I am a guy who moved to a western country a few years ago. I am a vegan, atheist, antinatalist on top of already being an introvert, a privacy enthusiast, and a person from the other end of the world.

I find it extremely hard to find anyone. I literally haven't been on any dates in, like, 6 years now. I have zero success on dating sites because:

  1. Most of my values are so extreme to people that they would not want to swipe right on me
  2. This seems to reinforce the algorithms on the sites, and they score me further lower. When requested data from Bumble, I found out that I swipe right on ~3% on the profiles, Bumble only shows my profile to what amounts to 30% of that 3%, and I am swiped right by only ~1.5% of that.
  3. I have been blocked a few times before because of stupid stuff like absence of Google Play Services, phone numbers from a different country, etc., which I believe further lowers my score. Also, I do not verify myself, so yay.

(In my opinion, I am an average looking guy, and my photos are okay, so I do not think the photos are the problem)

Between work, a couple of hobbies, gym and recovering from work, I get no time to meet with people in person. Even if I wanted to, there aren't many common places to meet with new people. I miss when we were young, and could casually make friends in school without even trying.

Some days, I just want to remove all those "filters", but then I cannot explain the removal logically/philosophically. I wish I could have lived my life in blissful ignorance of everything.

May be I am doing adulting and everything related horribly wrong. But regardless, I just wanted to vent and get it out.

Note: I know that there are people who do not agree with my values. I would be happy to discuss them (not sure if this thread is appropriate for that though), but I would appreciate if you would not outright dismiss them.

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[–] 2 points 1 hour ago*

Between work, a couple of hobbies, gym and recovering from work, I get no time to meet with people in person.

Well ... make time?

If you actually do get a match, they're going to want to go on dates with you and spend time with you, and if you don't make time for them, they're not going to feel like they're important to you, and they'll eventually leave you. Being in a relationship will take time -- if you don't have time to look for a relationship, then you don't have time to have a relationship.

I know 'making time' isn't always easy, but maybe there are ways.

  • 'couple of hobbies' -- what hobbies? Maybe you can cut back on them a little to free up some time, just once a week or something? Depending on the hobby and its demographics, you might be able to combine things by meeting people in your hobby -- join some groups for the hobby, do it with others, maybe meet someone there. If your hobbies don't tend to attract people of the gender you're interested in, are there maybe alternate versions of those hobbies that do?

  • Work -- Are you working lots of long hours? Can you maybe make ends meet while working fewer hours? Can you maybe find a different job that's less demanding, or maybe closer so you don't lose as much time commuting?

  • Recovering from work -- again, a different, less demanding job might be something to look into ... something you don't feel you have to recover from as much.

  • Gym -- This is another way you might combine things to meet people in person. Not that you should be chatting people up at the gym very much -- most won't like that. But maybe you could replace some gym days with alternative exercise routines -- ones in a bit more of a social setting? Occasionally replacing a gym day with instead going to a bicycling group or running group or yoga class or dance class or something ... that could give you possible opportunities to meet people while still getting your exercise in.

  • And look other places for free time -- I don't know about you, but a lot of people I know spend a lot of time on things like gaming, watching TV, or doomscrolling social media ... even if they don't admit it to themselves. Take a hard look at how you actually spend your time, and see if maybe you have something like that you could cut back on to make time.

Again, if you can't make time to meet people, then you won't be able to make time to actually date and be with the people you meet anyway. If you've got no time for meeting, you've got no time for a relationship either. You might need to look at your priorities and think about steering your life in a direction that gives you more time for this (even if that's detrimental to other things), if being in a relationship is important to you.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 hours ago (1 child)

    If your in the us plenty of people to meet at protests.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 hours ago (1 child)

    Why do you mention your "extreme values" on your dating profile when you suspect that you are sabotaging yourself by doing so?

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

    Because I did not want to mislead them. I thought being frank would get me better quality matches, who are more aligned with me. But, to be honest, I don't really know what the best thing to do is given the algorithm is proprietary. May be I should just remove them in just for better scores, and then handle it in the chat if I get a match.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 hour ago

    You mention some stuff that I assume that you put on your dating profile, I'll go through it here:

    I am a vegan

    Really only relevant if you're going out to eat or if a non-vegan date is an absolute deal-breaker.

    atheist

    No one cares. Don't make it your personality.

    antinatalist

    Not relevant until you've been in a relationsship for a long time. Also, not a word that everyone will understand.

    an introvert

    It used to be cute that people would mention their Myers-Briggs personality, but I honestly find it cringe. Use sentences to describe your personality instead. Would you rather get drunk and go to a death metal show or stay home, bake a cake and watch Netflix?

    a privacy enthusiast

    Not a bad thing, but no one cares.

    a person from the other end of the world

    Some people might find that interesting.

    I realize that some of my comments sound harsh, but I'm not trying to put you down.

    You mention some hobbies but no details. Those are actually the positives that you want to mention, rather than all the negatives that you listed.

    Also keep in mind that it is very unlikely that the first person you date will be the right one, it is a numbers game. And when you actually do meet the right one, they will almost never fit the template that you expected. Don't try to narrow down the matches too much.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 hour ago*

    Dating is about putting your best foot forward. Don't start off a relationship by shooting yourself in that same foot, save that for later once you're able to show off your likeable qualities.

    If you want matches, your profile should focus on inclusion, not exclusion.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 hours ago (1 child)

    I wonder if it's less so the views and moreso how you express them? I am actually in agreement work all of your listed views, but this post was off-putting to me. I wonder if you're coming across somewhat "woe is me" or possibly "I'm so edgy" because with a few limited sentences you have to give the broad strokes of who you are, you talk about things that you think make you unlikeable.

    It's not lying to not put that stuff in your profile. Take it out, go on some dates, and talk about that stuff when it naturally comes up.

    I could see an exception to that being to state in your profile that you don't want kids. I would say that, though, not that you're "antinatalist."

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 hour ago

    Lol, I do not have any of those in my bio.

    I have them as badges/pillboxes/filters (I seriously cannot remember what they're called, been a while since I last did web dev). So, it just shows "Vegan" in interests, and "Don't have kids" and "Don't want kids" in the filter boxes (basically the info that Bumble asks you to enter when you are creating your account; these are removable though).

    So, I do not explicitly write anywhere that I am "antinatalist". I know that it is perceived negatively, and I'd rather just be perceived as "childfree" via the "Don't want kids" tag.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 hours ago (1 child)

    I think advice on how to find someone who meshes with you is unfortunately going to be somewhat western nation specific. The ways people go about meeting others, and the types of places that people like you and other political outsiders gather.

    In terms of what advice I can offer, be open about your beliefs, I know its discouraging to turn people away early, but if you hold these beliefs sincerely its not fair to yourself or the person you're seeing to disguise them. You don't have to put them at the top of your page or anything, but denying that part of yourself will lead to resentment.

    I would also say that the apps aren't a great place to go. They're designed to keep you on them more than to find a partner. What you replace this with will depend on your tastes, desires, and environment. Rural towns, have different dating scenes than cities, have different scenes than suburbs and so on. A random internet hookup post was what worked for me, after all the dating apps and other avenues.

    Lastly, when you meet people remember that you are here to evaluate them too. Lots of people come into dates only thinking about how to market themselves or conceal their faults. I think that this tendency leads to missing connections. If you are only thinking about how you come off and whether they like you, you might appear desperate, or that you have no standards. Try and remember to find out more about the person you are with and consider if they would make a good partner for you. Being interested and trying to understand them that way should help find more success too.

    Good luck and don't give up! There are many compatible people for every one of us, and you won't find them if you give up before you start. You shouldn't make it a life goal necessarily, but welcome it when it comes

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 hour ago*

    Thanks for the advice.

    I am aware of how fucked up the dating apps are, and I hate them with a passion. Every single app is owned by the same company, and if you get banned on one, you get banned on them all.

    I am very concerned about compatibility if the expected values do not align, so I am very much opposed to concealing my faults. I am not very worried about me not showing my true self (I am sure I will), I am worried that I won't even find any.

    Thank you for the optimism and kind words though!

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  • [–] 2 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

    If you are happy to chat about your postions maybe consider dropping them from your profile and chatting about them on a date or via text after a match?

    I know plenty atheist vegans that don't want kids, but they don't make it thier identity.

    Oppsites can attract and compliment.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago*

    Oppsites can attract and compliment.

    Don't get into a long-term relationship with someone who's your opposite in wanting kids or not, though. One or both of you are going to end up being very unhappy in that relationship eventually.

    Veganism and atheism will also cause some tensions when paired with their opposites ... but those can maybe be overcome. Depends how understanding and accommodating the two of them are. Is OP willing to overlook his partner eating meat and not complain about it? Is OP's partner willing to let him be atheist, or will they constantly be trying to convert OP?

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 4 hours ago (1 child)

    Thanks for the suggestion. I put all that info in because I thought it would get me better quality matches (but now I suspect it may be hurting the score instead).

    Regarding the "Oppsites can attract and compliment.", I would agree with this for personality traits like introversion/extraversion, but I highly doubt compatibility in opposites for the ones I described (e.g. having children). May be you just meant something entirely different, and I just misunderstood this part.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 hours ago*

    You can still meet, date and have a good time with people of different theologies that envision themselves having kids one day ime.

    The concern would be more that you are militant vegan that won't shut up about it, anti-natal has the vibe/red flag of "can't interact with children", and an atheist sticker would concern me about some low level Richard Dawkins style evangelism and perhaps even some religious trauma in there.

    Maybe something more about living in harmony with the ecosystem, a deep love and respect for animals and that you are trying to make the world a better place instead of : Children, Gods & cheeseburgers will bring about hell on earth.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 hours ago

    It's tough. You just keep doing the same thing over and over, and it never works, until one day it does.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 hours ago

    The worst thing you can do is be someone you’re not. Because then the only people who like you will only like the fictional version of you. And the people who are looking for the real you won’t know it’s you they’re looking for.

    Be yourself, even if that makes you unpopular. As long as you’re trying to be a decent person, someone, somewhere will find you attractive.

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