Finally, a dating site for Geeks!
Perhaps you read my previous article about the need for Geek Personals sites. Maybe you’re a fellow geek that has had no luck with the likes of eHarmony or Match.com. Maybe you’re just a geek who has trouble finding a date, finding someone who understands and accepts your geekiness without ridicule.
Until recently, there was nothing for you. The vast expanse of dating services out there were more about hooking up and going to bars and clubs, leaving the nerds dorks and geeks in the world out to dry. Even The Internet, the place geeks INVENTED, had abandoned us. The future was bleak indeed.
Well, around the time I wrote my original article. A few of us in #JoeUser Link(CariElf, Cordelia, Danny Bassette, CerebroJD and myself mostly) were talking about what a Geek Dating site would have, what it would be like. We even liked the name “Geek 2 Geek”. At the time the site wasn’t showing up on the first few google search pages for “Geek Dating/Personals” so we mused over it and theorized on what would make the ideal site for geeks.
Turns out the site already existed, even with the name we thought up. I discovered it by reading an article from the NY Daily Times that was featured on Slashdot about Nerds making better lovers. While the article had a few “issues” in accuracy (They call Tiger Woods a geek simply because he plays Golf…. Right) it had a link to this site, http://www.gk2gk.com I went and checked it out and did the free-profile/signup process. If you do the profile bit, you’ll know this is a site designed for geeks… it asks you whether you prefer PCs or Macs. While parts of the profile are confusing to fill out, it asks what seem to be some of the right questions.
Once I got signed up and started browsing through, I shared my discover with #JoeUser. CariElf jumped in and signed herself up too. You can see her review of the site here Link
Her comments are pretty spot-on. I just want to supplement them with a few of my own:
1. Geography Problems
Now, I may be wrong here, but Auckland, New Zealand is definitely NOT within 50mi of Hartford, CT. Neither is China. Or Eastern Europe in general. The site is US-centric and does not have much capacity to deal with international users right now it seems like.
2. Search is inconsistent to say the least
I get different results on the same search sometimes. A girl will appear in my list at one point, but vanish when I try that same search again. I can’t figure it out.
3. Search is too limited
Like Cari says, there just aren’t enough search criteria. What if I wanted a Mac user? What if I’m really looking for another gamer? I have to just scan all generic search results and narrow down the list manually. This is frustrating when you’re already filtering out matches that live on the other side of the world.
4. The matching system is… odd
I can’t figure out how it scores people, there’s no explanation anywhere on the site about how the whole process works. Plus, on my member page it lists 577 current matches, but no matter what I do, I can’t see more than about 30 of them. Where are the other 547 of them? Why can’t I access them? Do they actually exist? It also doesn’t filter out women beyond my specified age range. Sorry to be ageist, but at 23, I’m just not interested in dating a 40 year old woman.
5. I can’t figure out what their revenue model is
You don’t need to pay to contact other members (unlike every other service out there), in fact you don’t need to pay for anything at all. There also aren’t any banner ads, no spam to be seen yet, nothing that would indicate the site is making any money off of this whole thing. It makes me nervous to be honest, we have NO clue who runs the site, how it works, how it makes money etc… It’s a bit too black-box.
Despite the problems, Gk2Gk is a very promising site that offers a service that really and truly is unique among personals sites. If you’re a geek looking to meet other geeks, I highly recommend you check the site out. Let your friends know, have them tell their friends too. Help this spread so we can attract more people to it. The more there are, the better everyone’s chances are of finding a potential date! 
