Dating can be rough. These safe places let singles complain, seek advice.

Dating is complex. Once upon a time, it was a meet-cute in the grocery store, a blind date arranged by your twin sister or a childhood friend who you later fell in love with in high school. Now, there seems to be a lot less of the “organic” way of meeting people and a lot more of the digital way, ie: dating apps, reality TV shows and attempting to slide into DMs.

One constant through all of the years is the need for advice. Advice columns have been around for decades, in the form of “Dear Abby,” Ann Landers columns and similar. However, it’s becoming increasingly popular to find dating coaches (or self-proclaimed dating coaches) on social media. Their content offers interesting insight and useful advice, but it’s not personalized and might not be helpful in the way that you’re looking for. 

Watch this video to see where you can find some supportive outlets to vent about dating online. 

Find singles in your area

Our friends are great resources. However, when you reach a certain age, many of them are coupled up and no longer understand the modern-day dating landscape. When I need some guidance or reassurance that I'm not alone in my frustration, I find myself browsing Reddit. There are a plethora of subreddits dedicated to dating, relationships and love. 

Some of the most popular dating communities are:

• r/Dating: 6.2M members.
• r/Dating_advice: 4.7M members.
• r/Datingoverthirty: 1.2M members.
• r/ForeverAloneDating, with 329k members.
• r/Datingoverforty: 174k members.

There are also more specific communities, like LGBTQ+ dating, Catholic or Christian dating and post-divorce dating.

You’ll find people ranting, raving, asking for advice, giving advice, while others are showing empathy and sending some virtual love to the people who need it. All in real time. You don’t need a Reddit account to browse these spaces, but, you do need one to post or participate in the discussions.

You can also find dating advice groups on Facebook or solace with your single friends, but online forums like Reddit allow you to be anonymous. Whether you decide to post in these spaces or not, sometimes it’s just nice to know you’re not the only one.

If you prefer to keep your business to yourself, you may find it useful to “talk” to a chatbot like ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Microsoft CoPilot. Depending on your scenario, artificial intelligence may help you sort out your thoughts, give you tips on dealing with getting ghosted or help you effectively communicate how you're feeling or what you need.

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Relationship Advice

Single people aren’t the only ones who need advice. Dating and married people also face their fair share of struggles. If there’s no one they can or want to go to in person, there are communities on Reddit that may be able to help them navigate what they are going through or at least provide a space for them to vent.

Popular relationship subreddits include:

• r/Relationship_advice: 15.7M members.
• r/Relationships: 3.7M members.
• r/LongDistance: 2.5M members. 
• r/Marriage: 909k members. 
• r/DeadBedrooms: 542k members. 
• r/Polyamory: 437k members. 
• r/BreakUps: 479k members.
• r/Divorce: 182k members.