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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think OLD men are like a conveyor belt of idiots?

127 replies

Whatonearth2021 · 28/08/2021 00:44

Reeling, fuming, please be kind.

In the 18 months since exH walked out on me and 3DS the first week of first lockdown, I have got myself two really good jobs after being out the workforce for 3 years. Done my utmost to care for my traumatised 3DS, driven to Devon for hols when I have a phobia of driving…achieved so much, and gained 3 stone.

Stupidly dipped toe into OLD. Had nice chat with a local guy. Met for coffee briefly yesterday - weird chemistry. Thought no more about it.

Today he messaged, we started talking. Good conversation - quite open. I thought ok, could be a local friend when everyone else is smug married.

Then he says…when were your photos taken. I said last week (true). He said f’off - filter then? I said (increasingly pissed off) - no, why do I look old or something?

He said, being honest, I didn’t think you were as big as you are.

And with that sentence from a complete stranger, my achievements of the past year fade, and my self esteem is back on the floor.

I know you need a thick skin to OLD, I know tomorrow this will be a rueful story. But right now I need some solidarity. So if anyone is up, please salve my wounded soul that it’s not just me - OLD men are just not worth the headspace 😅

OP posts:
OhWhyNot · 28/08/2021 10:19

You have to be tough skinned on OLD

Never engage with men that put you down they enjoy this don’t bother with a witty or just as sitting comeback it’s the attention, any attention they want

I had a nice thing for a while with one guy but decided never to return to OLD I just don’t like it and haven’t had particularly nasty experiences just read the same old crap and I repeat the same old thing again and again I would rather stay single it’s soulless

crimsonlake · 28/08/2021 10:35

OP you should be proud of what you have recently achieved, so well done.
One man I met off OLD for a coffee asked me had I lost weight as I looked bigger in one of my pictures? I was then and stilll am 9 stone, there are some idiots around. Thankfully everyone else always say I look better than my pictures.

Gothichouse40 · 28/08/2021 10:38

Im with Foxy86. Good advice there.

QueenofKattegat · 28/08/2021 10:47

@PalmsandCharms

It was a but cheeky of him, but to be fair why do so many bigger women post pictures of only their head and shoulders (and often a bit of cleavage) taken from such an angle thay anyone would think they were a size 10? Just be completely honest and post a picture of the real you. You'd be whining if a bloke did the same
Can't you read? The OP posted clear, recent photos. You sound like a thumb man.
Staringouttosea · 28/08/2021 11:01

OLD is in general, truly brutal! I thought it was just me (over 40 and rotund) that was having a hard time with the general cuntish behaviour on there but my very gorgeous sis in law has had her fair share!

BUT, I have found my absolute dream man on a dating site- and it was free! So they are out there, you just need the ovarijones to sift through the assholes!

stuckdownahole · 28/08/2021 12:13

I'm male and I didn't have a thick enough skin for OLD so I gave up. TBF men seem to get a slightly better deal in that you mostly just deal with flakiness as opposed to aggression.

There seem to be three common types of OLD behaviour that men engage in never or rarely in real life:

  1. The desperate: chat for a bit, ask for a date, when politely rejected start demanding explanations, countering objections, and generally behaving like a terrible pushy cold-calling salesperson.
  2. The angry man: chat for a bit, ask for a date, when politely rejected send a tirade of abuse / criticism.
  3. The sex pest: any expression of politeness or interest generates graphic sexual conversation or dick pics.

You can discuss the disinhibiting effects of anonymity and other interesting psychological trends, but on a simple basic level the men that do this are using OLD because they put people off in real life by being needy (1), embittered (2) or perverted (3).

I agree with the previous poster who recommended trying to search for people who are relatively new to the scene. I know two married couples who met OLD and in both cases the men (who are my mates, and lovely brilliant people) had been on the site for a very short period of time and their wife was their second actual date.

Rosehip10 · 28/08/2021 12:37

Off topic, but any recommendations for "better" old sites.....

Welshmaenad · 28/08/2021 12:52

@APJ1 which was a fool move in his part because I've actually got a really high axe drive Grin

I've recently started swing someone again who I dated in my early 20s, who said one night with a slightly dazed expression "I had thought that a neurological disease might have slowed you down a bit. Apparently I was wrong..."

newnortherner111 · 28/08/2021 12:53

Sorry to read of this, though the one bright thing is you found out quickly that this was a man who deserves to be single.

Backtoblack1 · 28/08/2021 12:58

OLD is brutal. I don’t do it. Men want young, slim women even if they themselves have the looks and personality of Voldemort. He was a rude arsehole to say that to you x

Backtoblack1 · 28/08/2021 13:04

For the carp comment. Genius 🤣

twitter.com/kashwhiteley/status/1280627592060600320?s=21

AttaGirrrrl · 28/08/2021 13:15

He sounds like an absolute douche, but it’s not really fair to write off all men on OLD or call them a ‘conveyor belt of idiots’ based on one person, is it?

TwinsandTrifle · 28/08/2021 14:08

I've been thinking about this more...

Thing is OP, only you know if he had any kind of point. You say your pics were only a couple of weeks old....but were they all shoulders up?

I'd never date a bald man. And I don't like 6 packs. Nothing wrong with admitting that, it's my preference. Muscles are a turn off in my eyes. I like the dad bod Grin so literally, if someone had a pic that didn't show they were bald, and had become suddenly buff, I would be royally pissed off to discover this in person if I had been misled with their pictures otherwise and they hadn't been honest with me. I know a lot of woman would be thrilled to see someone akin to Jason Statham rock up, but not me at all. I'd be annoyed that my time had been wasted.

So, honestly, look at your photos. Do they make you appear much slimmer/bigger/taller/shorter in enough of a manner that someone would feel you had misrepresented yourself? Even things like a picture of you with a cropped Bob 6 months ago, if you've got long hair now. Or vice versa. Yes it's superficial. But in the real world, people do of course have preferences.

And again, on the video chat, was this just your head?

I still maintain he's said something because you plonked him openly into the friend zone. Men hate being rejected and some have to be snarky than accept it. But I doubt it will be the first time you hear this, if your real life self doesn't match what you're projecting.

It sort of says, this is who you think you're meeting, and I decided on your behalf that you wouldn't mind when a completely different person turned up. And kind of suggests you already think no one wants meet the real you, or you would present the "real you" right from the start, which isn't a good way to come across.

I think there's a big difference between posting pics that make the best of you, and posting pics that hide most of you. If a guy turned up, had claimed to be 38, but was 41, and to be fair looked good for his age, then I'd be a bit wary of his general honesty, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker and I'd explore a second date. If a guy who'd posted pictures of him age 38, and turned up aged 58, looking like his former self's Dad, I'd be out of there. Because it's a completely different level of knowingly misrepresenting, and the attitude that it's ok to mislead and waste my time. That's why I'd walk out, more than the genuine fact he was 58.

Be honest with yourself, and the people you're talking with. Some are in love with your curves, some aren't. If you're representing yourself as a slimmer person than you are, you're doing yourself a disservice by missing out on all the guys who adore a curvy woman.

TrickyD · 28/08/2021 15:04

@Rosehip10

Off topic, but any recommendations for "better" old sites.....
No personal experience of OLD, but two friends met intelligent, cultured, respectful men on EHarmony and are very happily married to them. Grandson is currently with a delightful GF whom he met on Hinge.
BraveGoldie · 28/08/2021 15:17

I found Elitesingles very civilised and it is where I met my DP.

Maassi · 28/08/2021 15:20

EliteSingles is where I met my wonderful DP too

username890 · 28/08/2021 15:22

@Whatonearth2021

Reeling, fuming, please be kind.

In the 18 months since exH walked out on me and 3DS the first week of first lockdown, I have got myself two really good jobs after being out the workforce for 3 years. Done my utmost to care for my traumatised 3DS, driven to Devon for hols when I have a phobia of driving…achieved so much, and gained 3 stone.

Stupidly dipped toe into OLD. Had nice chat with a local guy. Met for coffee briefly yesterday - weird chemistry. Thought no more about it.

Today he messaged, we started talking. Good conversation - quite open. I thought ok, could be a local friend when everyone else is smug married.

Then he says…when were your photos taken. I said last week (true). He said f’off - filter then? I said (increasingly pissed off) - no, why do I look old or something?

He said, being honest, I didn’t think you were as big as you are.

And with that sentence from a complete stranger, my achievements of the past year fade, and my self esteem is back on the floor.

I know you need a thick skin to OLD, I know tomorrow this will be a rueful story. But right now I need some solidarity. So if anyone is up, please salve my wounded soul that it’s not just me - OLD men are just not worth the headspace 😅

What a shitty thing to say. I can't believe he would say that, it's a terrible thing to say. I wonder wtf he said that for. There was no need to be so hurtful and rude. You just don't meet up again. I'm wondering if he got the impression you weren't interested so thought he'd get there first. I'm sorry you went through that OP. Awful behaviour.
Moonshine5 · 28/08/2021 15:49

OP
Your sense of self worth cannot be based on the throwaway comments made by a guy you don't know. Not to minimise but who knows what's going on with him? Clearly he has no idea of what passes as social norms. Better now than a longer time/ emotional investment.
If you can't cheerlead yourself, allow us fellow Mumsnetters to big you up!
OP you are amazing, a true inspiration!

CaMePlaitPas · 30/08/2021 11:48

What a pillock. OP, don't you dare give this poor excuse for a bloke anymore time of day.

Flawedperfection · 30/08/2021 12:05

Block/delete/move on. You’re too good for him. End of.

Why are men so judgements like when most of them are nothing special. I’m obese currently (but am told I’m attractive) and the amount of men who look me up and down in disgust. “Like babes, I wouldn’t consider YOU in my current state, let alone when I’m somewhere akin to ‘babe’ status”…

Flawedperfection · 30/08/2021 12:08

*judgemental, not judgements

Crispyduckandpancakes · 01/09/2021 06:44

A good friend of mine recently met someone through Match and is very happy. She had to sift through a few frogs first though. She just regarded it as a bit of a project and had some fun, at least that's the impression she gives.

However, she is a widow and has formed a relationship with a widower, so I wonder if that makes a difference. Maybe widowers are more genuine, just a thought.

Cosmos123 · 01/09/2021 12:59

@Whatonearth2021

Reeling, fuming, please be kind.

In the 18 months since exH walked out on me and 3DS the first week of first lockdown, I have got myself two really good jobs after being out the workforce for 3 years. Done my utmost to care for my traumatised 3DS, driven to Devon for hols when I have a phobia of driving…achieved so much, and gained 3 stone.

Stupidly dipped toe into OLD. Had nice chat with a local guy. Met for coffee briefly yesterday - weird chemistry. Thought no more about it.

Today he messaged, we started talking. Good conversation - quite open. I thought ok, could be a local friend when everyone else is smug married.

Then he says…when were your photos taken. I said last week (true). He said f’off - filter then? I said (increasingly pissed off) - no, why do I look old or something?

He said, being honest, I didn’t think you were as big as you are.

And with that sentence from a complete stranger, my achievements of the past year fade, and my self esteem is back on the floor.

I know you need a thick skin to OLD, I know tomorrow this will be a rueful story. But right now I need some solidarity. So if anyone is up, please salve my wounded soul that it’s not just me - OLD men are just not worth the headspace 😅

That's why the duck is single. You got lucky to get away. Middle finger to those who accept you for who you are. Don't feel self pity. Stand up straight and move on.
Cosmos123 · 01/09/2021 13:00

  • who don't accept you for who you are.

TypoConfused

EyesAsGreenAsAFreshPickledToad · 01/09/2021 13:01

I see ageism is acceptable on here when it’s levelled at men. Quelle suprise