Anyone who’s run the gauntlet of Tinder, online dating, and blind dates will know how hard it is to find a good man. So we weren’t remotely surprised to see this poster near Farringdon station advertising for one:
We weren't the only ones who spotted it. In fact, the poster the mood of the nation/two dozen people in London with Twitter accounts:
After all, isn’t a ‘half decent boyfriend’ with his own hair and teeth, and preferably a competent lover what we’re all after? But this wasn’t one woman putting it out there on her own to see what might come back (which lets face it, is a frankly terrifying prospect in London), this was the work of Crowdwish.
For the uninitiated, Crowdwish launched as a website in January, with a very basic premise - they try to make one person’s wish come true every 24 hours. You enter your wish, or you add your support to existing wishes on the site, and once a day, the Crowdwish team (of 'expert deal breakers, researchers and negotiators') take the most popular wish on the site on, and try to make it come true.
'I had the idea for Crowdwish as there were tonnes of examples of people coming together online to create outcomes for themselves that they wouldn’t have been able to achieve for themselves as solus individuals', explains Crowdwish founder Bill Griffin. 'You can see this everywhere, from the role of social media in the Arab Spring, to the runaway success of Kickstarter or the rise of the pretail movement.'
There are a few rules, including don’t be lame, don’t be greedy, don’t be crude and don’t be a dick (also all excellent rules for life). But apart from that, you’re welcome to go for it, and the 179 wishes the team have actioned so far include the creation of anti-bullying stickers for children, helping to find a bone marrow donor, tricking Katie Hopkins into signing her own gagging order and helping people to start businesses.
‘Whatever a person’s wishes may be and wherever they may be in the world, chances are there is also someone else out there with the same wish,' explains Bill. It’s a simple principle that many voices are louder than one, and the louder a voice the more likely it is to be heard. Crowdwish is a vehicle that makes that happen. People have really taken to the concept which is very cool.’
All good stuff, but what about the girl on the search for a half-decent boyfriend? Bill was keen to protect her anonymity now he's put her wish out there, but will reveal that she's had a good response. 'She's had lots of people emailing in. The applicants varied from slightly pleased with themselves to faultlessly charming. I've made lots of matches, but I just introduce them over email then gracefully exit the process, so I don't know what will happen next.'
And on a more pressing note - what what would you wish for?
Follow Rebecca on Twitter @rebecca_hol
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.