Jan 13 2009
Hot Or Not: The Shallow End Of The Dating Pool
Perhaps starting this experiment with the website that wears its sleaziness with unabashed pride was a bad idea. Very quickly I went from discouraged to disgusted, and walked away feeling like I needed a long, hot shower. Or 20.
They don’t bother trying to masquerade themselves as a dating website. Signing up requires little more than some basic info (which either isn’t reviewed at all, or I owe the person with jerseym4u@hotmail.comas a first name a huge apology), and a picture. The pictures are also easily faked. In my short time there I came across Angelina Jolie at least twice…I wonder if Brad knows she’s straying? Everyone knows that hot or not is the cyber equivalent of a loud, crowded club. The only difference is that the anonymity provided by the internet allows people to approach you in ways they would never even consider in a public setting. Pickup lines are less thought out, or not used at all, replaced instead with poorly crafted sentences and invitations to hookup. The site is built around the most shallow foundation, rating people on looks alone. We are encouraged to judge people as worthy or unworthy purely by how photogenic they are. And there is no length that the men and women of the site won’t go to, to receive a high rating. Men are free to, and are encouraged towards thinking with their penis. Banner ads offer advice on how to turn women on, pick them up, and lure them into bed. All for the low, low price of your morality. Hot or not seems to be a meeting place for apologetically married men, claiming in their profiles to be searching for “friends”, and then promptly asking you to step outside that description.
Free membership includes little more than glorified window shopping. You can say yes or no to potential matches, and poke or send notes to double matches, but you are only able to send and receive messages from paying members. What does this cost you? You mean besides your soul, right? You have the option of being a 1 star, 3 star, or 5 star member, running you $7.99 for one month, $19.99 for three months, and $69.99 for one year, respectively. Each membership comes with a designated amount of gifts you can send to double matches, as well as features such as priority placing in search results, unlimited free emails, and return receipts for your messages. Is it worth it? I think your money would be better spent trying to make a connection in this land we call reality, rather than fishing from the shallow end of the dating pool, hoping for an easy lay, but that’s just my opinion.
Privacy is not an option on the site, whether you are a paying member or not. Your only option is to shut off the email function, though your profile and pictures will still be visible to anyone with a computer. You can specify who you would like to search for, but not who is able to search for, and add, you. I really think there needs to be safeguards against 60 year old men contacting 19 year old girls. Obviously, joining a website like this is purely optional, and you get what you sign up for. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule. I’m sure there are some great men on hot or not, genuinely hoping to make a connection and find that special person for them. But if you had the option to swim in an ocean with 90% flesh hungry predatory sharks, and 10% perfectly innocent, unassuming dolphins…would you willingly jump in just hoping to have luck on your side?
