A general view of online dating and in particular Irish dating online.

I made a mistake last night. It happens rarely, but when it happens, it HAPPENS. The mistake in question was Drunk Maybefriends-ing - an ugly phenomenon which should be reserved for Christmas week and, if you really have to, Paddy's day. If you're tempted to try it, don't. It's not funny and it's not clever and the chances of you getting an actual date with any of the people you've been working on so far will plummet further with each line you type. I was out earlier to support a few friends who were in a talent show, which meant that for much of the evening I was standing alone with a free bar to hand and a seemingly endless supply of tokens to spend at it. So needless to say when I got home at two I was full of the joys and all set to have a good natter. My flatmate moved out a month ago after 4 years of co-habiting bliss, and given that she never failed to appreciate me throwing open her bedroom door with a kebab from Zaytoon at 5 in the morning (the feeling was mutual), I was sure the MBF people would greet me with similar excitement. It started off harmlessly enough, with me sending a few random flirts. I then picked up speed and gaily caught up with some people who had been quick-noting me this week. But then throwing caution to the wind I thought I'd try to get onto a new level with my email friends. In fairness one of the reasons I wanted to do online dating was because I felt it would cut out the rubbish and allow everyone to be honest under cover of the internet. And I've noticed that, forget your flirts and your quick notes, emails are where the real action happens. So I decided to go for brutal honesty and let them know the real me. By day they had received breezy enough mails about my interests, my job and friends, with the odd reference to their profile, one or two funny comments, a smattering of smiley faces and polite questions about themselves. By night with the aid of a free bar in Camden Street they got a rant about my ex boyfriend, a rant about the Dublin Dating Scene and a rant about my overdraft, including actual figures and cross references to my credit card. There then followed a brief interlude in which I pondered on the pros and cons of the new Taoiseach, and soon enough back to ranting, this time about my boss, frozen sweetcorn (just doesn't taste the same) and the new leaving cert timetable. I genuinely don't know where these rants came from. I was in great form! Came in this morning expecting a barrage of emails where people thanked me for my honesty and asked me to meet them tonight as they just couldn't wait any longer. Nothing. Not so much as a flirt. I think I'm starting to realise why I'm still single.