In all the recent hoopla over Facebook's privacy issues, which culminated in May 31's "Quit Facebook Day," one key issue has gone overlooked.

No one mentioned the reason that I myself have decided to stay on: meeting chicks.

I've had two relationships emerge from Facebook, and both times -- in a classic example of the new feminism we should all embrace -- the women initiated things after finding me on the social networking site.

Furthermore, each girl assured me that they would never have done so had Facebook not made it so easy to track me down; one didn't even know my last name, yet was able to find me because we'd met through a mutual friend.

After she added me, I did nothing for a while until, flustered that I hadn't picked up on her signals, this woman emailed me herself -- again, through Facebook -- to ask me out for a drink.

Another total stranger added me as a friend because of our mutual interest in "espionage" and "redheads," or so she claimed in her initial email. (Later, she admitted that she had stumbled across a photo featuring me at an an event she'd missed.) "Kerry" and I started talking, and we ended up dating for months.

Much like online dating itself, women seem to be emboldened by the relative protection of electronic communication. For them, perhaps, putting themselves out there is easier when the rejection is by computer versus a dude looking them up and down and then drunkenly asking his friends, "Who let in the troll?"

Plus, Facebook just makes us more accessible. What other non-stalky option is there for tracking down a friend of a friend you had a 5-minute convo with at last week's happy hour? If I delete my account, I shudder to think of all the Australian supermodels out there who might type my name into Facebook, find nothing and sadly move on to a much-less-deserving but more-easily-locatable casual sex partner.

Am I the only freak who has met someone through Facebook? And is anybody else holding on to their account for its date-finding potential despite privacy concerns and being forced to sift through daily Farmville updates?

Are you holding on to your Facebook account to meet women?
Yes -- but keep this quiet, I don't want anyone else to get in on this action. 146 (66.7%)
No -- people still use Facebook? I've moved on to dumb chicks who Tweet about trending topics.73 (33.3%)


Brian Fairbanks is Asylum's resident dating correspondent.