Are there any couples who have met through iNat? Tell me your stories!
Considering iNat has been around for so long, there might even be iNat kids by now…
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I’d like to lodge a formal application
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None yet, but I have met users in person, with a wide range of ages, occupations, knowledge levels etc, but all sharing the common passion for learning more about the nature around us.
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Meeting a significant other on iNat could prove difficult because, unlike an actual dating site, we don’t specify what gender we are, and are looking for, or even whether we are already partnered.
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not sure if they met through iNat, but:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/the-alison-ivan-wedding-project
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Cute :-)
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I know of at least one couple who I’m pretty sure met via iNat, but I can’t out them without permission. Very happy for them, though. :-)
Here’s an old article about iNat on DatingAdvice.com. No interesting dating stories in it, however.
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We didn’t meet through iNat but we are both active users.
I’ve always thought a naturalist dating app would be a great idea. Maybe add iNatLove to the list of network affiliations so single iNatters can find each other 
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If it weren’t for Covid I’d advocate to start as many IRL iNat get-togethers as possible, as soon as possible, to fix this alarming shortage in canonical iNat couples!
We were looking for birds… And we found true love
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when i first heard of the Seek app, i thought that was more oriented towards this sort of thing than it was sort of an AI-identification-first platform. it would be funny if they created an extra relationship feature in the app where if you were near another Seek user seeking a relationship, it would give you a little notification. maybe even gamify it somehow. a date badge, perhaps. seems like some folks will do things just for the metrics.
actually, it probably wouldn’t even be that complicated to get a date on iNat. start with a good profile picture, indicate in your profile that you are looking and what you’re looking for, add a little description about yourself (from a dating perspective), and i’m sure folks would get friendly quickly.
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I honestly would, but I’m concerned about harassment. As a woman and especially as a gay woman… lots of creeps in the world. Of course, I suppose the quality of person on iNat is a little better than those on Tinder… And you’ve already got a shared interest.
Also we should probably keep iNat focused on its main mission of connecting people to nature… But I can fantasize :)
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I tried to recruit my wife to iNat but she correctly pointed out that there wasn’t much point since anywhere we go, i already observe anything that can be observed. The pre-school aged kid occasionallygets interested though, so I may recruit her in a few years.
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My wife is an iNat user, although much more casually than me. She’s documented a few things in the backyard that I was too lazy to get out of my lounge chair to go look at. We met long before iNat was around, but had similar interests in biology and nature study. We kind of bonded over a box of small mammal traps.
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It could - there were a few couples who met via Google Plus - when that was still active.
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Bioblitzes, birding clubs, botany clubs, volunteer programs at nature centers, university biology departments … those are the singles bars for naturalists. You’re less likely to run into a good match in just the general population so you have to refine your search parameters.
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@astra_the_dragon I reckon you’d likely have more issues with your profile pic than anything else with iNat users.
Gonna be brutally honest here - iNatters and naturalists in general are probably some of the most socially awkward people I know of. An iNat singles’ get-together would result in hours of awkwardly formal questions about our interests and backgrounds, then awkward silence, finally broken when someone sees a cockroach and everyone welcomes the break in the awkwardness to log the observation.
Then everyone chows down on bushwalking / hiking rations, goes home, and internally kicks themselves during trip back for not gathering the courage to ask that really nice person they met for their number.
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Lol. I do find that scenario funny, in a painful sort of way. Though from my interactions with iNatters in real life, it’s not really a fair stereotype. I’ve been able to socialize comfortably and have made good friends that way.
On the other hand, the moment I meet a potential romantic partner my brain turns to mush and my usual courage abandons me. Plus I can’t flirt for my life
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