Dennie Smith had a revelation while visiting a recreated WW1 trench, noticing a gap in online dating for people who enjoy geeky interests. She founded the Geek Meet Club to bring like-minded people together and to exclude fake profiles that conceal scams and undermine online dating. She personally vets each applicant and declines about 50 per month to protect her 3,300 members from bad behavior. The club emphasizes offline interaction through events, monthly quizzes, and venue hire where attendees can come in costume, drawing on comic and science fiction convention culture. Members are encouraged to meet in person quickly, such as for coffee in public places, to confirm legitimacy. Cherry dating was created to address counterfeit profiles by questioning whether people are real.
"“A lot of dating sites are just about volume, and they include fake profiles that conceal scams,” she says. Smith, who owns a hairdressing salon in Croydon, south London, decided she needed to branch out into the dating business with a focus on “the big market of geeky people”. The founder of the Geek Meet Club wanted to bring like-minded people together and exclude the regiments of fakes she says have undermined online dating. Vetting each applicant personally seems to please Smith."
"“I'm very good at spotting a fake. But sometimes it's easy, one person submitted a photo of Boris Johnson!” she says. And she's happy to decline around 50 applicants a month rather than expose her 3,300 members to bad behaviour. Geek Meet Club exists to bring dating back into the offline world. “We do events, monthly quizzes, and I want to hire venues so people can come in costume.”"
"“Comic and sci-fi conventions are a big pull for geeky people.” The idea is to get people meeting in person as quickly as possible because online dating has become a minefield littered with deception and frauds. “I tell my members to meet in person as soon as possible, go for a coffee in the park, or on the High Street, to find out if the other person is legitimate.”"
"“You look at profiles on these sites and ask yourself 'is this person real?'. You have to”"
Read at www.bbc.com
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