"We're all inclusive," Coyne says. "We loveeveryone."

The Millenium Love Bug

Students attribute the success of dating sitesto the difficulty of sparking relationships.Rather than dealing with blushes and sweaty palms,hopeful singles can ask each other out through themask of a computer screen. Stephano, optimisticbecause of his own success, says he sees greatthings for DateSite.

"Eventually it could be huge, especially amongjunior high kids," he says. "Somebody's going tomake a fortune on this."

Although the "Love Docs" do not plan to chargeusers, they may sell advertisements to cover thesite's costs. Barker says he and his roommateseventually hope to make a profit fromadvertisements on the site.

Coyne and Bolotin claim that after only 60hours of service theSpark.com has received so muchtraffic that they might have to invest in adedicated server.

They are on to a trend, as most studentsenthusiastically log on to dating sites. Themajority, though, are only there for kicks.

"I only signed up because I was intrigued tosee who it was, then I left the site," Jared H.Beck '99 says of his own foray after receiving ane-mail tip.

"I don't think anything real will come of it, Ijust thought it would be fun," says Andrea E.Bowen '01.

This apathy could be a letdown for those whosee the popularity of dating sites as a sadcommentary on the Harvard dating scene. Dostudents have so little hope for love that theydespair of even an anonymous match?

"It's a sad indicator of impoverished datingscene if people need to resort to a datingservice," Beck says. "It's not a resource I'd beinto."

So Beck has chosen to ignore his secretadmirer. The "Love Docs" (three of whom aresingle) and their friends, though, see no harm ina little fun, or even a date.

"What do you have to lose?" O'Neil asks.