A little ago, I had posted on r/raomd for the first time. It was a bit scary, I admit, because it felt like crossing a line. It felt so much more normal/safer to meet someone (for dating or for sex) with the more familiar apps – Tinder, OKCupid, even the impressively pretentious *League* (which I got into! Ha)*.* I could still be “normal” or “not crazy” by meeting lovers on those sites. But all the swiping and fruitless messages felt desensitizing. My apps no longer brought me joy.
…Reddit, on the other hand. The stories, the personal ads. They were all so new and fresh and exciting. I only discovered r/gonewildstories a few months ago. So, in a way, Reddit didn’t have the same baggage that Tinder carried: years of disappointment, some okay dates, but mostly just low-effort profiles that made me feel a little hopeless. Reddit people were so cool and honest and open! I don’t even mean that I met anyone in person, but rather hearing the voices of people writing felt so much more real. Raw. Like the anonymity of Reddit allowed one to cut through boring small talk in a way that doesn’t really seem possible on dating apps (which display your name, your picture, your job… ugh).