On a recent lazy Sunday, a young man in Boston named Josh was bored.
He started thinking about his close friend Jason, who has been single for a while. Josh thought, “Jason deserves a nice woman.’’ Josh told himself, “Jason could probably find a nice woman if he met more people.’’ Josh - who is married - decided: “I’m going to fix this problem for him.’’
Like many people who are bored and have a half-baked plan, Josh got on his computer. In less than an hour, he had set up a simple website, “Date a Jason,’’ at dateajason.blogspot.com. The site had the following message:
“This site is dedicated to my single, disease free, friend Jason (Age 28). We’ve tried all the other [expletive]. BBQs, bars, friends of friends, etc. . . . So we are taking the search online. He’s a fun, interesting, smart, and gainfully employed guy who likes to travel and stay active. Just recently moved into downtown Boston. Looking to meet a nice young woman. If are interested please contact us at: Date.A.Jason@gmail.com.’’
Josh followed the note with pictures of disease-free Jason. There’s one of Jason in a tux and another of him doing a fancy flip into the water. There’s a classy shot of Jason with a beer hanging out of his mouth. Jason is good looking. He has floppy hair. He seems to be in good shape.
Once Josh was finished creating the website, he called an acquaintance who works for Glamour magazine. Within a day or so, Glamour had posted a link to Date a Jason on its website. It boosted traffic, and people began leaving comments.
“He’s super cute. I’d date him, but I live in Montreal. Can you send him here? ;),’’ said a commenter named Vivian. Dozens of e-mail applications for a date with Jason began to roll in.
Josh took another step to help narrow the pool to more local women. He e-mailed the relationship writer at The Globe (that’s me) asking, “Any chance you’ll help us out? Would you post this on your site to help our friend Jason out?’’
I was curious, so I made plans to have coffee with Josh and Jason - but only Josh showed up. Apparently, Jason was freaked out by the idea of sitting down with a reporter to talk about his love life. Can’t say I blame him. “He thinks I’m crazy,’’ said Josh, who requested that I leave his and Jason’s last names out of the paper (their employers probably wouldn’t be thrilled with the Date a Jason project).
Over coffee, Josh - who reminded me of Eric from HBO’s “Entourage’’ - explained why he made a website to help Jason find true love. Josh believes bars are bad for meeting women. He also believes that dating websites are too confusing and overwhelming. He didn’t want Jason to get lost.
“Dating [stinks] in Boston,’’ he said. “Jason is a normal, stand-up guy. He’s got a graduate degree. To meet someone in a bar - it’s pretty tough.’’
Josh said he wouldn’t develop a website for just any friend. He said he truly believes that Jason is a good-hearted person who would be a fantastic partner.
“If I didn’t think that, I’d be slimy,’’ Josh said.
I asked Josh if I could talk to Jason. I understood the shyness, but I wanted to speak with him. Josh brokered a deal for a quick phone chat.
When I called, Jason was friendly but hesitant. He explained that he didn’t even know Josh had made a website on his behalf until he heard about it from friends.
“My first reaction was sheer terror,’’ Jason said. “My second reaction was that I was mortified.’’
Jason went on to say that as much as he wanted to hide under the covers after seeing Josh’s site, he was a bit curious to see what it would accomplish. He was in a long-term relationship that ended a while back. Since then, it’s been difficult for him to get out there.
“I’ve been here for five years and I’ve got a really solid core group of friends. Sometimes you just stay in your circle.’’
Josh admits that beyond helping his friend, he’s interested in Date a Jason as a social experiment. Perhaps wide-spread self-promotion works as well for dating as it does for job-hunting. Maybe the trick to finding a mate is having a good public relations guy.
Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com. You can read her daily Love Letters dispatch and chat with her every Wednesday at 1 p.m. at www.boston.com/loveletters. 
