In the days before hook-up apps, the cruising megasite was Gaydar. I joined 13 years ago, newly single and living in leafy North London. “Internet dating” was a bizarre beast. So many reasons to be wary. How do you know that’s them in the photo? And if it is, how do you know it’s not from a time when ABBA were still in the charts?
Having only had a profile for three months, when I receive a series of messages out of the blue from a person who reckons he’s George Michael, one of the greatest pop stars of the time, I’m naturally disinclined to believe him.
It’s a wet Monday evening in April and as I log onto the ’dar, something more than a million users were doing every day back in 2004, I notice a message from a faceless user with a moniker not too dissimilar to that of a well-known brand of vodka. He tells me almost straight away that we are in the same business. On his profile page he states his profession as a lawyer. Mine says I’m in the music/ publishing business so I joke to myself that I’m chatting to Stevie Wonder and ask him to clarify.
“Hi. How is law my business? And do you have any pix?” This seems the only logical response I can muster. “Oh yeah, sorry, forgot about that. This is why it says that,” and then I notice he’s attached a photo. He extrapolates, “Just a little smoke-screening for unwanted guests, i.e. press. Genuinely. Are you a writer or a publisher?”