I was going to write about some other crap that I can't remember right now but I wanted to comment on the Gizmodo writer who met a guy on OkCupid and then found out it was he was a famous Magic:TG player and then got super weirded out by the whole thing.
Here's her original article.
The beginning of the article is fair. There are a lot of sleezy ass dudes on OkCupid who either can't spell or are really drunk and can't spell. She meets a normalish seeming dude and they exchange real names and she tells him to google her. She forgets to google him.
They go on a date, from her retelling, it sounds ok, even though the took her to see a play about Jeffrey Dahmer. Serial killers aside, it sounded like they talked about normal stuff. She did not say she didn't like him, but he mentions that he was a world champion of Magic and she googles him and promptly flips out.
To be fair, if I found out the guy I went on a date with was like the guy who created Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I would probably also flip out.....but just not in the way she did. She did not do a cute, fandom flip out. She pulls a "I can't deal with it, he's so nerdy" flip out. Which is really ironic since she works for a pretty nerdy website. Doesn't she have coworkers who are geeks?? Is it really that unusual? Isn't she basically saying that she hates nerds?? She liked him enough initially go on a second date with him. Or did she? There is some debate as to whether she actually liked him or wanted more material for her article.
She says the moral of her story is that people need to disclose when they're nerds. I think it was probably pretty clear that he's a nerd in his profile, and yeah, some things need to be disclosed but you don't need to mention every thing about your life. When I read a profile you can pick up signs if someone is a geek. Look at their hobbies, last book read, username. Hell, ASK THEM. But don't get all weirded out b/c someone didn't disclose that they play Magic, or are the world champion of Magic. Not everyone wants to tell people that stuff right out. I tell everyone I have to masters degrees b/c I'm an egomaniac, but not everyone is.
I say, stick with my original advice which is, if you're on a mainstream dating site and you don't mind finding someone who is more mainstream it's ok to not let your geek flag fly on your profile. Don't hide it, Magic guy didn't, but just like you shouldn't headline your profile with "I <3 boobs" (even though it's probably true) you should not announce right out that you are an 85th level warlock.
I think more importantly than her idea that people disclose that they are nerds, people should disclose if they are biased against certain groups of people. If you hate nerds, maybe YOU need to tell us that. If you can't stand fantasy football, that's something that YOU should disclose. Can't stand whistling, that's your issue, you tell us. And then you'll look like the crazy person. So indeed, why is the burden of disclosure on the geek? Ha, riddle me that!
So, gizmodo lady, you are nuts. If that date was bad, that's fair, but to judge so harshly for a man's hobbies is shallow. It obviously wasn't the only thing he was able to talk about but did become the only thing that you were able to once you found out. And I'm just going to be the bitch who says it, there's probably a good reason why you're still single...
Also, why do you get to write for a geeky website when you don't seem to like geeks very much? I'll take your job!
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