tbf I don't have a dating life, so this should be pretty easy? the essence of this bounty is: give me ideas for dating-related markets that will make it interesting out there.
I've been single for a long time. I find the practicalities of dating to be daunting, but I love meeting people and I actually love dates. I'm a relationship person, and not so into super casual connections or one-night stands (alas).
that said, dating is such a slog. admittedly, I haven't been giving it much attention, but when I do, I feel like it's a lot of effort? dating apps feel petty and it's hard to parse who might be a great person with a bad profile, and who just isn't a good fit. I'd prefer to meet someone organically, but I live in a city that isn't terribly open in the best of times, I work from home, and I'm perhaps in an age bracket where I'm less likely to be seen as open and available. I'm pretty outgoing and not an ogre (even if I'm not feeling my best lately), and I do meet men when I step out to my local restaurants to socialise, but I haven't met anyone I'd like to date. I volunteer with a few arts orgs in the city, but most of my fellow volunteers are women.
I think having an interesting market/s would help me get motivated to date regularly and put in the effort.
ideas I've had include:
dating bingo - where things in the market (my discretion on how serious they are, even if a bit silly) are things I do or look out for or try to make happen
similar to the above, but voting style - I commit to a date at some regularity and the thing/s (again, my discretion) that have the most Yes traders are the things I'll commit to doing/saying and reporting on the result
first date futarchy - I haven't figured out how to define this lol
how many first dates will I go on before I enter a committed relationship? (numeric)
these seem a bit half-assed, what ideas do you have? give me some interesting ideas for dating markets that will help me feel engaged in the process, go on dates more regularly, hopefully find my match.
even if I don't use your idea, I'll give some mana for good and serious ideas bc it's fun to brainstorm. ask questions if you have them!
1,000What about contest for who can introduce you to the best suitor? Perhaps it could be awarded based on your favorite first date rather than requiring one of the recommendations to go the distance, so that you could set a reasonably short timeframe like a few months and have the contest/market still be fun and functional. Might fall short in getting enough attention to actually reach enough people who live near you AND know a good person to recommend AND care to participate.
as someone whose first date was at age 27: beware the “proof of progress” trap! making markets is a great way to feel like you’re making progress without actually getting you any closer to your goal. Do you want to prove to yourself that you’re capable, or do you actually want insight that can help you get there? (I’m projecting — this was a stumbling block for me)
Sticking to the bit: one thing I’d recommend is getting traders invested in your success, so a bounty market for “read my profile and introduce me to someone interesting” or a market like “which commenter(s) will introduce me to someone I strike up a conversation with” will let people profit off of adding folks to your queue.
But stepping back: the first step at getting good at Go is to lose your first 100 games quickly. You have some hard work to do IRL, and we can cheer you on but we also shouldn’t be your primary focus if you want results.
Sending strength. If you’re into trans gals hit me up
@Joshua added another 9k to this bounty because he either really believes in the cause, or thinks it's going to take a lot of market ideas to make this happen.