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Comment by codingdave | Hacker News Reader

There were a decent number of couples who met online, before meeting online meant a dating site. There were BBSes, Usenet, and some early discussions sites. I'm sure people could compile a surprisingly large list of ways people met. A few years later, I even met my wife on LiveJournal, before that went weird(er). So while someone certainly could do a documentary on such things, I don't think any specific couple from that era should be holding their breath for it.

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A lot of people still seem to meet via Metafilter.

http://mefiwiki.com/wiki/Married

IRC, obviously. Probably MUDs too.

My brother-in-law met his wife on a MUD. I met my wife playing ToonTown online. Any avenue where folks interact will create friends, enemies, lovers, and life partners.

I know of a couple that met via CompuServe.

If you want to relive your BBS days...

http://telnet.org/htm/places.htm

It’s notable for being the first time in human history when people found mates across the globe without leaving their homes.

That definitely deserves a documentary.

I’m not sure. There used to be some late night ad things that would show a recorded video dating profile and you would call in if interested. The internet wasn’t the first to that.

True, but the "friction" of meeting and interacting with remote people was greatly improved, if that makes sense. Thus you simply met more people, especially at a time where folks interested enough to get on the Internet were probably very similarly minded to you - which was quite rare for the time at least in my neck of the woods.

Some of the first BBS' I remember from the late 80's/early 90's were dating oriented or at least had an active personals section, so it certainly was a constant evolution.

There were literal mail-order brides before the internet

I wonder how often these long distance couples have met up and one or both of them has realised they are not actually attracted to the other. It must happen sometimes. I'm surprised it doesn't happen most of the time. It says something about how human attraction works, but I'm not sure what.

I am aware of a documentary where a mail order bride from Japan did not like her intended. She worked until she had paid off the cost of her ticket to Canada and then married his brother.

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