Newsgroups: ott.personals From: ar831@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Sean Radford) Subject: [ONAG] FAQ/Charter - ott.personals Reply-To: ar831@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Sean Radford) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet X-Revision: $Revision: 1.1.1.2 $ X-RCS-Id: $Id: ott.personals,v 1.1.1.2 1998/06/18 03:33:20 gordon Exp $ ------------------------------ Subject: So what do we need an ott.personals for? Unfortunately (some might say) we've gone past the days when families took care of making arrangements for lifelong marriages. Nowadays the world, and Ottawa in particular, is filled with men and woman sitting around their apartments watching TV and wondering how they can meet that significant other. The cliche of the man and the woman living one above the other in an apartment building, bored, lonely, perfect for each other, but never meeting, is, unfortunately, all too real. So how do you meet someone? Many people don't want to fool around with someone at work. They don't like the club scene and don't drink anyway. So where *do* they find that lonely person just right for them? Personals are hardly a new concept. And they've been making a major comeback in the Ottawa area in the local papers in the form of tele- personals. Unfortunately those kinds of personals are not only limiting in size (try tantalizing people with your wit, wisdom and beauty in twenty-five words or less) but at $1.99 a minute they're a tad hard on the pocket book. Personals on the net have major advantages over the old-fashioned kind as well as the newer tele-personals. For one, you have unlimited space to praise yourself to high heaven, to find that particularly interesting aspect of your world and life that might pique the interest of the next great love of your life. For another, well, they're free. In addition, for the shy and careful (especially women), net personals allow a gradual and danger free way to get to know that mysterious stranger. An email, no doubt witty and elegant, and (for the careful) sent through an anonymous remailer, is about as safe as you can get. If the conversation gets boring or you find nothing happening, just sign off. A step up from exchanging emails might be a little live talking on the IRC. Perhaps you'd like to scan and exchange pictures over the net? And then, that heart-thumping next-to-final-step. The actual live telephone conversation. Anywhere along the way you have the opportunity to back away without any messy scenes, embarrassment, or putting up with three hours at a table with someone who thinks belly-button lint is a collectible. ------------------------------ Subject: How to post or respond anonymously. Okay, so you'd like to try it but you're afraid your friends will see your ad and make fun of you. What do you do? There are a lot of remailers out there. The way they work is simple. You send your post or message to their machine as email. The computer strips off your name and ID and then sends it on to the newsgroup or person you want your post or email delivered to. You get an anonymous ID so they can reply. To find out how to post anonymously and how to get an anonymous address send a request to help@anon.penet fi, which is pretty much the largest anonymous remailer in the world, and is located at a comforting distance (in Finland of all places). There are other remailers out there. You can usually find a list on alt.anonymous.message. Use whichever you feel most comfortable with. It's a good idea, however, to post your first anonymous msg, something innocuous, to alt.test or misc.test to make sure you've got things down properly. ------------------------------ Subject: What to post in ott.personals. Personals. Boy looking for girl. Girl looking for boy. Boy looking for boy. Girl looking for girl. Whatever you want. To be effective please try to be a little creative, show some wit and sparkle. ------------------------------ Subject: What not to post in ott.personals Do not post any kind of commercial advertisement. It is liable to be deleted. Also, no cross posting to this group. Finally, do not post about hot sex sites on the web, great places for phone sex, or calls for email sex talk. PLEASE! This kind of thing tends to swamp what will probably be a low volume newsgroup, cause the noise to information ratio to rise to the stratosphere and chase legitimate posters away. There are a lot of other groups to post that kind of thing in the alt.sex hierarchy Avoid... ======================================================== Swm 25, 5'9", 176, looking for attractive swf 18=25, for relationship. ========================================================== I mean, what does that tell anyone? You've got all this space. Be a little creative. But also avoid... ================================================================== Horny guy with 9 inches looking for hot sex babe with big boobs for raw sex. ================================================================== It is, of course, possible this might work...but I've never seen it. Frankly, single attractive women looking for one night stands don't really need to do it blindly over the computer. So gimmie an example, damn it! Okay. Here's an example of a fairly good personal. IMHO =================================================================== Is your idea of romance curling up together in front of a crackling fireplace on a soft furred rug while the wind howls outside? Do you dream about spending hours holding and hugging, kissing and caressing on a tropical beach as the sun sets? Do you smile as you think of you and your future love chasing each other through a park, laughing and wrestling in the leaves as a soft autumn breeze blows? I dream of all these things, along with growing old together with that special love. I haven't found her yet, and with a reward as wonderful as that there's no place I won't look, including the personals. My name is Paul. I'm 25 years old. I weigh 156 lbs and I'm 5 feet 9 inches tall. I have short brown hair and blue eyes and am kind of athletic. I graduated from Carleton two years ago with a degree in computer science and am currently working as a junior programmer with Revenue Canada. Aside from computers some of my favorite things include travel (I've been to Europe twice), hockey (of course), softball (every Saturday). I love people and pets and kids, love being around others. I listen to Pink Floyd, Mozart, and John Denver (blush). I've been to the occasional play at the NAC, and also enjoy (more than I'd like to) TV. I'm looking for a woman about my own age, not necessarily a professional but someone with intellect I can have long and interesting discussions with as we sip wine after dinner. I'm looking for someone passionate about life, and determined to experience it. I want someone who's not afraid of trying anything once. I'm looking for that special someone, to spend a day, a week, a year, or maybe even forever with. =================================================================== So what do you think? Is that more likely to get a response than the first one? I think so. Hey, it was only a page. Can't you write a page that sells yourself? Okay, so you're not a computer programmer. You're a janitor. So mention something else. Maybe you both love a certain TV show, or a particular type of movies. Maybe you're crazy about science fiction or mysteries. Just tell them about *you*. Push the high points but NEVER *NEVER* lie. I can't stress that enough. Eventually it's going to come out, and more than likely you'll have wasted your time, their time, and caused hurt feelings. If you're overweight, say it. Why spend weeks emailing someone who has a hangup with overweight people? If you're short don't hide it. Maybe he/she doesn't like short people, or maybe there's someone out there specifically looking for short people (someone else who's short). Don't claim to be a doctor who drives a Ferarri when you're a clerk who rides the bus. If that kind of thing is going to turn someone off best it be done right at the beginning. ------------------------------ Subject: Please don't flame I don't care how lame you think someone's personal is, please don't flame it publicly. There should be few if any Re: postings on this newsgroup. It's purpose is not discussion. It is bringing together people for mutual pleasure and romance. -- One man with courage makes a majority -Andrew Jackson