That’s the problem with this whole idea. Every time you try to contact another stranger behind someone’s back, they’ll likely find about it. Heh
There is a Marketplace forum. Wouldn’t personal ads go there?
You mean… are you saying… you message other women on this forum?? :eek: I’m betrayed!! 
Heck no! I was accusing YOU about trying to get hold of strangers on the sly!
Ok, I guess I should break it to you… I have lots of friends on the interwebs. Some of them are… men. :dubious:
Maybe we should start a Meat Market forum.
Heh.
I’ve tried to lure worthy gals to the Straight Dope over the years. In every case, they took one look and went, pfft!, never to be seen again. It’s like they think they’ll get addicted or something.
Get a room.
Okay, which one are you – Leonard, Howard or Koothrapali?
I’ve met quite a few fellow Dopers as well ------ in Ohio, Maryland, Kentucky and several other places. I’ve even met a couple of the Pittsburghers; --------- at Knoebels 226 miles away from Pittsburgh. Actually in Allegheny County, nadda. No interest in any sort of meet-up at all. Like I said, the natives here are an odd breed. :smack: 
Fierra and I met on the SDMB in 2000 - she lived in the UK, I in Kansas, we’ve and have been very happily married now for 14+ years (we’re hoping to have a vow renewal next year). I know another Doper couple that met here and has been married for 12 years. Sometimes love can be found here.
Congratulations, Una and Fierra!
Indeed. I know of a few marriages that have resulted from the SDMB.
Me? No marriage, but I have met (via PM) a number of women who post here, and dated a couple of them in person. We may not have carried things further, for various reasons, but they were indeed Dopers–intelligent, curious, and articulate. It is possible to meet others here; all it takes is the courage to draft a PM.
For the record, when I first discovered the site I did make my way to the portrait gallery at one point (after reading some of the stickies). When I saw it hadn’t been updated in so long I figured maybe no point in trying to contact anyone to add to it.
As pertains to my question, though, personally speaking I’d be more likely to want to know someone better based on their posts than their picture…probably. I stopped believing it was a good idea to think you know much about a person based on what they look like many, many hard lessons (and years) ago. 
Of course some people may not be quite what they seem based on their posting history on a message board, either. Just saying, for me something more than a picture is necessary to pique any serious interest.
I see what you’re saying. Guess I’d hope that most people wouldn’t be so petty as to bring any negative relationship fallout to the public board. Or even discuss things privately with other members, but I supposed there’d be no way to guarantee that.
But to your second concern, I wasn’t necessarily thinking that someone would automatically use their same username for that purpose as for this public-posting on the main SDMB. People could use their own judgment about when or whether to link the two names, depending how the thing were structured. Granted, if I chose a name other than Lee Q. for a personals profile, that would prevent someone from looking me up by username in the personals. But if the profile itself struck their fancy, theoretically they’d contact me anyway without knowing it was Lee Q.
I don’t know, honestly I haven’t given a huge amount of thought to the mechanics of it. I guess I was thinking (expecting? at least hoping) most people here have enough integrity that, as I said above, they wouldn’t create chaos or drama should there be fallout from any SDMB-personals contact. Possibly that’s an unreasonable assumption to make, here or anywhere.
In 1974, maybe only a half-way decent line was necessary to get the job done…! Don’t ask me - my vice of choice circa 1974 was a rousing game of Red Rover. Despite the name, I assure you it had nothing to do with motels.
For the OFFICIAL record, I have no interest in ruining one marriage or a couple marriages or any other heretofore unspecified number of marriages. Also, my interest in Altoona PA is pretty much nil. Let me guess. In that case, you just close your eyes and think of England? :eek:
Thanks for this reply. Our thinking seems pretty similar on this, especially the last part. Concern about drama ensuing should any relationship (or even just casual hookup, whatever) go bad isn’t something that leapt immediately to mind for me and your last paragraph sums up why. Even if people do attempt to start BS, it’s always an individual’s choice whether or not to participate. One-sided dramafests tend to fizzle out unless there are people on the sidelines stoking them. I may have an unrealistic perception of the prevailing tendencies of most Dopers, but I just sort of figured most people here would ignore that sort of nonsense.
I was thinking that in terms of user base in this context, quality might matter more than quantity. It’s cool that you and others have made friends here that’ve carried over.
Having started this thread, I guess I should say that with one exception, I’ve never even attempted to private message another user here. For all I know, that would work splendidly and obviate any need for a dedicated personals section.
Romantic, or just efficient?
In seriousness, you hit upon my exact reasoning in asking the question, and why it occurred to me in the first place. Not to use too broad a brush, as I’m sure it’s not true of every single person here, but part of what seems to make this place what it is has to do with people gravitating here because they’re interested in ideas. The world, other people, the occasional MPSIMS. That’s exactly the type person I most enjoy and want to spend time with, not just friendship but also close/intimate/relationship time.
So, yeah, if you ask me, the only time it’s really nice being social is exactly when it’s with someone you can also exchange ideas with.
Efficient romantics of the world, unite! Or, you know, pair off…
Agreed, about feature vs. bug.
Already replied to someone else about the lack of numbers thing. As for PM, that’s a fine enough suggestion and of course I already knew that PM is available. Not entirely sure why I still think a personals thing might be cool. Maybe because of the “profile” aspect of personals. As I mentioned in another post, I’ve only PM’d one person here, not in any context pertaining to this thread. Maybe my post was premature, since I haven’t tried that yet, and my query is about trying to “fix” something that isn’t broken. Oh - and for the record, I’m a she.
I see what you mean. Start packing - I hear if you’re married and into this sort of thing, the place to be is Altoona PA. 