Do you think they're a good idea? Have you ever used one? Has anyone ever put your name into one?

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

Answers

They're a great idea, if the object is to gather many email addresses for the purpose of spamming. It is exactly because people will put in every email address they can think of out of curiosity that it is so effective.

Once my project manager put me down as her crush. The snickering gave her away.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

I have no idea what they are. I've never heard of them. From reading your diary entry, I can assume they are sites where people enter the names of other people whom they have crushes on. But, what's supposed to happen then? What are the mechanics of these sites?

Although I am a person who keeps my attraction to others strictly to myself, these crush sites sound very teenage. . .very stupid.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

Since under no conceivable circumstances could I imagine risking the humiliation inherent in approaching a girl on whom I had a crush, the crush sites do serve a useful function. They at least allow me to say *somewhere* that I fancy someone. After all, my usual approach is to leave notes or e-mail (anonymous) and try to engage the Crush Fantasy in a *written* anonymous conversation long, long before I risk meeting her.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

Robert, what happens is that you enter the e-mail addresses of the people you have crushes on, and then those people get e-mail saying that someone has a crush on them, and they should come register at that site and enter the names of the people they have crushes on and then if there's a match, both parties are notified.

So yes, you are right, these sites are very teenage, and as Andr00 points out, you are subjecting your crush to spam as well as annoyance! It strikes me as a pretty selfish thing to do.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

Never used one myself, but I think they serve a purpose for the public. Especially teenagers because it gives them a "safe" outlet for all of their hormonal urges...a safe expression, if you will.

BTW, what are some of those sites anyway? Now I'm curious....:)

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

Yes, please someone point us to some of these crush sites.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

ecrush
hushcrush
secretadmirer.com

But I certainly hope you guys aren't planning to use these!

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

also serves to really piss off one's significant other. I was "crushed", so, naturally, put in my partner's email address to "crush" him back. But he had not been the original "crusher" so he was plagued with the sense that I was being ardently pursued by others... we laughed it off.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

Well, it wasn't me.

I've never used one or been notified by one, and I agree with you totally on not being interested in someone who would use one.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

Ah, Internet Explorer hoses me again. Let's try this again:

Never used one. Never heard of one until now. I think bludgeoning myself repeatedly with a nail-decorated baseball bat would be a faster and less painful way to go. Isn't the whole point of a crush that it's on someone who's basically unattainable? (Already taken / clearly uninterested/wrong sexual orientation/lives too far away/etc.)

I did enjoy playing around with SixDegrees back when it existed, though it had nothing to do with crushes.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

Well first Happy Birthday! Glad that you had a great night even if it was later than you wanted. About the crush thing... well honestly I don't see it as that big of a deal, just another thing to spend time and energy on the internet.

I'd have to say though that I doubt and serious relationship has started on one of those, outside the High School level at any rate.

Blake

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2001

Ok, I have a confession to make.

After reading about the crush sites discussed here, I tried one.

Result: these sites can cause a serious mindfuck! It had my bf going through every possibile scenario when he received one...."Is this from my gf? Or someone else? Did she only send it to me? Who sent it to her? Who else likes her? What if she didn't send it to me and I send it to her and she sends it to someone else...?" Ahhhh, the angst. Keep in mind we're both near 30, have been together for a while and this had him thinking like a high schooler.

I realize I am opening up myself to criticism here, please be nice.

-- Anonymous, April 06, 2001

I only discovered these sites last week when somebody sent me one. I thought it was incredibly cute and sweet. It wasn't hard to guess who it was. But as somebody else has commented, it does get you thinking about who else they've sent them to, how they found out about the site etc. etc. until you're feeling just like a teenager again (mid twenties here). I don't think they're just for teens either. It's cute at any age.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

I just received a 'Someone you know has a crush on you!' mail. However the email address in the header is not the one I give out to friends, but an old email address used when first setting up my server. I think I used it to sign up to a couple of newsletters.

So - these sites are purely for harvesting email addresses for spam. No one could have used that email address to tell me they had a crush on me.

These sites should be shut down.

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2002