Web of love: looking for romance online

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In the flower-power era of the 1960s, John Lennon emphatically sang, ‘All you need is love.’ But he didn’t have to worry about the Internet, and having to text message sweet nothings to Yoko. Some techies are finding the courting process difficult, and they’re turning to more unusual, high-tech means to seek potential mates. (No, we’re not talking about racy Craigslist ads.)

Take, for example, the anonymous 25-year-old man who’s, well, uninitiated in the ways of love. His website, Help a Virgin, has gotten significant attention over the last couple of days. The deal, assuming it’s not all a hoax: His girlfriend (that is, a friend who is a girl -- a relationship that has been, so far, totally platonic) agreed to do him a favor by alleviating his carnal deficiency as long as the website receives 5 million hits by New Year’s Eve. If he doesn’t reach his goal, he’ll have to do ‘anything she wants for a whole month.’

Thanks to some attention from Reddit, the social news website, Help a Virgin has seen a major surge in Web traffic. The site has been up since at least the summer (the last time it was updated was July), but after it hit Reddit’s front page on Sunday, the traffic counter has more than doubled -- to 80,000 and rising. At this rate, his scheme won’t succeed (he wouldn’t even get half the target number) so he’ll definitely need some additional attention. (He didn’t respond to my e-mail requests for an interview, but, then again, I’m not a woman.)

He wouldn’t be the first to chalk up a failed attempt at Internet-assisted intimacy. Cargo8, a user of the popular social news site Digg, made his plea for a prom date earlier this year. The post includes a photo of him holding poster boards with his proposal written on them. Diggers supported him, giving more than 14,000 votes to the post, but his love interest didn’t reciprocate. Ouch.

Internet proposals don’t always end in heartbreak, however. Michael Weiss-Malik, a Google software engineer, popped the question using the Google Maps’ panoramic Street View feature. In the street-level photos, he can be seen standing in front of the Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif., holding a sign that reads ‘Marry Me Leslie.’ She said yes. But, to be fair, he did ask her beforehand, the old-fashioned way -- in person, during a quiet night at home, engagement ring and all.

‘The assurance this guy got pre-Digg is not as cool for the risk factor though,’ Cargo8 wrote on Weiss-Malik’s Digg post.

At least he got the girl, buddy.

-- Mark Milian

Screenshot of Help a Virgin