>			>
		>

>			>
		>

>			>
		>

>			>
		>

So if you have spent any time on at all on myspace (or I suppose, the internet in general) chances are you have come across one of these ads. The ubiquitous personal profile dating advertisement. I find the “True” ads most appalling on several levels…

• The ads are not true… none of the people featured in them have profiles
• They are borderline soft core pornography
• They are featured on websites frequented by children
• They are encouraging a culture of one night stand gratification
• They are misrepresenting anyone with decent intentions associated with true

So I thought to myself, since they are making a mockery of relationships… someone should make a mockery of them. So I started with my own profile pic and put in a small textual indictment in the same style of true marketing.

Then I thought it would be fun to extract these models and put them in real pictures with real people doing plane silly things… to take the edge off the sex appeal and present them as they should be received… laughable.

I had some fun with a few willing participants, but I quickly realized what a dangerous game it was for those participating. My friend Paul lost a couple nights sleep over his portrayal of waiting for a True chick to get out of the bathroom… and then Justin had to mandate that his rendition of “sexy stomach” never made it to facebook where it could be tagged as him.

This was all easy enough for me, since I was not actually in any of the compromising pictures. I quickly dismissed their worries… until I was giving a web demo to a Joomla! user group and stumbled across my archive of True images that I had saved on my laptop for later manipulation.

So you just click here and then you pick the picture you want to upload…

Ahhhh gosh… what the crap, a folder full of thumbnailed True ads has just been projected on a 10 foot wall to a group of my peers and friends, it looks like I am some rookie pervert collecting cheesy porno adds.

It was too late, I just clicked into a different folder and tried to go on as if it did not happen…

should I stop and explain… is it worth it… what do they think of me… ahhh my testimony is shot over a misunderstanding… not that I am so pure as to not be affected by these images, but thats not why I was collecting them, I promise…

The Bible lessons about avoiding even the appearance of evil echoed in my brain and heart… for the first time in a long time… I valued my purity. I still think a healthy dose of mockery would be a good backlash against these dating services… care needs to be taken… and rashness can destroy all the best of intentions…

Categories: Experiments, Relationships, Criticisms