Any single guy living in this day and age has likely had some online dating experience.  There are plenty of dating websites out there, but they all require monthly subscription fees.  In this down economy, who wouldn’t mind having a few extra dollars in their pockets each month.  That was enough of a reason for me to investigate free online dating and where better to start than the most recognized free dating option out there:  Craigslist.org.

The convenience of Craigslist is unmatched by any other dating site.  You can post an ad for free and peruse other people’s ads without having to sign up for an account.  And Craigslist doesn’t make you fill out some lengthy questionnaire about yourself and what you look for in a mate.  This made Craigslist the obvious first choice for an investigatory look.

I had a few questions as I started doing my research for this article.

• Are these real people really looking for dates?
• If so, what are some of the numbers involved in the Craigslist dating equation?  Basically, how many responses do you receive from an ad?  How many might actually be worth a reply back?  How many result in actual face-to-face meetings?
• Are there any good stories that daters would be willing to share?
• If the ads are fake in any way, what would be the motivation for posting a fake ad?  Was it a hooker looking to fool a desperate john into coughing up $20?  Or was it some business looking to grab my email address to add it to their spam list?

Well the last question was actually answered very quickly.  Within seconds of replying to certain ads, I received a number of autogenerated responses that basically go something like this…

Thanks for writing me. I definitely want to get together with you as soon as possible. I tried craigslist once before without much luck, hopefully this time will be different. I am sure you want to see what I look like, so I setup a profile with a bit more about me and also my picture.  Its at http://[insert random dating site name here]/looking4you326/  If you like what you see get in touch with me on my profile, don’ worry its just a quick free registration and then we can talk.

There were a few variants, but ultimately, the vast majority turned out to be some sort of scheme to get you to surf over to some sheisty website.

I did get responses from a few real women who were willing to discuss some of their experiences.  One said that she had responded to roughly 10 ads and received replies from real men and in some cases received no reply at all.  She received no spam!  She gave her number to a couple guys who she seemed to connect well with via email and chat, but nobody ever called.

Another woman had responded to “dozens” of ads.  She, like the previous woman, had received no spam.  (I find this amazing based on the dozens of spam ads I had received as a part of my research.)  She agreed to meet up with only a few – “not because they’re creepy, just because there’s no physical attraction through the photos.”  She shared details of relationship that ended with what could be a Text from Last Night.  It ended with her short email to him – “You’re not feeling it? Well I didn’t feel your 3 inch dick either. Your dick is small. Just like you called me fat in so many words, I’m calling you small.”  Nice.

Finally, there was a woman who had placed her own ad.  She received hundreds of responses, communicated with several, and ultimately tried to meet up 4 of those men (separately, of course), and was stood up by ALL of them.  Bummers.

Okay, so no success stories from the few women that I heard from, but that doesn’t mean that love can’t happen.  These women proved to me that there are real women out there looking to meet men.  Just be warned that you will likely have to deal with a lot more spam in your inbox if you go looking for love on Craigslist.

If you have a story you would like to share about your Craigslist dating experiences, please send us an email at stories@blitzedmag.com or just add a comment to this post!