Probably not, but maybe wink. Plus what to do when your boss wants to Snapchat with you.
I am currently taking a stab at online dating. A few guys I know have popped up in my list of matches, including my current FWB. I'm not really interested in dating any of these guys, but I kind of want to acknowledge their presence as fellow single people looking for love on the internet. A virtual, dating website head-nod, if you will. I guess my question is, is there an etiquette for acknowledging someone's presence via dating website without giving the impression that I am interested in them? Or should I just leave it alone?
Whoa! You have a very evolved attitude about this phenomenon, I think. Don't you know you're supposed to have heart palpitations and fevers and waking nightmares over seeing someone you recognize on OkCupid? Don't you know you're supposed to press the "hide" button and then get up to rock anxiously back and forth between feet, and then come back and try to press "hide" again, because you can never quite buy that you're REALLY hidden? Are you trying to tell me there aren't food establishments you refuse to patronize (even though you love them) because you KNOW, in every organ you have, that someone from your high school will be there? How did you get to this place? Tell me The Way.
It's sincerely very cool that YOU are so cool about seeing guys you know on your dating site of choice, and in your case there doesn't seem to be any reason to "hide." But still, I'm just not sure there's a super great reason for you to NOT let yourself go unnoticed, either. It's nice to greet people, but the context matters, and even if you (because you are better than the rest of us) are not uncomfortable seeing these people there, some of the guys in question might be. Sending them a message just to say "hi, how are you, I'm not actually interested in dating you but just wanted to be like, 'sup, this is internet dating huh,'" is kind of …pointless, I think? Like NICE, but pointless. And the amount of explaining you'd have to do to make it clear that you're saying hi but NOT IN A FLIRTY WAY just makes it more of an ordeal than it needs to be. If they're good friends, you can always joke about it later in person. If they aren't good friends, just let it go.
That, however, is only what I'd advise for the non-FWB. The best would be if you're on Match, because then you could "wink" at him, which is incredibly cheesy but also probably the best option to hit that semi-complex "how do I greet the guy I'm sleeping with on the dating site we're both using to meet other people" note. If you're on OkCupid, rate him a 4, just because. He won't know if it was a 4 or a 5, but you will.
Source: lamebook.com
If someone asks you a question on a Facebook status and you forget to respond but then remember weeks later, should go back to that status to respond, or just let it go?
Sometimes I think this column is helping people and sometimes I think it is making them worse. Am I making you worry about things you never worried about before? Am I making you over-think your every last Internet move, and even more so, your text messages? Have you ever thought about writing me to ask if it's okay to log into your own Facebook account and then sat, paralyzed, for literal minutes on end? I'm not sorry if this is your life now. I'LL MAKE YOU NEED ME. HahaHAHAaaaaa.
Anyway, you're not crazy. You're thoughtful. Maybe crazily thoughtful, and if you have to use crazily to modify an adjective, it might as well be that one. I think you should always respond to things as soon as possible, and for you I guess that means weeks later, in this case. It's still better to respond at the source (however belatedly) than to ignore it completely, UNLESS we're talking about a comment thread that included several other participants. You don't want to send new notifications to a bunch of people who are so over your status just because you weren't on top of it in the first place, so if that's the case, send a private message or a text (or whatever direct communication you would typically use with this person) to the relevant party.