u/Electrical_Act_5342

Last year, I made a post in this sub ranting about how every match I got on dating apps seemed to want commitment right away. I got absolutely cooked for it and downvoted to hell. A lot of people in the comments acted like I was some irresponsible asshole just for wanting something casual.

Anyway, a few people DMed me after that post, and one of them really stood out.

We started talking. Nothing romantic. No deep late night conversations either. Mostly random small talk, jokes, everyday stuff. But there was something about her that made me genuinely look forward to talking to her every day.

She had a weird sense of humor, questioned everything, and just felt… different from most people I’ve talked to online.

After a few weeks, I asked if she’d send a picture. She sent a mirror selfie where her face was barely visible, then asked me to send mine.

I did.

And instantly got blocked.

That honestly fucked with my confidence more than I expected. I’ve dated before, never really had someone react like that to my appearance. If anything, I was always the guy in my friend group who got hyped up for his looks, so this completely caught me off guard.

And no, the issue isn’t rejection. People are allowed to not find someone attractive. That’s completely fair.

What hurt was the way it happened.

Blocking someone immediately after convincing them for 30 minutes to send pictures feels unnecessarily brutal. A simple “hey, you’re not what I expected” would’ve been enough.

And the weird part is, she didn’t seem like a bad person at all. That’s what’s been stuck in my head. In those few weeks, she came across as thoughtful, funny, and kind.

I’ve talked to a lot of people online. Most of them I forget within days. But for some reason, I still remember her.

And before someone says I only remember her because she mind fucked me, no. If that was the reason, I would’ve forgotten her months ago.

Not even sure why I’m posting this here again. Maybe because this is the sub where I met her.

Or maybe some stupid part of me still hopes she reads this someday and tells me what went wrong.

Few months ago, a magazine reached out to my friend (who runs a mid-sized app dev company in California) offering to feature them as one of the “Top 10 [industry] Companies of 2026”. Of course, they asked him to pay around $6,000 for it in exchange for the exposure and for their editorial team to write a piece on them.

At that time, when he asked me for my opinion, I basically told him this:

If you are truly doing something innovative, new, or world-changing, reporters will find you, and a million words will be written about you for free. People will read those stories because they actually want to read about something new and innovative. You will get traction, media coverage, and exposure in print media for free. These paid features in unknown magazines must be scams.

But he was convinced that if he paid the $6,000 and was able to secure even one or two customers from it every month, he could likely make his money back within 1-2 months.

He had already made up his mind, so I didn’t try to convince him anymore, especially since I also never had any experience with this kind of paid “getting published” stuff.

Fast forward 6 months, this topic came up again while we were talking, and he said this was one of the best business decisions he made last year.

He said:

“This magazine is seen by 3,000-5,000 decision-makers each month. They’re distributing free copies at trade shows and dropping copies off at convention hotels to be distributed across convention block reservations. People still pick them up with room service breakfast, and reading is still an old habit for the 35-45 age group.”

For the first few months, he got a good number of incoming leads directly from that article. Later, he also started using that published piece as a sales tool and as an accomplishment while pitching new customers, and apparently it worked really well.

I am now also looking for this kind of magazine/publication in India. Couldn’t find much help on Google. Any leads?

Few months ago a magazine reached out to my friend (who runs a mid sized app dev company in California) offering to feature them as one of the “Top 10 [industry] Companies of 2026”. Of course they asked him to pay around $6000 for it in exchange for the exposure and for their editorial team to write a piece on them.

At that time when he asked me for my opinion, I basically told him this:

If you are truly doing something innovative, new, or world-changing, reporters will find you, and a million words will be written about you for free. People will read those stories because they actually want to read about something new and innovative. You will get traction, media coverage, and exposure in print media for free. These paid features in unknown magazines must be scam.

But he was convinced that if he paid the $6,000 and was able to secure even one or two customers from it every month, he could likely make his money back within 1-2 months.

He had already made up his mind, so I didn’t try to convince him anymore, especially since I also never had any experience with this kind of paid “getting published” stuff.

Fast forward 6 months, this topic came up again while we were talking, and he said this was one of the best business decisions he ever made last year.

He said:

“This magazine is seen by 3,000-5,000 decision makers each month. They’re distributing free copies at trade shows and dropping copies off at convention hotels to be distributed across convention block reservations. People still pick them up with room service breakfast, and reading is still an old habit for the 35-45 age group.”

For the first few months, he got a good number of incoming leads directly from that article. Later, he also started using that published piece as a sales tool and as an accomplishment while pitching new customers, and apparently it worked really well.

I am now also looking for this kind of magazine/publication in India. Couldn’t find any help from Google. Any leads?