Let’s face it, the dating scene in Singapore can be a shitshow. It’s hard enough looking for love amidst the persistent pressures of living in one of the most expensive places on Earth, but it’s even harder when the people you meet around here tend out to be lechers, ungainly, or (shudder) basic.
Hyperbole, of course. We’re about 75 percent confident that there’s a population of decent folks around here. But it’s hard to imagine that after combing through hundreds of awful profiles on multiple dating apps. Sure, horrible interactions online are common everywhere else, but here in Singapore, things can get really sad.
On the auspicious date of Feb 1, 2019, an Instagram account by the handle of @rabaktinder surfaced — “rabak” being a commonly used Malay word used to describe things that are uncouth, extreme, or just out-of-hand. The account serves as an archive of all things unsavory within the modern online dating scene in Singapore, where we get a cringeworthy glimpse into the minds of singles (and beyond) looking to mingle.
Within weeks, @rabaktinder gained hundreds of followers, all of whom take joy in the despair that exists inside dating apps. It helps that the captions that accompany their screenshots are hilarious as well. We got in touch with the people behind the new must-follow local Instagram account to find out more about their maddening mission. Swipe on below, and don’t mind the internet-speak.
Let’s start from the beginning — how did the idea for @rabaktinder come about?
It all began casual, a bunch of us were sharing bad Tinder experiences and screenshots of funny, bad, terrible profiles we’ve seen. Some of us have been on it for years so we all had some pretty despicable content/experiences. We’re all also lovers of memes and funny Internet things and joked about how it’ll be cool to have our own page. It went on for a while until one of us bit the bullet and set the whole thing up.
Who are you guys?
There’s a bunch of us, all from different races and also nations (multicultural, minorities, diversity – check), across all ages and we are all… students of life and love. We come from different industries because variety… is the spice of life~
What’s the intention of @rabaktinder?
We are just making fun of the universal human problem of trying to make a good profile to get that good coochie/dick. It started off as more of an inside joke between a few of us and our extended circle of friends, but after gaining some momentum it’s gotten attention from a lot more people.
How do you keep pumping out content? Is the local dating scene that bad?
Sometimes it feels like we don’t even have to. There’s so much content out there to choose from — what we post is probably just 25% of all the shitty profiles we’ve seen or received from our followers and friends.
Tinder/Bumble/Coffee Meets Bagel/Ok Cupid is truly the gift that keeps on giving. We just get stuck (coming up) with captions from time to time.
Is the local dating scene bad? It’s a unanimous and collective fucking yes from us.
Tell us about some of the worst profiles you’ve ever seen around here.
Any profile that is casually misogynistic or racist is always bad in our books — and there’s so many of them here. It’s amazing how people feel so comfortable with these platforms and just ~share~ or ~bare~ things.
Given your experience thumbing through profiles, do you think there’s a disproportionately huge trend of fuccbois in Singapore?
What is fuccboi even? Is it a boy who have hurt so many girls? Is it a derogatory term? Is it a moving Thrasher/ Supreme collection look book? Is it a starter pack? Is it someone who goes to weekly ~wavy~ nights? Is it a thirsty halal boi who wants to get laid so he acquired a certain taste palate called “yellow fever”?
We don’t think so, you can go to the quietest part of, say, Jakarta and still find fuccbois there. Shout out to our SEA neighborinos.
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would prefer a carrot or cucumber or even a radish but a brinj0l would do too #rabaktinder
Do you ever think you’re being mean-spirited?
Nope. It’s something we’ve had to address recently. It’s mean when you make fun of something that is out of their control, but writing your own Tinder bio profile? Lol bij you wrote that yourself. But honestly what’s more mean-spirited: calling people out for shitty behavior or being a shitty person?
After going through so many bad profile bios, pictures, and messages, give us some advice on how to be better at the dating app game.
- Good photos go a long way (or funny ones)
- No pics of you in some village in Cambodia with some kids
- Check your privilege
- Check your humor
- Putting your heritage in your bio (1/2 Chinese 1/2 Adik 1/2 Andalusian etc) is hella annoying
- Don’t put “dunno what to write” as a bio
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is your face @eames.furniture ? cuz i only sit on designer furniture #rabaktinder
What’s your impression of Singaporean men and the local dating scene now?
We’re still going to keep on keeping on – that’s what “Majulah Singapura” is all about, right?
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