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Where Does a Geek Find a Social Life?

Posted by kdawson on from the meet-space dept.

JustShootMe writes "I have a question for my fellow Slashdotters, and yes, I realize I am entering the lion's den covered in tasty meat-flavored sauce. I have never been a very social person, preferring to throw myself into technology; therefore, I've been spectacularly unsuccessful in developing any meaningful interpersonal relationships. Lately I have begun to feel that this situation is not tenable, and I would like to fix it. But I really don't know how and haven't the faintest idea where to start. I know that I am in the minority and that there are many different kinds of Slashdot readers, most of whom have more experience in this realm than I do. So please tell me: how, and more importantly, where do you meet fellow geeks — preferably including some of the opposite gender — in meatspace?"

31 of 1,354 comments (clear)

  1. Go old school by plover · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't know where you'd meet a woman in realspace, since I met my wife on-line. But that was 29 years ago, so that old trick probably won't work any more.

    --
    John
    1. Re:Go old school by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Fucking kids. We had BBS's back them (among other things). You think the Internet (it's capitalized moron) is the end-all-be-all? Go back to your texting.

    2. Re:Go old school by Planesdragon · · Score: 4, Funny

      (Looking online very, very rarely works, mostly because online spaces allow people to be totally dishonest. If there's no honest representation, you cannot find people by presupposing they are being honest.)

      Sure you can.

      Think about the kind of person you'd want. Then figure out the lie they'd tell about themselves in the personal section. Lie accordingly about yourself, and go from there.

    3. Re:Go old school by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      nah, i meet your wife online regularly

    4. Re:Go old school by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      1. Buy some high-top tennis shoes, an ill-fitting suit, and a bow-tie.
      2. Find a biker bar. A tough biker bar.
      3. Enter, leap upon a countertop, and dance your nerdy heart out.
      4. Once you wake up in Intensive Care Unit, try to pick up a sympathetic nurse.

    5. Re:Go old school by ThePromenader · · Score: 5, Funny

      He said ~women~, not senior citizens ; )

      --

      No, no sig. Really.

      ThePromenader
    6. Re:Go old school by geminidomino · · Score: 3, Funny

      Agreed - LARPs are good places to meet people who fall into the broad category of geekdom in my experience, and there's normally a good gender blend.

      Min

      On the downside, that gender blend consists entirely of LARPers. Let's be honest... LARPers are the furries of the gaming world.

  2. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You could start by not ASKING SLASHDOT...

    1. Re:Really? by dr_dank · · Score: 5, Funny

      Agreed. Asking this question on Slashdot is like asking Helen Keller if your socks match.

      --
      Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
    2. Re:Really? by PachmanP · · Score: 4, Funny

      Agreed. Asking this question on Slashdot is like asking Helen Keller if your socks match.

      Which works OK if your matching criteria are size and material. I don't think he's asking how to get to the interstate from here in Boston, he's asking how to get out of the garage.

      --
      You're thinking small. Why miniaturize the laser, when we could instead enlarge the sharks? -John Searle
  3. CL by madcat2c · · Score: 5, Funny

    Craigslist....choose, but choose wisely.

    1. Re:CL by YourExperiment · · Score: 4, Funny

      Contrary to popular belief, CL is probably 99% scammers, bots, and hookers.

      I'm married to a scam-bot hooker, you insensitive clod!

  4. Get online! by cstec · · Score: 3, Funny

    There's a wonderful world of people out there, safely screened by the most effective condom of all -- ASCII.

  5. You could also start by... by MrMage · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not using terms like meatspace. Really. Where are we, the fridge?

  6. Re:Learn to dance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    International singles clubs, also.

    Here in Silicon Valley, I met a lot of interesting women. Foreigners don't know you are a geek, they appreciate guys with a good salary, career prospects.

    You learn all sorts of things, e.g. I met Dr. Wang, learned that she was a dentist. Observed that she had perfect teeth. Realized ALL dentists I had ever met had perfect teeth, form, fit and function. Decided my next girl-friend had to be a gynecologist.

    Finally married a Russian. We fight about things I could never have conceived of previously, so life is not boring.

  7. Where Does a Geek Find a Social Life? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Simple do what Bill Gates and Steve Jobs did.

    1: Create a huge tech company

    2: Engage Human Resources

    3: Pick a girl out of company cafeteria line.

    4: Have lots of kids right away.

    5: PROFIT!!

    1. Re:Where Does a Geek Find a Social Life? by Bigjeff5 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wait, I don't understand!

      I can't follow that, what happened to ??? ?

      It's a critical step and it's not there! *head explodes*

      --
      Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
    2. Re:Where Does a Geek Find a Social Life? by geminidomino · · Score: 4, Funny

      On the other hand: getting a nice haircut, wearing 'normal' clothes and acting a bit more normal isn't going to hurt either.

      Ugh. You mean go out among the mundanes wearing clean jeans and a t-shirt with some kind of pop-culture reference on it?

      Do you have any IDEA what you're risking there?

      The hell with that. If she doesn't get my "Is it solipsistic in here, or is it just me?" t-shirt, then I don't wanna know her.

    3. Re:Where Does a Geek Find a Social Life? by somersault · · Score: 3, Funny

      Everything was going so well until I found out she enjoys creating entirely flash-based websites.. *sob*

      --
      which is totally what she said
  8. Re:Learn to dance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Finally married a Russian. We fought about things I could never have conceived of previously, so life was not boring.

    Past tense, Hans, past tense amigo.

  9. Was Slashdot This Fucking Lame 10 Years Ago? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Perhaps it has been so long that it just seems like Slashdot use to be an actual site you could turn to every day and read a nice cross section of laypeople and industry experts discussing interesting technology topics.

    Can't all these inane 'Ask Slashdot' - aka Please Give Me Attention!!! articles be done away with?

    Just. Fucking. Google. It.

    1. Re:Was Slashdot This Fucking Lame 10 Years Ago? by EdIII · · Score: 5, Funny

      The only thing that's really sunk significantly is the quality of the trolls.

      Well you can't blame me. I at least feed em around here. Where are the other Slashdotters when it comes time to feed them? Walk them? Slap their little noses with rolled up posts when they get out of line??

      Well?

      It's a joint responsibility people....

  10. The Sims by jollyreaper · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you try something and it fails, you can always reload from a previous saved game. If only real life were like that... "Wow, that didn't go over well. ctrl-z! ctrl-z!"

    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
  11. God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Technology is one of my passions, but not my life. I found God - the Lord gives me the ability to mingle with society as the techie I am without the fear of what people will think or how they will react...

    1. Re:God by SpottedKuh · · Score: 5, Funny

      I found God - the Lord gives me the ability to mingle with society as the techie I am without the fear of what people will think or how they will react...

      I find rum gives me the same ability :)

  12. Re:When in doubt, volunteer by cmseagle · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course, I wouldn't tell them that you're just there to meet chicks. Organizations tend to frown on that. Especially the ones involving kids.

  13. You want a friend? by actionbastard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Get a dog. - Gordon Gecko

    --
    Sig this!
  14. How to be sexy by ESR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You really have to read this and have Google Images open elsewhere wtih pictures of ESR to appreciate the humour fully.

  15. Re:Go and do what you love doing... by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

    He already tried sitting in the basement eating Cheetos and playing WoW all day...no luck so far.

  16. Re:outdoors by sqrt(2) · · Score: 4, Funny

    I met a future girlfriend while mountain biking...

    I think I know what you were trying to say (you met a girl while mountain biking who then later became your girlfriend) but the way you said it makes it sound like it was a time traveling bicycle or you're some creepy guy stalking her trying to make her love you.

    --
    If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
  17. Re:Oh, and another idea... by the_womble · · Score: 4, Funny

    don't view non-geeks as "mundane". The "meatspace" will earn the "weird" label, but the "mundane" will earn the "motherfucking asshole" label, and justifiably so.

    At least he did not call them muggles.....