Wanted: single geek
Joyce and Jeffrey Dales met on Match.com. She has become a ''geek matchmaker.'' Joyce and Jeffrey Dales met on Match.com. She has become a ''geek matchmaker.''
By Danny Deza
Globe Correspondent / March 28, 2009
Joyce Dales is a geek. She chuckles and snorts at "Star Wars" references, and despite her love for trendy reality shows, Dales will never turn her back on the world of "geekdom." In June 2006, Dales started sweetongeeks.com, giving an alternative-dating source to the socially awkward who might find popular dating sites too cool for their liking. Her website and singles nights at local comic book stores were originally geared toward geeks in the Boston and Cambridge area but eventually reached comic shops from East to West. Dales has become a "geek matchmaker," uniting different sectors of the geek world and giving a haven to those who seem a bit different.
Q. What inspired you to start this unique website?
A. Jeffrey and I met on Match.com, and then a couple years after we married we decided that we didn't see anything within the realm in geek that was unifying the community. There is a lot of geek movement going on, especially with the new greener technologies and the new phases in technology that we are moving into. There seems to be a second geek revolution, and there needs to be a place for those people to unify and meet.
Q. What are sweetongeeks' plans for the future? Expansion?
A. We want it to be more of a Facebook style.
We want to connect all the independent facets of the geek community so that people can get out there and meet, and ironically get off the computer and meet in real life, and that starts with our geeks singles night. We expect that to grow, grow, and grow, because we have only been doing that a few months, and look where it's gone already.
Q. What kind of activities do you do on geek singles night?
A. We do it old school, we take it back to Connect Four and Operation. On a singles night there is a lot of mingling going on, but not everyone's gaming skills are going to be on the same level. So we do have everything from Dungeons & Dragons to more elaborate role-playing games to chess, checkers, Uno, Jenga, and you would be surprised how many crazy games get started on our singles nights.
Q. Have you had any success stories recently?
A. "We have had many. I am going to be starting a section of the website dedicated to just that . . . We have gotten so many letters so I really need to document these. We haven't had our first weddings, but I think there is one coming soon.
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