How would you let someone down easy?
SurfersMatch members weighed in on this question. Here’s what 1,751 people had to say.
The Winner
Top answer
Just be honest!
78.0% of votes — 1,365 out of 1,751
Poll Results
Demographics: Gender Breakdown per Answer
Just be honest!
Gender breakdown
Say you're not ready for a relationship
Gender breakdown
Say you just wanna be friends (even if you don't!)
Gender breakdown
Ghost them to avoid awkwardness
Gender breakdown
What the Data Shows
Honesty wins by a landslide: 78.0% of members say the best way to let someone down easy is to “Just be honest!” This isn’t just a platitude — it’s a genuine community value. SurfersMatch members, drawn together by a shared love of the ocean and authenticity, tend to prize directness in their romantic lives too.
The next most popular options — saying you’re not ready for a relationship (11.0%) and saying you want to be friends (7.2%) — are softer exits that still involve an actual conversation. Ghosting, the silent exit, attracted only 3.9% of votes, which is heartening: very few members here endorse simply disappearing.
The demographic breakdown shows honesty is valued across all genders and age groups, with the 55+ bracket particularly emphatic about it. This may reflect a perspective shaped by decades of dating experience — people who’ve been on the receiving end of vague rejections and know how much cleaner a straight answer feels.