Ah the joy of databases... all those like-minded people efficiently listed and organized, their inboxes earnestly anticipating a fresh ration of email excitement. This is exactly what we have come to know and love about online dating sites: a ready-made, profiled listing of mini face pics and usernames. We get to choose who to tentatively approach with a not-over-pushy-not-too-laid-back email, with the plain intent to check one other out for relationship possibilities. Each person realizes that what the other person is after is a relationship.

But more lately, it appears that an astounding number of individuals simply would like to email/text each other as a brief lead-in to fornication. If the quantity of 'online mating' entities springing up everywhere is any indication of consumer demand, progressively more people want fleeting sexual forays with people they don't know. And absolutely, that's girls too, not just adolescent males...

Hold on a minute, is this aggressive multiplication of mating websites a result of buyer demand, or of webmaster enterprise? The basic commercial distinction between an online dating site and an online mating site is as follows: whereas lonesome_lily is sending out her prospecting emails effectively searching for one man, swinging_sam69 sends out several invitations to the party in her pants, and the more that come (!) the better. It's simple to ascertain why maintaining an online mating site is productive: swingers are repeat customers, whereas if our lonesome lady gets what she hopes for, she'll be canceling her monthly sub and will never require an online dating website again (she hopes).

The answer probably lies in a combination of consumer demand and internet profit-making entrepreneurs. Thanks to those databases, brief steamy encounters are more accessible than ever before, and so is making money on the internet from people that want them. I'm pretty sure classic online dating websites still have legs, and surely by their very makeup will be better quality websites than mating sites? Either way, even mentally processing this concept makes me feel old-fashioned - I always thought dating was the foundation for mating. And I've only just got used to the thought of online dating being a prelude to mating. But bypassing the dating and no waiting for mating?! Oh brother. When I was growing up, this is what bars were for - I suppose now one doesn't even need to dance and/or drink alcohol to end up in bed with a stranger.