To ditch online dating and try and meet someone in real life?

[Jacarandill]

I’ve been OLD for about a year, with some short-term successes but nothing that’s worked out.

I feel like the pool of men is now drying up. Just awful. Or if not awful then too far away.

I’m considering putting in a concerted effort to meet someone in real life.

If so, how? Where does one meet men?!

I used OLD for a short while it’s bloody horrible. Met my partner at work (he was a client 🤣) If you work in a male dominated industry like me it’s kind of normal though. I guess the other classic way is through sports and hobbies.

If I were single this is exactly what I would try and do too op. Go for it!

OLD is horrible now, just horrible. Not just ghosting and players but actual creepy aggressive men and increasing catfish profiles. When I was on it before I met my current partner, I was getting messages from some distinctly dodgy and inappropriate men, including a couple of nappy fetish men. It’s enough to put you off for life! I also had a creepy man approach me in real life because he’d seen my profile online and it made me feel very exposed. He sat opposite me in a cafe and started behaving like it was a date and he had some kind of claim to talk to me.

if I had to date again I’d join some local interest clubs and groups and just live my best life. It would feel a lot safer.
if you are a naturally anxious person, OLD will make it worse. If you are a confident chatty person you might like it, I did for a while but now the idea of it after seeing so many disaster stories from friends recently, which I won’t list because some of the stories might be triggering, I’d avoid OLD like the plague.
Harsh but my honest opinion.

As for places to meet people, what kind of things are you interested in? A friend just got married to someone she met in an art class put on by her local gallery another to a man she met whilst going to her local political party events. I think it’s just about being out in the world doing things you enjoy or feel passionately about.
Maybe make a list of things you like doing or have a curiosity about and we can suggest things.

You can do both. I met a guy at a party while online dating. I do take breaks from OLD, though.

I met my DH when I joined a choir. Been married 35 years this year.

Thanks for the replies.

I haven’t had any bad experiences at all from OLD. I’m confident and outgoing and have met some nice men.

It just seems to have all dried up now. They’re all absolutely gross.

Although I’m very outgoing, I don’t really enjoy ‘forced fun’, so in the past I’ve been put off by classes or clubs. But maybe that’s what I have to do.

The trouble is, I live semi-rurally so a lot of activities like choirs and art classes are populated by much older people. I’m 42.

I have a feeling I’d get a lot of unwanted attention from single (or not single) men in their 60s and 70s…

Maybe climbing?