Coming soon! pic.twitter.com/BETCBf4s3N

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 5, 2025

pic.twitter.com/J8iDhSEewa

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) February 5, 2025

The Trump Resort, Gaza in 2030 pic.twitter.com/8ERR1Nyiz5

— Shelley G (@ShelleyGldschmt) February 5, 2025

🫳🏼
🇵🇸
🗑️

— Hashem (@HashemAllMighty) February 5, 2025

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/5zn6HMLSJd

— Jews Fight Back 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@JewsFightBack) February 5, 2025

Think bigger pic.twitter.com/vxZJpXvxEq

— Kitty Surprise (@KittySurprise1) February 5, 2025

Confetti was needed 🎉 pic.twitter.com/H5TP1H2AIE

— Caт Вee ✡︎🪶 (@CatShoshanna) February 5, 2025

The resistance was betrayed.

From Gaza, to Lebanon, to Syria.

The Axis may be over, but the resistance will remain. The genocidal terror state of Israel is Syria's eternal enemy, and will always pose an existential threat.

The fight for Syria's soul is not over, nor is the… pic.twitter.com/aBsMxIfhNE

— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) December 8, 2024

Just two days ago:

Homs may fall Temporarily. We will get it back. The anti-Lebanon mountains protect Damscus.

Zionist accounts like Visegard24 will try to spread mass hysteria.

Don't buy it. Steel yourself. This is going to be a meat grinder.

— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) December 6, 2024

Just two weeks ago:

Soon over Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/eu2YNTYuR2

— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) November 27, 2024

Lots of westoid dunking in the comments, worth the scroll for the schadenfreude. Summarized:

SUCK SHIT YOU EVIL B-WORD

— Drew Pavlou (@DrewPavlou) December 8, 2024

There are no free rides here.

Everyone puts in work.

You'll get your frickin hands dirty like the rest of us.

Who has the keys to the yard?

I had a dream last night where I was eating I guess dinner with Vladimir Putin and he had three bodyguards and they were hanging out and he was speaking in English.

The real interesting part of the dream for me is that he wanted me to bite but not chew his cheese into small pieces and he's specifically wanted me to do that with his pepper jack cheese and then he would eat it.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk

You say that but we know the clout chasing for the mythical "modern audience" wasn't working so logically the next extreme is to advertise against it to see what happens.

Like neighbor the "modern audience Xwitter purple hair hambeasts" are the ones who do not play video games wtf, will redditors start saying that vaccines cause autism next year when it comes to them hijacking rightoid talking points from the past 5 years? !g*mers !chuds

VOTE NOW AND WIN IF U GUESS CORRECT

lol good luck with Russia r-slurs

Stressed so I've been taking photos like crazy

!animalposters !cats

!britbongs get your VPNs ready for when Aevann cucks out too

Orange Site thread

A year into their relationship, Jess and Nate got engaged next to the sea. "It was a golden, sandy beach – empty and secluded," says Jess, 26. "It was just us two there, so it was really intimate."

Except that the couple were actually hundreds of miles apart – and they were role-playing their engagement in the video game World of Warcraft.

Nate, 27, was living just outside London – and Jess was in Wales. After meeting briefly at an esports event in Germany in March 2023, the pair developed a long-distance relationship, playing the game together "from the moment we woke up to the moment we went to bed", says Nate.

The couple still play the game daily, even though they've been living together in Manchester since March 2024. And they know other couples who have found their partners through video games: "It's a different way of meeting someone," says Jess. "You both have such a strong mutual love for something already, it's easier to fall in love."

Nate agrees. "I was able to build a lot more of a connection with people I meet in gaming than I ever was able to in a dating app."

A selfie of Nate and Jess on the left, and on the right, a screenshot from World of Warcraft showing Nate proposing with the words, "Will you marry me?"

Nate and Jess (pictured, alongside their virtual engagement), found love online - but not on a dating app

Nate and Jess are not alone. According to some experts, people of their generation are moving away from dating apps and finding love on platforms that were not specifically designed for romance.

And hanging out somewhere online that's instead focused on a shared interest or hobby could allow people to find a partner in a lower-stakes, less pressurised setting than marketing themselves to a gallery of strangers. For some digital-native Gen Zs, it seems, simply doing the things they enjoy can be an alternative to the tyranny of the swipe.

Internet dating at 30 - a turning point?

Since it first appeared with the launch of match.com 30 years ago, online dating has fundamentally altered our relationships. Around 10% of heterosexual people and 24% of LGBT people have met their long-term partner online, according to Pew Research Center.

But evidence suggests that young people are switching off dating apps, with the UK's top 10 seeing a fall of nearly 16%, according to a report published by Ofcom in November 2024. Tinder lost 594,000 users, while Hinge dropped by 131,000, Bumble by 368,000 and Grindr by 11,000, the report said (a Grindr spokesperson said they were "not familiar with this study's source data" and that their UK users "continue to rise year over year").

According to a 2023 Axios study of US college students and other Gen Zers, 79% said they were forgoing regular dating app usage. And in its 2024 Online Nation report, Ofcom said: "Some analysts speculate that for younger people, particularly Gen Z, the novelty of dating apps is wearing off." In a January 2024 letter to shareholders, Match Group Inc - which owns Tinder and Hinge - acknowledged younger people were seeking "a lower pressure, more authentic way to find connections".

"The idea of using a shared interest to meet someone isn't new, but it's been reinvented in this particular moment in time – it signals a desire of Gen Z," says Carolina Bandinelli, an associate professor at Warwick University whose research focuses on the digital technologies of romance.

Getty Images Joggers running in a parkGetty Images

Many younger people are exploring alternatives to dating apps, from gaming to running clubs and other social activities

According to Danait Tesfay, 26, a marketing assistant from London, younger people are looking for alternatives to dating apps, "whether that be gaming or running clubs or extra-curricular clubs, where people are able to meet other like-minded people and eventually foster a romantic connection".

At the same time that membership of some dating apps appears to be in decline, platforms based around common interests are attracting more users. For instance, the fitness app Strava now has 135m users – and its monthly active users grew by 20% last year, according to the company. Other so-called "affinity-based" sites have seen similar growth: Letterboxd, where film fans can share reviews, says its community grew by 50% last year.

Rise of the hobby apps

And just as in the pre-internet age, when couples might have met at a sports club or the cinema, now singletons are able to find each other in their online equivalents.

"People have always bonded over shared interests, but it's been given a digital spin with these online communities," says Luke Brunning, co-director of the Centre for Love, S*x, and Relationships (CLSR) at the University of Leeds.

"It's increasingly difficult to distinguish between behaviour that's on a dating app and dating behaviour on another platform."

Hobby apps are taking on some features of social media, too: in 2023, Strava introduced a messaging feature letting users chat directly. One twenty-something from London explains that her friends use it as a way to flirt with people they fancy, initially by liking a running route they've posted on the platform. Strava says its data shows that one in five of its active Gen Z members has been on a date with someone they met through fitness clubs.

"[Online] fitness communities are becoming big places to find partners," says Nichi Hodgson, the author of The Curious History of Dating. She says a friend of hers met his partner that way, and they're now living together.

The same appears to apply to Letterboxd, too. With users including Chappell Roan and Charli XCX, it's a popular platform for younger people - two-thirds of members in a survey of 5,000 were under 34.

The company says it's aware of several couples meeting through the app, including one who bonded over a shared love of David Fincher's opinion-dividing 2020 drama Mank. "It could be that seeing other people's film tastes reveals an interesting aspect of themselves," says Letterboxd co-founder Matthew Buchanan.

Why the shift?

So what might be driving this? While dating apps initially appeared to offer "the illusion of choice", and a transparent, efficient way to meet partners, the reality for many has often proven to be different. The Pew Research Center found that 46% of dating-app users said their experiences were overall very or somewhat negative.

The recent decline in user numbers might also be a response to the way some apps are structured – in particular, the swipe feature for selecting potential partners, launched by Tinder in 2013 and widely copied.

Its creator, Jonathan Badeen, was partly inspired by studying the 1940s experiments of psychologist BF Skinner, who conditioned hungry pigeons to believe that food delivered randomly into a tray was prompted by their movements.

Getty Images A psychological experiment with pigeons conducted by BF SkinnerGetty Images

Tinder's swipe mechanism was partly inspired by Harvard Professor BF Skinner's psychological experiments with pigeons in order to understand the brain's reward system

Eventually, the swipe mechanism faced a backlash. "Ten years ago, people were enthusiastic and would talk quite openly about what apps they were on," says Ms Hodgson. "Now the Tinder model is dead with many young people – they don't want to swipe any more."

According to Mr Brunning, the gameifying interface of many dating apps is a turn-off. "Intimacy is made simple for you, it's made fun in the short term, but the more you play, the more you feel kind of icky."

The pandemic may have had an impact, too, says Prof Brian Heaphy at the University of Manchester, who has studied dating-app use in and after the lockdowns: "During Covid, dating apps themselves became more like social media – because people couldn't meet up, they were looking for different things."

Although that didn't last after the pandemic, it "gave people a sense that it could be different from just swiping and getting no responses – all the negatives of dating-app culture," says Prof Heaphy.

And in that context, the fact that video games or online communities like Strava or Letterboxd aren't designed for dating can be appealing. By attracting users for a broader range of reasons, there's less pressure on each interaction.

"Those apps aren't offering a commercialised form of romance, so they can seem more authentic," says Prof Heaphy.

The World of Warcraft characters of PurplePixel and Wochi

The humans behind Wochi and PurplePixel (pictured) met while playing World of Warcraft, though they say finding a partner wasn't their original intention

It's a type of connection free from the burden of expectation. A different couple who met on World of Warcraft – and go by the names Wochi and PurplePixel – weren't looking for love. "I definitely didn't go into an online game trying to find a partner," says Wochi.

But although initially in opposing teams, or guilds, their characters started a conversation. "We spent all night talking until the early hours of the morning, and by the end of the night, I'd actually left my guild and joined his guild," says PurplePixel. Within three years, Wochi had quit his job and moved to the UK from Italy to be with her.

According to Ms Hodgson, "While some dating apps can bring out the worst behaviours, these other online spaces can do the opposite, because people are sharing something they enjoy."

Because of these structural elements, she doesn't think the recent decline in numbers is temporary. "It's going to keep happening until dating apps figure out how to put the human aspect back."

New kinds of dating app

The dating apps aren't giving up without a fight, however. Hinge is still "setting up a date every two seconds", according to a spokesperson; Tinder says a relationship starts every three seconds on its platform and that almost 60% of its users are aged 18-30. In fact, the apps appear to be embracing the shift to shared-interest platforms, launching niche alternatives including ones based around fitness, veganism, dog-ownership or even facial hair.

They're also evolving to encourage different kinds of interaction. On Breeze, users who agree to be set up on a date aren't allowed to message each other before they meet; and Jigsaw hides people's faces, only removing pieces to reveal the full photo after a certain amount of interaction.

It means that it's premature to proclaim the death of the dating app, believes Prof Heaphy. "There's now such a diversity of dating apps that the numbers for the biggest ones aren't the key indicator," he says. "It might actually be a similar number to before, in terms of overall membership."

And there's a downside to people going to more general-interest apps looking for love – people might not want to be hit on when they just want to talk about books. Dating apps, at least, are clear about what their purpose is.

What might the future look like?

In an increasingly online world, the solution to improving relationships might not simply be to go offline. Instead, apps that can offer an experience which more closely mirrors the best of IRL interactions, while tapping into the possibilities of digital ones, might also show a way forward.

With the imminent integration of AI into dating apps, we are "right on the cusp of something new", says Mr Brunning. "It's interesting to see if we'll end up with specific apps just for dating, or will we end up with something a bit more fluid?"

He points to platforms in China that are more multi-purpose. "People use them for chat, for community, and conduct business on them – they can also be dating platforms, but they're often not exclusively for that."

In the meantime, the interactions possible in less mediated communities like World of Warcraft could offer more of a chance to connect than conversations initiated by a swipe.

Jess and Nate's in-game engagement on the beach might not have been real, but the couple are hoping to change that soon. "It's a matter of when, really. There are a few things we need to tick off the checklist, and then she'll be getting her ring," says Nate. And there'll still be a gaming element.

"You can role-play getting married," says Jess. "So it could be funny to get all our friends together at some point in the World of Warcraft cathedral, and we could have a marriage ceremony."

men, we have been outgooned https://t.co/DnLlgP3QCs

— Dinho (Punished Venom Dinho) (@Romulproduce) January 31, 2025

One of my favourite ways to bait bongoids is to venture into small-town subreddits, particularly /r/Bristol and make an oblique reference to how many rental properties I own then go around treating everyone like they're Oliver Twist.

It's natural that British Redditors would be some of the most detestable mayoids on the internet, so I have compiled various examples of small-town seethe.

It's one thing to read the top-level headlines about GDP, but it's better to dive in and observe the bong in his natural habitat, which is rapidly becoming Burundi:

Renting in Bristol

Ive been living in bristol for almost 10 years and watching the rent rise every year to astronomical amounts is so discouraging.

This user plays Dungeons and Dragons in his thirties

£1200-£1400 for a one bed flat and theyre not always in the centre.. i dont get how this is acceptable.

Bristolians unironically give up half of their third world salary to live in The Backrooms

For reference, Bristol looks like this:

(Which could all be forgiven if they didn't use words like 'vibrant' to describe homeless encampments)

It's a terrible state of affairs. I'm living in a caravan about 8 miles from Bristol after the breakdown of my marriage.

why would you admit this

I feel your pain, when I was a school leaver 10 years ago you could get a studio flat on Gloucester Road for £600pcm including council tax. Now that same flat today is £1300, excluding council tax,

A lot can change in ten years

I really hope a big rent revolution is coming soon. This is a too wide spread problem

> reeeeeee the revolution is coming ()

I hope so for everyone one too but how on earth can it happen? The reality is that demand outstrips supply

Rent is artificially inflated- just because there is demand it does not mean you should be able to charge whatever you want.

I understand the supply vs demand argument, but that does not quite apply to housing, does it?

Why is so difficult for communist losers?

Sadly, it's the result of all the londoners etc moving here in the WFH post covid times

That 'etc' is doing a lot of work here

Simple but well executed

How's that going for you? Let's see what communism is doing for the job market

What are some non customer facing Jobs in Bristol with limited experience?

I'm on Student visa but graduated.

This got a Masters' degree in AI In Britain where every tech job has been sent to Mumbai

I've applied to fast food places, supermarkets, and retail jobs, but all I've faced is rejection.

I wonder if anyone gave them sound advice?

We have a taker! The response?

While my parents are supportive of my studies, they are conservative so I don't want to really go back.

my parents aren't sufficiently supportive of trans rights so I guess I'll starve

Remember, poors deserve it!

Email or DM every restaurant/ business you can think of explaining you'd like to work there cleaning dishes and sound excited (they love excitement and people cleaning their dishes)

just give em a firm handshake

Hartcliffe and Knowle West: Is it fair to describe them as "deprived" areas?

Hey, I am researching a documentary about knife crime in Bristol. Would it be fair to describe Hartcliffe and Knowle West as "deprived" or "low income" neighbourhoods?

Broadly speaking, yes. As with everywhere there is some variation. One of the main issues is the complete lack of services due to underfunding.

please bro just give them more free money I swear it will work this time bro please Keynes said it once you have to believe me

It's poor, high unemployment, underfunded etc. Kids in balaclavas on illegal dirt bikes and shopping trolleys everywhere.

Computer add shopping trolleys to the list

30.7% of social housing tenants in Coventry were born outside the UK.

These figures are quite scary to me to be honest, does anybody else care about this?

There's a Grade 1 Chud Incursion on /r/coventry as the city's Last White Man wakes up and discovers he is living in a cross between Lahore and 1992 Belarus.

For reference, Coventry looks like this:

And it should look like this:

Couldn't give a darn where they're from, if they need a home they should have one. Coventry has always been a multiethnic city

Labour's strongest soldier chimes in!

✅ Condescending Neurodivergent woman

✅ Workshy Parasite

✅ JK Rowling Derangement Syndrome

51% of private renters are born outside the UK. 31% of social renters are born outside the UK. So what the data is saying is that you're much less likley to be in social housing than private renting if you're born outside the UK.

only a THIRD of our taxpayer-funded property during a housing crisis goes to the third world, chud! This is a good thing somehow

Why are the figures scary to you?

Why indeed?

/r/coventry is a particularly funny example because it genuinely reads like a messageboard posted in the centre of a Jakarta slum

Any buy nothing groups here not on Facebook?

('Buy nothing group' is like a commune btw)

Is there anyone here who can help me get a job?

Wanted to know what is the part time job scene in Coventry?

Anyone know where I can get some free old scaffolding boards?

Can anyone please suggest good fish and chips in Coventry without alcohol in recipe?

any tips before i move to coventry?

Other than don't?

Oh I see you're Muslim 😊 there's a very welcoming mosque close to the city centre called the Iqra centre. The imam is an absolutely wonderful man.

The bad areas are Stoke Aldermoor, Wood End, Hillfields, Tile Hill, Upper Stoke, Middle Stoke, Lower Stoke (anywhere with the word "Stoke" in it), Edgwick, Paradise (Lol), Radford (parts of it), Foleshill (large parts of it), Willenhall, Wyken (parts of it), Henley Green, Canley, Holbrooks (parts of it), Spon End.

Oh, so the entire thing?

/r/brum:

Never realised how bad the NHS is struggling until I had to go to the QE last night at midnight.

7 hour wait. 0 degrees outside and you're in an outside queue to get in the front door.

People lying on the floor or standing against windows. All the walk ways blocked. One bloke sat in his own shit. The smell from just standing in the waiting room with all the sick people, piss heads who have turned up made me retch.

excuse me

Last time I went to A&E at the QE someone tried to nick my wheelchair.

Tories and now new labour making the NHS so bad that it'll be a lot easier to bring in the inevitable US style system

yeah paying a few hundred quid for Bupa is so much worse than watching your family members die in their own piss and shit while an NHS nurse records a tiktok nearby

In conclusion: It turns out that the average bong is either a seething marxoid or just doesn't care as long as he gets his benefits and sag paneer . Do not feel bad for the bong; he deserves all of this and more

!nonchuds !chudmoment !g*mers !goyim

>That's curtains, th-ACK!

>Pretty much. That is literally the dogshit writing dream te-ACK!

>Sucker Punch, insomniac, naughty dog and Santa Monica were some of my favourite studios. It's crazy how they have all fallen. I miss when gaming wasn't main stre-ACK!

ON THE LAST EPISODE OF THE GREAT NIPPONCAUST OF 2024-2025:

https://rdrama.net/post/303041/effortpost-culture-war-chimpout-cwc-32769

Hi women.

um.. so i mostly go outside alone. i am scared of men. i do box, can fight. () yet when ever a man tries to harrase me verbally or physically, I don't have any friend with whom I can discuss this matter., i cant move because of the fear i feel. I don't have any elder brother with whom I can discuss this matter.

any tips?

i also walk and talk in a masculine way, Even if men are not free. but even this doesnt work. yes i cover my self head to toe in black like any other Paki women.

This b-word is very free. Now I am asking her to insult me. I can't even raise my hand. So what should I do??

!moidmoment !antibharatiya !bharatiya

Who's your favorite member of the Ginyu Force?

ReCOOMe - 11 votes

!poll_voters !saiyans

I'm just curious why there are so many people (who aren't alt-right nut bags) who think we should let the VP vacation in peace. Why should we be polite? Like, you have a terrible human being who thinks women are simple, libraries are dangerous, trans folks are mentally ill wastes of space, neo-Nazis are okay, the real problem everywhere is immigration, etc etc etc. — and we owe him politeness and to sit back and let him enjoy his vacation in our beautiful state…for what? Because he's an elected official? Because he's the Vice President? Decorum decorum decorum? Towing lines and being "decent"?

He is laughing at us. He thinks this shit is funny. He wants people to be mad. He doesn't care about your kids or your life. He knows he's hurting people, and he likes it.

Why on earth do we owe him, Trump, Musk, or any of these authoritarian-coded scum decency?? Genuine question!!

Just Asking a Question

muh Paradox of Tolerance