August 7, 2002

6:17 PM

"SomeoneLikesYou and Crushlink represent a more extreme version of what all crush sites do. They inspire you to reveal your own crushes' e-mail addresses by dangling the lure that they know who wants you. "

I guess no one has a crush on me after all.
posted by Kellydamnit (15 comments total)

And who else would you be revealing your e-mail address too? I suppose anonymity on the web is moot at this point, but why should anyone possibly want to voluntarily become a spam depository?
posted by tomworking at 6:49 PM on August 7, 2002

A couple months ago, I was getting a new crush notification from crushlink everyday, for about a week. Someone clever and mean was listing all sorts of addresses for my personal domain as their crushes. As soon as I blocked one address from getting crushspam, they'd send it to another of my addresses. Very annoying, but it was intentionally being done, rather than just the results of email harvesting. It's easy to abuse these "services."

The "I like you, do you like me?" idea behind these sites is such a 7th grade notion. I'd love to hear the story of real adults actually hooking up because of one of these sites.
posted by katieinshoes at 6:58 PM on August 7, 2002

Not to say that people don't find relationships on the net, but I doubt you get hooked up with any of the crush emails. It's all S.P.A.M. people!
posted by DailyBread at 7:07 PM on August 7, 2002

Well, if by 'real adults' you mean people who are legally no longer minors, then I'm sure there's a really sad story or two out there for you.

I'd like to know how you get someone to check out the site (goading them to putting them on the list, where (surprise!) you're there waiting for them to register you too...):

"Hey, you should check out this site, it's really cool...No you should, really...Uh, here's the URL...Ummm, talk to you later, man..."
posted by Busithoth at 7:07 PM on August 7, 2002

Maybe I'm a moron, but isn't it a relatively simple endeavor to verify whether any of these sites really do reveal mutual crushes?

For all the energy Katharine Mieszkowski put into this piece, it seems almost odd that she didn't just (1.) type in her editor's e-mail address as a crush, then (2.) have her editor register and type in Mieszkowski's address as a crush.

If the site in question does what it says it does, there should be big animated heart GIFs popping up with a hearty congratulations.

Of course, she singles out SomeoneLikesYou and Crushlink for, in part, making you having to pay cash even after you've made a match... But she doesn't say if you really do get your answer.

I guess Salon doesn't cover incidentals for investigative reporting.
posted by pzarquon at 7:17 PM on August 7, 2002

What DailyBread said.
posted by AlexSteffen at 8:11 PM on August 7, 2002

Pzarquon: Yes, they do really reveal mutual crushes. And then they tell you to buy supplies for your dream date from one of their fine sponsors.
posted by katieinshoes at 8:18 PM on August 7, 2002

A short time ago, I kept getting a message from sendacrush.com telling me that someone had a crush on me.

I set up two yahoo junk email accounts and sent myself a crush. Knowing that it was me that sent the crush to myself, and guessing correctly, the site never revealed to me who my crush was. I just kept getting more email saying things like, "Thanks for joining!"
posted by gummi at 8:40 PM on August 7, 2002

Those sites are so briliantly evil. Give us your email address and the email address of your friends. Just so wrong.

I got signed up for it once, but I never got any spam. I tried emailing them to find out about 'marketing opportunities' but I never got a reply.
posted by delmoi at 9:25 PM on August 7, 2002

the timing of this posting is great...i was explaining crushlink to a coworker earlier today.

i think he was sad because no one ever has a crush on him, unlike me who gets spammed into oblivion by my "crushes".
posted by chumptastic at 9:33 PM on August 7, 2002

i guess it's just too bad that there are people out there who are lonely enough to make this work....it's amazing how common sense just vanishes with the idea of getting some.
posted by Denial of Service at 10:22 PM on August 7, 2002

I thought this all had something to do with crush videos. (Disappointed sigh.)
posted by anildash at 11:06 PM on August 7, 2002

Why do we need such a service, anyway? Isn't this why Metafilter user pages have email addresses?
posted by rushmc at 12:34 AM on August 8, 2002

Thanks Kellydamnit:
I always delete those crushmails, but do so with a twinge of guilt, wondering if there really is someone out there longing for my love. Some clueless someone with whom I could not possibly relate, but still someone.

Now I know that there most likely isn't. That's better, isn't it?
posted by gametone at 2:46 AM on August 8, 2002

well i like you ........and im sure im not a bot...
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:04 AM on August 10, 2002