Is Reddit replacing Craigslist and YouTube as the Web’s hottest spot for networked romance?
A couple weeks back, the Daily Dot reported on how a redditor landed on the new TLC reality show Virgin Diaries. Now a lustful confession in a Reddit forum has led to a real-life meeting between two users.
Yesterday, redditor hihi_birdie started a thread in r/AskReddit—a section of Reddit which encourages users to ask the community open questions— called “What is the most mundane thing/situation that always makes you horny for unknown reasons [possible NSFW]?”
She began with her own steamy confession:
“For me, it’s just being in physics lecture. I have no idea why, but I spend about a third of every class just thinking about making out with whoever is sitting next to me. Maybe 8:30am is some magic time,” she wrote.
For fellow redditor i_am_the_cheese, 8:30 AM turned out to be a magic time indeed.
“I’m in an 8:30 physics class. Please tell me we go to the same school,” he commented.
That wasn’t the only coincidence. Through comments on the thread and private messages, the two learned that they not only go to the same school, but they were in fact in the very same physics class. Skeptical but hopeful redditors urged them to have a real-life romantic rendezvous—with photographic evidence.
Now, the two have made good on that promise—at least showing up in the same camera frame. hihi_birdie just posted the photo in r/pics, a section of Reddit devoted to photos.
The photo shows the pair posing in front of the science building holding signs that display the date, time, and their Reddit usernames. In the thread on r/pics, it already has thousands of upvotes and comments.
By letting hihi_birdie post the photo, i_am_the_cheese made a gesture of kindness very specific to Reddit: Her account accrued the karma, or positive score, from those thumbs-ups from other redditors.
“And they say chivalry is dead. Pfft,” wrote hihi_birdie.
Now that Reddit’s trademark skepticism has been quelled with evidence, most commenters just want to know what’s next for this potential Reddit romance. So far, the two haven’t said much to hint about their future except to mention that their first meeting “wasn’t awkward at all.” (For the uninitiated, that’s a litote, or a rhetorical device, that indicates that it was in fact awkward.)
“How awkward will it be now if theres next time considering how many people have commented saying you should have sex/go out,” redditor chrisfishlock quipped.
The Daily Dot will stay on the case. Will this relationship end in drama? Or turn into a big geek wedding? We can’t wait to find out.