MaiOtaku as I see it

Here here! Every single one of us without fail needs love in our life. That love can come in many different shapes and sizes. The possibilities are varying in form and strength....but how are we to find it if we are not approached by those who find us attractive for who we are? I know there is certainly someone on here looking for me. Which means there is someone here looking for all of us....write your love letters ladies & gentlemen. Write them and deliver them to that special someone. Rejection is the worst that can happen....and if you are rejected then they were not who you felt they were. Join me....join me and find who you want to spend your time with!

To me this site at the end of the day is a dating site. I don't think there is anything wrong with your generalization that a good majority of people join here in even the outside hope or intention of eventually finding a relationship. That being said, with most dating sites, the eventual drawbacks do creep in. A disproportionate amount of men to women, very few local or even regional contacts, age disparity, the minority of people who treat this more like facebook than a dating site, and other things. I'm sure quite a few have found the loves of their lives on this site, but I think they're a small minority. Maybe around 10% at best even if that's purely speculative on my part. The vast majority of people who join have no more luck than in any other avenue of life for one reason or another. I've put myself a few times out there, but unfortunately, it never worked out for whatever reason. I'm done with attempting anything significantly long distance (over a 5 hour drive) at this stage of my life. Maybe if I were still in my teens or early twenties, things would be different. As of now with job and commitments here, it's not easy for me to just pick up my life and move on a whim like it is for some. It could be done with some proper planning and time (a handful of months) but that's not something I'm just willing to do willy nilly for the sake of finding a gf.

Certainly. We are all in different stages of our lives and not all of us are as free to make those changes to the stars in our sky to make it happen, I'm not sure it is such an outside hope though. We only have so many years, and while some of these relationships we make and have with people on here will be temporary, ultimately everything we have even if it lasts 20 years is a temporary thing. It comes down to just how much of ourselves we are willing to put out there for however long we can enjoy the company of someone that is special to us, even if it isn't forever.

I like the things you say and the way you same them. To put it bluntly I think we should be friends. That does lead into my big problem though: I have trouble keeping meaningful relationships with people going. It's nothing personal 90% of the time but I do have an unfortunate habit of kinda drifting out of peoples lives if they don't "babysit" me. It's a problem that has only ever affected my friendships, my romantic relationships would never have that issue. Now that I'm out of the dating game though, I find myself floating around a lot more and having more trouble than ever keeping friends. MaiOtaku has become more important than ever to me now, my only Otaku friends are moving to another state and even though I do still have irl friends, I simply don't have anyone I can talk to about anime and geeky stuff any more. So you are right about everyone being on here looking for relationships. SOme people want love, some people just want someone they can "Geek out" with and have fun.

I've tried being forward and what not but that didn't work for me either (being passive never did either) so I guess I just gotta keep trying over and over again until it works, or doesn't work. Such is life...

Sometimes practice makes perfect, not only does it help us find the type of person we are really interested in, but it lets us get familiar with the right approach for the person we are looking for.

The metaphor of being scared to be the first to ask to dance describes the site perfectly and why there isn't more of the relationship stuff going on. People are scared of rejection, or even just looking dumb/creepy/too upfront.

I'm guessing you're saying...tl;dr "This is who I am, I'm putting myself out here, be my friend?" ~W

...I always have some difficulty coming across as someone who is appealing to the opposite sex. Rough around the edges, not the greatest to look at, and I have a tendency to throw people for a loop. I have a few close friends, but even that has slowly began to diminish lately. On the off chance that I do open up, oftentimes people become a little wary of me. They distance themselves from me. They feel sorry for me, they feel like they need to watch out when around me. I feel there's nothing genuine about the relationships I have right now. Talking to people is fun...but it's no good when there's no one to really talk to. It's frustrating. I'm just a guy full of problems, and I feel no one wants to be involved with that kind of stress. Because of all that...I've become resigned to just being that outsider looking in. Opening the door only to say a few, festive words and dropping off gifts when appropriate. Now how is that genuine at all?

I've been doing the whole online dating thing for probably about 6 years, using various sites such as match, okcupid, plenty of fish, etc. I've had a couple relationships come from online dating, 10 months and about a year and a half, and many people whom we dated for a month or less before realizing it wasn't going to work. I've never meant for online dating to be my primary source of meeting new people, as I'd much rather meet a friend of a friend at a group gathering and hit it off. But, sites like these effortlessly open doors to the lives of people whom you never would have even had a chance to meet otherwise. I think keeping a glass half full mentality about it is the best way to ensure it remains a positive experience. At the very least forums like these help you see that you're not alone in your search for someone special, and should a great friendship or something more come from it then that's a bonus. Either way, it all starts with putting yourself out there and this site can be a great start. What I like about MaiOtaku is everyone here is accepting of my geeky hobbies. I can't say I've ever been on a first date with someone and asked, "so what's your favorite anime?" but it sure would be fun to do!