So, in the few days of my craigslist post I have found:
1) Men are much more likely to contact women than women contacting men.
I think that men, who are usually too shy to play a part of the traditional male role in real life, feel like the internet is the place to do it. There is no face-to-face rejection, just an unreturned e-mail. This is okay because most of these guys probably contact a lot of the girls, so sooner or later they will get an e-mail back.
2) A lot of people say, "I never reply to these things, but..." I felt only one guy was actually honest about this. Most of them are untrustworthy. As, most people are untrustworthy, and the internet only heightens this. The issue of women trusting men (and general safety) also relates back to number one, as my friend Nikki pointed out to me.
3) People still use bad grammar, even when trying to convince someone to e-mail them back. Also, I am "the female version of Mike Meyers" (lol). It is surprising how little some of them try.
4) I forgot the part of the equation where people I actually know, in real life, may come across this. I felt embarrassed. I also felt horribly depressed, looking at all the other ads and realizing how serious people were taking craiglist. I didn't realize people took it so seriously. I think the e-mails I received also confirmed this.
5) Most people are "uncreative" with their posts and their replies.
This made me sad about people and I wondered what gets them through the day. I'm still unsure if I should continue my research and go on any dates. Although, there are some people who I actually thought seemed funny and intelligent. I think, mostly, I would feel bad about researching people. Also, see #2.
6) Many have jobs related to computers. This might just be because most people have jobs related to computers. But, the numbers were pretty high. Also, two people posted from their Iphones. Fancy. So, I think, most of them have jobs and would be what I consider to be "well off."
So, I have already took it down, some 40 emails later. (Most people also enjoy facts about pigs) People are lonely. I knew this going in to this, but this really solidified it. And in New York, there are just a lot more people, so the percentage of loneliness somehow increases. So, is there really "someone for everyone"? Or is that just something we spew out, when we don't really know how to deal with being lonely, or some one else being lonely, and we feel bad about it?
****
In an effort to still my curiosity about "what kind of people contact people on craigslist" I made a
post looking for dates.
Zach made it seem like a good idea.
Tao joined me.
I think
Tao's post is hilarious. I think I would contact him because I would feel like he doesn't take life too seriously. Or craigslist. I like that.
I enjoy social experiments. I will post results later.
