Awkward Moments in Online Dating: 6 Rules For When You and Your Friend Keep Getting Messages From The Same Guys.

Have you ever had a friend gush to you about a new guy--"He's 35, a software developer, and he's really into biking"-- and you're like, "Wait, that sounds exactly like the guy I just went out with" and it's super awkward because it is the same guy? Yeah, yikes. That's a thing that happens.

I've talked before about some differences in the New York dating scene versus the Midwestern scene, and now I've got a new one. I'm living in Columbus, Ohio now, and although it's far from my small hometown, it's not exactly comparable to the 8 million-plus people in New York. In addition to less people in general, it also seems to me that it's not quite as common for people to online date as it is in NYC (that's not an official statistic, just an observation. I could be wrong.) This makes for a smaller pool of fish. Um, fish for dating. Whatever, you know what I mean.

Last night I had a few drinks with a friend of mine who is trying to get out on the dating scene like me. We both favor OKCupid, and it occurred to us that we should probably make sure we weren't dating the same people. We did a quick comparison on our phones and sure enough, we had several overlaps in our lists of potential suitors. It's not unexpected: we are about the same age, we live in the same area, and we even look vaguely alike, although she is totally cuter. (For the record, we also determined that while we are a 72% match for dating, we're only a 55% match as friends. Wait, what?) We cracked up as we scrolled through our lists of matches, but it is kind of strange to deal with!

A few lighthearted rules if you're in a similar situation: