One rule: Ascertain beforehand if said date is likely to keep asking you what you’re thinking about ad infinitum.
Hmmm, I currently see someone 9 years younger than me, and before her, it was someone 9 years older than me. I’ll think about this and see if I can come up with a quadradic formula for the ages of the women I date.
(I never knew the 2 year rule, and I think I’m glad I didn’t)
Nothing is so bad that it can’t get worse.
techchick: No, he doesn’t have to be a libertarian because you’re a nice “chick”, or no, you won’t date me because you’re a nice “chick”? 
There’s three kind of women I wont mess with
1)married
2)underage
3)comatose
-Sam Malone
We rag tag girlies back at the hotel…
Then we all switch places when I ring the bell.
I have only one rule.
The man I date must be my husband.
My older brother gave me one dating rule when I was in high school–“Don’t date musicians, especially not bass guitarists.”
I’ve tried to follow it.
“I was born in this town, I was raised in this town, and I’ll probably die in this town. Hell, I’ve already been hit by a car on this street, twice!”–if you recognize where this quote is from or who said it, please tell me.
Good God, ThisYearsGirl, why the hell not? Musicians I can see, but bass guitarists are awesome. They don’t have the ego thing lead guitarists have, but are oh-so-cool.
You forgot: Must be able to put up with you.
haw haw haw!
Wow, I have a lot of thoughts here, and it’s going to be tough to organize them, but here goes.
Whenever questions comes up like “Would you date a black woman?” or “Would you date an older man?” or “Would you date a fundamentalist Christian”, the only reasonable answer to me is “Which one?” There’s no way I can know all the black women, older men, or fundy Christians in the world, so I can’t know for sure. Oh, I doubt I could ever date a fundy, but I don’t know, and I’d never make a “rule” for myself about it.
The trouble is, thinking in terms of what sorts of people you’d date, when you’re not thinking of specific people, forces people to fit into your placeholders. The whole mental process goes something like this: I’m imagine a fantasy person, a person who does not exist and could not exist because he was created in my mind. I choose attributes for him, and I leave certain attributes open. He’s sane, young, built, and confident. Now when I consider dating real people, I’ll compare them against this preconceived mental image to see how they measure up.
There are real problems with looking at dating this way. First off, no one will ever measure up. (Fantasy people don’t have bowel movements, for instance, and real people do. And if I’m wrong about this in your case, please, I don’t want to know. :)) It isn’t fair to hold a real person up to a fantasy standard, just like it’s not fair to expect a fantasy person to be real. In the long run, it causes disappointment in relationships.
Second, when you look at people in terms of how they fit into a predetermined pattern in your mind, you’re not looking at them for who they are. It’s kind of a Barbie syndrome: measuring someone’s beauty by how closely they resemble a Barbie doll (or Cindy Crawford, or Mr. Right, whatever.) You’ll never see a real woman’s beauty if you see her in those terms.
Third, you’re limiting yourself. If you define yourself as “I’m the kind of guy who dates only red-heads / only women / only people my age and that’s that,” then you’re missing out on a lot of your potential. Some people like to put constraining limits on themselves for various reasons, and hey, that’s cool for them. But I try not to for myself.
I can honestly say I’ve never met a fifty-year-old woman that I would date. That doesn’t mean I won’t - in fact, I’m pretty sure I will when I’m older. But it’s not in my nature to say I’d never.
Your Quadell
The only rule that comes to mind that I have really followed rigidly is must like kids, or more specifically must like my kids. I have a lot of rules, made dating pretty much non-existant for awhile. But let me tell ya, in the end, it pays to be picky.
I am not deliciously saucy.
No, that’s my number one rule.
Well, I’ve violated the two year rule. And she was underage, too. And I wasn’t. Uh, I think I’ll just move on now. Anyhow, I don’t have that many set rules, but I do have a few guidelines that I have formulated from hard experience, and have served me well so far.
If you’re in any sort of committed relationship, no matter how “open”, forget it.
No “rebounds”.
No one under the age of 18, emotionally speaking.
And all of this means that I would really rather get to know you first before hopping into bed.
And lastly, I prefer kittycats to puppydogs. I’d rather be with someone independent and self-sufficient than with someone who craves constant attention.
Heck is where you go when you don’t believe in Gosh.
“Does anyone else have any quirky dating rules?”
If I were dating I would have three tests.
- The frisbee test
This test is for coordination. Most of the women in my life have been unable to throw a frisbee. Why are we drawn to each other? She would have to throw the frisbee a reasonable distance on target.
- The cockroach
This test is for perspective. It’s just a cockroach! In this test she would have to remain calm in the presence of a cockroach.
My other tests for sexual compatibility go way beyond quirky.
SwimmingRiddles: I’m married to a lead guitarist. Trust me when I say they aren’t all a**holes.
In fact, that was my only rule when I married him. Like this board, it was “don’t be a jerk.” Funny how standards change with age & experience.
When I was very young, I wanted to marry Prince Charming, and be a Princess. Years of kissing frogs made me realize PC doesn’t exist. So, eventually I decided that a guy that was not a jerk had a pretty good shot at a conversation with me. A guy who could consistently not be a jerk had a good shot at getting me to allow him to become Mr. Cristi. 
This space blank, until Wally thinks up something cool to put here.
I think the 2 yr limit is pretty much a high school thing. Up until 18 or 20, age difference is significant in development (emotionally as well as mentally). Maturity level and knowing oneself are important.
Once you get out of high school, age difference isn’t as important as other traits - is the person someone you like, enjoy spending time with, are you mutually attracted, etc.
The whole 1/2 your age plus 7 years thing I don’t put much stock in. Works great for the guy. 
Seriously, it means every two years you have to find someone new - your current SO is too old.
For practicallity, I would be hard pressed to date anyone over 10 years older or younger. (Especially since that would make them jailbait.) I just think that it would be difficult for a relationship to work beyond that. Of course I know a few women older than that I would “do”, but developing a relationship would be difficult.
Of course when you’re not dating anyone…
I guess mine would be
#1 She
#2 must show some interest in me.
#3 I must find her attractive. (Not necessarily supermodel attractive, but reasonably so.)
Um, I just read that and think I screwed it up.
I didn’t mean to imply maturity and knowing oneself are not important after age 20. I meant something more along the lines of the differences in maturity level and knowing oneself are less age dependent after 20. Or something like that.
Have a few rules…
-
Must be responsible, I want a woman who can take care of herself. She should want me cause she wants me, not because she needs me.
-
Be able to talk about a wide range of interests.
-
Should also be into SF&F or RPG’s…This is important…mixed mariages don’t work here, the ones that are not into SF&F or RPG’s rarely understand the need for the Sat RPG.
>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<
—The dragon observes
Definitely not an age rule! I once dated a guy who was 14 years younger than I. Noiw my boyfriend is 7 years younger.
Qualifications?: must be nice, funny, and like me.
I’m 19, and my max/min for relations are +10/-3.
I find myself strangely attracted to the challenge of a girl that isn’t all over me, and I find that I get bored with people VERY fast.
General rules?
-
Must not be stupid (in extreme cases looks can replace intelligence for short stints).
-
Must have a sense of awe and incredulity towards the world (and me).
-
Must not be a whiny bitch.
-
Must surprise me.
That’s about it. Must be good looking, too.
I won’t date a guy with contact lenses. Either wear glasses, or dont (but you must wear them if you need them) I’ve dated two guys who wore them, the whole… “but I cant stay over because I need to soak my lenses” and the “Damn you bought the wrong kind of saline!” (when hey, I was doing you a favour…) thing just turns me off…
Also I wont date boy nurses, I work with them, they have this whole “Im still masculine” thing to get through and its boring…
Other than that… Im pretty accepting. Ive dated older younger different religions different races, different time zones and socio-economic backgrounds. Nothing fazes me exept the contact lenses and the boynurse thing.
My parents are a year a month and a day apart in age… 35 years and they still kiss in parkinglots!