll keep ourselves busy with resurrecting threads

I think in general it's a big issue as well, regarding financial issues. If it was something relatively close (city nearby or so), it wouldn't be that hard, but I don't really have financial means to travel abroad on a weekly/monthly basis either. I'm quite lucky in the sense that my girlfriend likes coming to my place more than being at hers, and that she has a free traintravel all through the year, otherwise I wouldn't know if it would work that well.

Can imagine it being quite hard if you live really, really remote.. people something think I live remote, since in the south-east of The netherlands not a lot is going on. However I'm near Belgium and Germany. And just checking google maps.. from my house it's 4,5 hours to be in the middle of Paris, France by car. Doesn't mean I go there though... expenses and all.

But in general... yes, distance is a big factor, and it's increasing the more people get online I think. It's part of this day and age, where people meet up and consider distance as the last issue, and look for a good personal match first.

 

[. . .]

You know, even if I'd chance to come across a person of the opposite sex who lives near me, I perhaps wouldn't want to date them.

I've always wanted to date someone who lives far away -- someone who's exotic, whose culture differs greatly from that of my own and who speaks hardly any English. I fear I'd get bored if I'd date someone who's too similar to myself.

Hmm, it really looks like I'll have no choice but to get a hold of a ton of money if I ever want to make a relationship work out. Haha.

 

[Knittingchick]

I think apart from the usual things that an ASD dating website needs such as a unique screening process. I think that the the website should be advertised in things like the local papers as others out there with ASDs need to know it exists so that it become reasonably populated and can also attract more local people with ASDs as well distant people.