Here’s a super useful tip as you peruse your gay dating app of choice: If the person chatting you up looks exactly like John Stamos, he’s more than likely just using a picture of John Stamos. We’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.
And it turns out catfishing isn’t a new phenomenon.
Nor are a number of other so-called modern dating dilemmas.
In this stunning recovered footage from 1988, witness a Grindr prototype (called “Grinder” here — companies hadn’t yet discovered the joy of removing vowels) being showcased.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
The video is the product of comedy group Sad Cake, and it’s all fairly ridiculous:
NateOcean
Am I the only one that remembers 1983, and 300-baud dial-up modems?
And Dial-You-Match BBS?
Anyone?
tham
It was Usenet that was the “first” Grindr. When you were a 16 year boy on Usenet…EVERYONE was a 15 year old girl (aka 50 year old man, with kids, looking for gay sex).
tham
This is a really poor fake video…first of all, in 1988, only government employees was on the Internet.
The “tech” is either early 80s or mid-90s…
It’s obviously made by Millennials who are too hi on adderall to care to do research on the Internet they claim to be kings of…
Outside of that…it’s just dumb. Their time would have been better spent making a full length story about something. But…that takes time, energy and care…things they don’t possess
Joe_S
You must be a fun at parties!
ChrisK
Wow. All that vitriol over nothing.
tham
I have high standards for production values. For starters, things have to make sense.
Kind of like, if I am making a 1950’s parody…I wouldn’t pack it with Hippies and disco music.
Because it wouldn’t make sense….but I’m not saying you guys can’t enjoy it.
robert_moore
In the 80s, I never heard of Grinder or Grindr. We hooked up the old fashioned way via gay bars, trails, telephone services, and bathhouses. I worked in IT, and dial-up was it, and it was abysmal even by 1990 dial-up standards. Most people didn’t have a PC and most still had landlines for telephone.
tham
Oh telephone services….those got really big in the 90s…before they quickly died out after AOL….or as we called it then GAYOL lol…good times…
radiooutmike
Don’t forget alternative newspapers like The Boston Phoenix and The Providence Newpaper.