Dating site turns conflicts to connections

For Larry Wilson, it started with a realization.

As a single man, Wilson, now the CEO of OppositesConnect.com, had been made aware through pervasive advertising of the breadth of online dating websites. But upon visiting these sites, he was struck by the boring, clichéd profiles he saw. And an idea occurred to him. All of these sites were touting soul mates to their members – perfect matches who share identical interests; were there any sites based on matching opposites?
"My grandma told me when I was a kid that opposites attract," Wilson said. So he went looking.

"Literally within seconds it went from a personal search to a professional quest," he said.
There was nothing to find. So Wilson decided to take the initiative. He approached three female psychoanalysts with a concept of a dating site based not on agreement but on conflict… and they loved it.

Now, OppositesConnect.com is preparing for an opening date of June 21, offering free lifetime memberships for anyone who signs up before that day and conducting a national advertising campaign, aimed at targets who might not be the typical online dating type.

"I noticed immediately that the large dating sites did not cultivate the college-age, single demographic at all," Wilson said. Most dating sites tend to focus on happily-ever-after endings to their match-ups, whereas that's the last thing college students are likely to be thinking about.
"We're promoting great dates with great, eye-opening debates," Wilson said. "We're never going to tout marriage."

The site offers multiple ways to connect different-minded users. Weekly, rotating questions are asked of members on topics ranging from the national health care plan to last week's episode of "American Idol." There are also message boards which act like fan clubs – if a user wants to start a New York Yankees page, they better be prepared to start a Red Sox page alongside it. Running dialogues and debates are fostered there which would hopefully manifest in a series of interesting dates.

"It doesn't have to be some big issue," said Wilson, who said the mix of conflict and connection could arise between democrats and republicans or simply fans of different coffee houses or genres of music. "It gives you a conversation starter."

"I'm not saying that what e-Harmony is doing is wrong," he said. "It doesn't work for everybody … I wanted to bring fun back into dating."

bobal-greene@dailynebraskan.com