Bad dates, rocky relationships and falling in and out of love have all have a new home on the Web: KissandDish.com.
Kristen Ricordati and her business partner Daniel Kiepfer started the site where users can share and read about all things romantic. The two former flames turned friends and now business partners are a testament that men and women can stay friends even after a romantic relationship ends.
“I started this Web site with college students in mind,” Ricordati said. “I’m only 25 and not that far removed from the dating scene. I know one of my favorite activities in college was sitting around with my friends and talking about who hooked up with who, or who had the embarrassing experience the night before.”
She wanted to create a place where students could share their stories and give advice to others.
Ricordati said that before she decided to start the Web site, she had been giving relationship advice to friends for years. “I know when to call, when to take a risk and when to walk away, and I always tell it like it is,” she said.
After joking with her husband and asking her friends what they thought about the idea, she decided to start a relationship advice Web site. “I figured, ‘Who am I to go and give dating advice?’ and thought I should let the world share their own stories and wisdom.”
Ricordati does caution that KissandDish.com is not a dating site, but a place for advice. “When I came up with the idea, I started looking online for relationship advice type Web sites and dating stories and they seemed very outdated, like a 60-year-old woman who hasn’t been on a date in 40 years was writing it. The advice didn’t seem modern or real at all.”
What makes KissandDish different from other advice Web sites is that it is all written and responded to by real people who have real stories. Like other sites, anyone can create a profile, where they can write about their own love life or comment on others anonymously.
“This Web site is not supposed to be too serious, it’s a place to get advice if you need it but it’s always a place where we can laugh at ourselves and laugh at other dating nightmares,” Ricordati said.
Users are encouraged to share all, but when banter turns to bad-mouthing, Ricordati draws the line.
“This is not a spiteful place to spread rumors about an ex. If you want to share your heartbreak, by all means please do! But when people start writing slanderous things about someone else, we will take it down,” she said.
One of the strengths of the site, Ricordati said, is the variety of the writers.
“From the bed hopping sexpot who loves to give all the details, to the married vet who gives real, harsh insight into the not-so-happy side of married life, there are writers from all over the United States and at very different stages in their dating lives,” she said.
Although KissandDish.com has only been up and running for a few weeks, its popularity is developing.
“It’s spreading through word of mouth and through little articles here and there. I’ve gotten several e-mails from people thanking me for starting the Web site. People are really starting to make it part of their day, which I love,” Ricordati said.
So if you’ve got stories to tell about love and relationships, log onto KissandDish.com and share away.
Sarah McCaslin can be reached at [email protected].
