Online Dating Profile Don'ts For Men

By AskMen

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As part of an experiment, I recently went on five different online dating sites and visited thousands of men's profiles. I can report back that what you may have feared is somewhat correct: online dating for girls is pretty much the equivalent to shopping for a purse online. It's somewhat of a guilty pleasure, and you never quite know what you're getting until it arrives in person.

Just like shopping, I look at a few basic features, such as height and age, make an educated guess about the overall quality, and go with my gut. I also look out for a few unspoken red flags — you know, the deal breakers that move that gotta-have purse into the 'I'll pass' category. Too many passes and you're discounted, made cheap or, worse yet, rejected.

I'll admit it's hard for everyone, men and women alike, to take a blank white space for self-summary and somehow make it portray your unique personality. And once you fill it out, who's to say if you're doing it right? You can't see other men's online profiles, so you really have no way to gauge how you stand up against the competition.

To give you the chance to increase your perceived value, I'm leaking the inside scoop on what girls do and don't dig in online dating. Avoid these red flags, throw in a little bit of your natural charm, and you can make your profile one that girls will be waiting in line for — or, at least, digitally winking at. Source: Shutterstock

Don't Use the I-Cut-Out-My-Ex's-Face Picture

Don't Use the I-Cut-Out-My-Ex's-Face Picture

You're really not fooling anyone. We can see her body. We can see her hair length and color. We can even see how she dresses. This one picture gives more than enough information to overanalyze what your ex is like and what types of women you go for -- and that's more than we want to know before the first hello. At the very least, crop her completely out of the picture. We'd much prefer to see a picture where half of your body is cut off (don't worry, we still assume you have two arms and legs) rather than a picture where we can look at an awkward over-the-face cut-out box and mentally piece together a lovey-dovey picture of the two of you back when you were happy. Unless you want to scream "I'm on the rebound," find another picture.

Have you done this? Give your profile an update. Source: AskMen

Don't Tell Her, Use Your Words to Show Her

Don't Tell Her, Use Your Words to Show Her

It's great that you think you're funny, smart, sensitive, and a good catch overall, but stating who you are with a list of adjectives goes in one ear and out the other. Girls don't want to read a thesaurus version of who you think you are; we want to form our own opinions.

Therefore, don't tell us who you are, show us. If you want to say "I'm adventurous," give an example of an adventure. If you want to say "I have a dry sense of humor," use some of that sarcasm in your profile. If you give an example she can visualize, it will stay in her mind longer than a few commonly used adjectives. Even better, if you give enough details, we might just be able to find some common ground.

Tip: if you're stuck on a self-summary -- which can be the hardest part to write -- simply list five adjectives that describe you and write an example for each. Poof! You're done, and you don't just have a self-summary, you have a unique one that shows us who you are. Source: AskMen

Don't Explicitly State Your Bad Intentions

Don't Explicitly State Your Bad Intentions

Approach online dating with a little more tact, please. That you want to hook up with us is a given; you really don't need to state it in your profile with crude comments. We get enough tasteless messages online dating as it is, and by filling your profile with sexually explicit comments and profanity you're just turning us off... and possibly worsening the high ratio of men to women on online dating sites.

Worst of all, it's just disrespectful. Even if you're not into courtship – and I know, post-Tinder, it seemed to go out of style - do show a little bit of common courtesy. Remember there was a time when men opened doors, always allowed women to walk first, and stood up when women left the table - and believe it or not most women still appreciate it. It's not to say you have to revert to a Mad Men approach– although, if you want to get laid like Don Draper, a little chauvinism could do you wonders – but at least have the respect to not write vulgar things on your public profile I have to stumble upon unexpectedly.

Is your OkCupid profile a little crude? Take a minute to go change it. Source: AskMen

Don't Just Post, Spell Check First

Don't Just Post, Spell Check First

Unless you want to look like you wrote your profile when you were wallowing in a blacked out moment of it's-3-a.m.-and-I-struck-out-at-the-bar-tonight despair, try a spell check before posting. Remember, this is the first impression you're giving girls. Would you want to meet a girl when you had food unknowingly stuck in your teeth? No. So consider spell check the equivalent to your digital mirror, and do yourself the favor of using it. The truth is, most of the time the hardest spelling errors to notice are your own, and you do need that outside perspective before you present yourself to the online dating world.

Go fix your typos here.

For even more don'ts, head to AskMen: Online Dating Profile Don'ts For Men

—Kara Kamenec

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Source: AskMen