The Fake Tinder Date, the Five-Week Exit, and the Affair Baby

This morning’s episode follows three public Reddit relationship dramas where a private tactic changes the whole meaning of the relationship. The stories are presented as posters’ accounts and visible Reddit reactions, not independent reporting.

A public Best of Redditor Updates post republishes a 2019 relationship-advice story and its follow-up. The poster says she created a fake Tinder profile after finding the app on her boyfriend’s phone, watched him flirt with the invented person, and let him drive to a planned meeting while she and friends moved her belongings out. The recent compilation is new to the feed, but the underlying events are not new. 1

In a fresh r/dating_advice post, a dater says the man she has seen for about five weeks repeatedly ends dates while they are still enjoying themselves. He reportedly learned the habit from advice about leaving people wanting more, but the poster says the strategy now makes her feel as if she is receiving carefully portioned time. The public comments include suggestions to discuss a compromise and speculation that is not established by the post. 2

In a fresh r/relationship_advice post, a man says his estranged wife cheated and became pregnant by another man while they were still legally married. He says he is working with a lawyer on the legal questions, but wants help keeping their existing co-parenting relationship civil while refusing responsibility for the new baby. The thread does not independently verify the wife’s motives, the applicable law, or what happened afterward. 3

The connective question is what happens when a test, a dating rule, or a family argument starts controlling the relationship instead of clarifying it.