A Reader Responds

M., a reader from California, shares the following found example of JDate's seemingly random censoring of certain clusters of letters... -- Perfect First Date: "It would where we first get to know each other. The venue is not that important. We would be relaxed and enthusiastically talk about various su ects. A good place to meet would be a cafe or restaurant." -- "su ects." JDate censors "bj." I don't know if I should be amused or appalled. M., be appalled, and not just at the censoring of BJ (what if the person was talking about a synagogue on the Upper West Side?). Be appalled because this person has constructed a well-oiled cliche to show his (boring) vision of a first date, be it perfect or not. "where we first get to know each other"--this is any date. "enthusiastically talk about various su ects"--even "adding a BJ" here isn't going to help. "A good place to meet would be a cafe or restaurant"--props for spelling restaurant right, a word I still occasionally wrong with a misspelling. But this reminds me of an improv "ask," where we ask the audience for a setting before constructing a scene within that context. You've seen it: "Can you give me a location, where two people might meet?" This is so general that it's really up to the creativity of the individual to tailor it interestingly. A cafe or restaurant? Almost never. More likely, the audience responds with a subway platform, a library, the corner market, a doctor's office...none of which I would select for a first date. But all of which would be more interesting than anything this guy would pick. I'm harsh, I know. Call it high standards, or high-falutin', but I'm simply not willing to compromise on creativity.