Online dating has the peculiar feature that except for a few facts like job, serious criminal record, frequent drug use…. and THE PICTURE exhaust the things that most people refuse to give any slack about. If I shoot heroin every day and tell you I never do drugs you won’t give it a try the way you would if I said I was vegan and kept coming up with excuses to eat meet.

Particularly with sites like okcupid which caters to a certain social group the best strategy for both genders will often be to truthfully report those few facts misdirection is unacceptable (and paint them in a good light) and then mimic the posts of successful daters similar to you.

This isn’t so cynical. We all do it. A good gimmick, after all, is one that attracts alot of interest without drawing attention to the particulars that might push others away. So even if you are as likely to drop everything and try something new right now the way your friend is his successful description will make him sound fun but not undependable and you will see yourself in that. Besides, we really only have the vaguest grasp of how our descriptions are taken by strangers and we only find out from people they did well with.

Excepting a few outliers most of the text can be fully ignored (and match questions often take so long your prospect has found someone else). That leaves the few sharp facts but anyone with a pedophilia conviction or serious addiction issues will look for dates elsewhere leaving the picture and job for evaluation.

Yes, women look more at the job and pay some more attention to these incidentals…but the extent to which this is a desire not to be sleazy like those guys or a real preference is unclear.

—

Besides this lady’s fake profile said her favorite activity was convincing people she was pregnant. Most people probably found it funny.