I also like The Onion because funny people read it. For me personally, it’s a little bit of a litmus test. People who get The Onion will probably get me and my weird sense of humor. Friends of mine who are members via Nerve and Salon say the same thing; they identify with the type of content on those sites and want to date people who relate.
The biggest selling point of The Onion is that you can date for free as a Standard member. You don’t have access to a few things that paid members do, but you’ll still be able (for the most part) to conduct a thorough search. The advantages to being a paid member are being able to see all of a member’s photos (as opposed to just the main one), coming up higher in search returns, being able to search by specific criteria (which admittedly would have been helpful for me in weeding out all those men under 6'1"), and of course, sending emails to people you’re interested in. But if you want to work The Onion freebie, never fear. You can still email members you’re interested in by purchasing points. (Sending an email is 200 points. The minimum purchase is 2000 points for a mere $10.) As a Standard member, you can receive emails—so make sure your picture is good. Also, look for members that have Standard Contacts status—you can email them for free.
The real proof, of course, is in the dates. Every person I’ve gone out with (and there have been many, trust me) has been incredibly interesting, regardless of whether or not we had a connection. I wouldn’t say that every single one of them was funny and edgy (but then, I’m sure many of them wouldn’t say that about me either considering I’m still single), but they each had an interesting creative wrinkle of some sort. They also all lived either in San Francisco or very close to San Francisco which is a top priority for me. (I actually did give in to filling out that blasted questionnaire on eHarmony but I never went out with anyone because 80 percent of my matches lived at least an hour outside the city. Something to think about if you’re considering eHarmony.)
