Are you in the Milwaukee group?

“Are We Dating The Same Guy” is a network of private Facebook groups, each one tied to a city or region. Women join the group for where they live, post a photo or a screenshot of a man they’ve met or matched with, and ask whether anyone else knows him. Here is how that works in Milwaukee.

Lakefront neighborhoods with different crowds

Milwaukee is a city of distinct neighborhoods along Lake Michigan. The Third Ward, the old warehouse district near the river, is full of converted lofts, restaurants and bars. The East Side, near the lake and UWM, mixes students with young professionals. Bay View, to the south, has its own laid-back scene of corner bars and music venues. People date across all three, and a first date in the Third Ward between someone from Bay View and someone from the East Side is ordinary. Brady Street and the East Side bars fill up with students and recent graduates, and the lakefront paths are a common place for a second date in summer. In winter people tend to stay closer to home, and more of the early talking happens on the apps.

Wauwatosa and the suburbs

West of the city, Wauwatosa has its own small downtown, and farther out are Brookfield and the Waukesha County suburbs. North along the lake, Shorewood and Whitefish Bay have their own circles, while Oak Creek, Franklin and the southern suburbs along I-94 look toward Racine and Kenosha, and from there the Illinois line is not far. Many people in these places grew up in the area and still come into the city to go out, so the suburbs and Milwaukee share one dating pool.

Marquette, UWM and the student years

Marquette, just west of downtown, and UWM, on the East Side, bring a steady flow of students, and many stay in the city after graduating. Medical students and residents at the hospital campus in Wauwatosa add another group of people who arrive for a few years and date while they’re here. Dating history from those years can resurface later, when the people involved are living a few neighborhoods apart and moving in the same circles again.

Between Chicago and Madison

Milwaukee sits about an hour north of Chicago’s northern suburbs and a little over an hour east of Madison, and plenty of people date along both routes. That’s why the groups overlap so much. Alongside the groups covering Milwaukee, there are Wisconsin-wide groups and a group covering northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin together, and a post about a Milwaukee man could appear in any of them.

So we start with the groups covering Milwaukee and then move on to the Wisconsin-wide groups and the one spanning the state line. If you’ve dated in Madison, Chicago or anywhere else, include it with your order and we’ll look there as well.

Something definite to go on

Whether this started with a friend’s comment or just a feeling, a written report shows what is actually there. For most men, that is easier to live with than not knowing.