Swipe left, swipe right, but whatever you do, don't stop swiping.

Who hasn't come across a bizarre dating app profile in this day and age? It is an unfortunate part of contemporary culture that when we have to resort to re-downloading the apps in order to “put ourselves out there,” that means we also have to be bombarded with cringeworthy, creepy, and straight-up odd profile descriptions. It used to be that only certain apps attracted these kinds of weirdos, but they're just everywhere at this point. People aren't even masking their controversial opinions, pr…

Almost everyone has been both the giver and receiver of a pickup line. What's most surprising to us here at FAIL Blog are not necessarily the pickup lines that failed or even the ones that worked. We're curious about the pickup lines that should never have worked but somehow did. What does that say about the state of dating culture in 2023 and what does that say about how we have lowered our collective standards? On a positive note, it's nice that we have normalized the concept of taking big sw…

Everyone has secrets, but have you ever kept one from your partner for so long that if you reveal it now, everything could unravel? Perhaps your first thought to this question might make you think about someone having an affair or lying about where they're from. However, more often than not, it turns out people keep small truths hidden from their partners because they either don't want to hurt their significant others' feelings or they don't want their significant others to think differently of…

Finding kindness on dating apps is like an elaborate game of Where's Waldo: you know it's there somewhere, but you have to scan through a lot of nonsense to find it. Of course, there are success stories that allegedly make all of those hours spent swiping worth it. Sure, the chances that you will find your soulmate might be slim, but at the very least, you are destined to get a couple of good stories and maybe even a free meal or two out of the whole “dating thing.” In this economy, that's wort…

There's an odd smell in the air. No, it's not the smell of a home-cooked email. No, it's not the smell of a late-night pizza delivery you forgot you ordered and then didn't pick up while it was still warm because you fell asleep on your couch. The smell we're talking about is the smell of desperation emanating from the wild world of online Tinder messaging. These days, people are getting more and more direct online, which in theory is a good thing but in practice, it's just plain old weird. The…

Everyone has an opinion about other relationships: whether they should go out or ghost, stay together or break up, get married or divorce, etc. Sure, it's nobody's business except for the people in the actual relationship itself, but also that's no fun! It's entertaining to unpack what makes certain couples work and what seem to be clear signs that these two people are going to crash and burn, so to speak. Obviously, some red flags are incredibly obvious from the start, whereas slowly reveal th…

Unfortunately for some people, the reputations of their professions may or may not precede them. It is inevitable in this day and age that people will check what a potential significant other does for a living before they even swipe left or right on a dating app. Hopefully, people aren't so basic to completely judge a book by its cover, but it's not like dating apps were intended to look at folks in a nuanced way. Just like people judge pictures and other credentials like height and education,…

Some people are single because of bad luck, others just got out of bad relationships. And then there are some people who have absolutely no clue that they're the problem. You would think at a certain point that these folks would consider that if everyone they go out on a date with is crazy, perhaps they are the ones who are insane. But, as we all know, self-delusion is a powerful force. Many of us don't have the confidence to tell these people in our lives that they are the primary reason for t…

Hi there Cringe

We all know the classic dating red flags, but everyone has their own individual pet peeves. Sure, lying about being single or being a stalker are dealbreakers, but pet peeves can have the same power to immediately disqualify someone from being in your life. Personally speaking, I have several red flags that I would always watch out for in my ‘first date’ days. Let's start with the people who say that they are ‘open books." No one who says that is an actual open book. The dates who say that are…

Dating is a hard game and seems to only become more so the further down the path of life you tread. And, it makes sense we, arguably, only become more complex as people, carrying the weight of more experiences, which often make us weary and hesitant to trust potential suitors. And, rightfully so, it's hard to trust someone based on the image they project of themselves during the “get to know you stage.” Several dates are a mere drop in the bucket compared to the vast ocean of lives that you bot…

Ouch

Now that the summer is coming to a close and now that no one had the summer flings they really wanted, it's time for our weekly roundup of the top Tinder moments, courtesy of Reddit's endlessly entertaining r/Tinder subreddit. There has to be something about the August heat that makes people become especially forward on dating apps, or perhaps people are always like that now and we're just grasping at straws for excuses. The reality is the summer drought has made us all thirsty for the change o…

Modern dating at its finest

Part of being a single person in the digital age requires big swings online.