Undeterred by the humiliation suffered by a young man after a botched proposal by Jumbotron, aspiring grooms are taking to the Internet to pop the question.
Recent examples include a marriage proposal through infographic at Mashable.com and a DayGlo proposal at Buzzfeed.com, in which the suitor implores readers to Help Me Convince Katie To Say "Yes"!
Talk about being put on the spot.
Fortunately for Len Kendall, the Buzzfeed contributor who posted a photo of himself on bended knee, Katie did say yes. So did Stacy Green, Mashable's vice-president of marketing and communications, after boyfriend Drake Martinet's infographic asked for her hand on the website that employs her.
Geeks in love go to extreme lengths. Matt Hudson, a software developer, enlisted the help of Zynga, creators of the smartphone game Words with Friends, to propose to his girlfriend Rebecca Gadell. (She, too, said yes.)
But do digital declarations fill the romantic bill?
Writers at the Atlantic Wire debated the issue.
Rebecca Greenfield pointed out that online proposals may represent some sort of "cute personalized moment" between these couples. And, she argued, "if it's totally acceptable to live the rest of our lives on this here Web, marriage proposals can happen online, too."
But the opponent, Jen Doll, countered that an Internet declaration makes a Jumbotron proposal seems intimate by comparison.
"It means [the recipient]can't say no without being (digitally) yelled at by all sorts of random people who don't know a thing about the relationship or even the proposal, aside from the fact that it's on the Internet, which means it's theirs as much as yours. Do you want to share your special day with all of those weirdos?"
Judging by the thumbs-up by readers of Buzzfeed and Mashable, however, Internet proposals may be here to stay.
In Mashable's comment section, Scott Hagen hinted he'd like to repurpose the infographic, while Derrick Peters applauded its creator for his ingenuity: "Yes, it's nerdy. But it's completely rad! Nice job and congrats!"
Would you accept a marriage proposal by Internet? Or should popping the question online be a no-no?