craigslist (part 2)

Craigslist is definitely an interesting way to "meet" people. Like any online community it is populated by people with a whole range of personalities, attitudes, ambitions and desires, and of course not everybody is necessarily who they represent themselves to be. Some precautions are prudent when you venture into this place and a little skepticism is called for in reading the posts and emails, but precautions and skepticism are always a good idea when you meet someone new no matter where it takes place. And like any other meeting place the key to avoiding disappointment is to keep your hopes high and your expectations low.

It's been about a year and a half since I decided to become an active member of the craigslist community; I've responded to several posts of "women seeking men" and I've posted a couple of ads of my own. Overall the results have been surprisingly positive (but remember, I have low expectations.) Not totally positive, for sure, but on balance it has been a much more pleasant experience then I imagined it would be. I've had some really entertaining email exchages with several women and I have met several in person for one or more "dates".

So far the experience has produced a few women whom I enjoyed meeting, on email or in person, and remember fondly but we are no longer in touch; a couple of friends that I correspond with occasionally even though we didn't "connect"; one very special friend who might have become more if she had not moved out of state; and, most recently, my one major "disappointment", someone I met, was very attracted to and desperately wanted to get to know better but she suddenly and inexplicably stopped corresponding with me. Oh well, she was probably too young for me anyway. (Note to self: re-read rule about hopes/expectations.)

I'll continue to "cruise" craigslist on a regular basis looking for any post that makes me think there might be hope for a connection, and I'm sure I'll keep posting every now and then myself, if only to see what new strategies the "spammers/scammers" have come up with to get me to go to their website or click on their link. (Any "men seeking women" posting on craigslist is guaranteed to generate numerous, almost immediate replies from "bots", followed closely by several apparently "real" responses that promise all kinds of delight if only you reply to them - all of these are immediately deleted but it's still entertaining to see how quickly they arrive in my in-box and how many of them there are.)

Somewhere there's an attractive, interesting, open-minded woman looking for an eccentric 64 year-old, financially secure homebody who lives with 3 dogs and 2 cats - maybe she's on craigslist.