The Perils of Online Dating

If you ask someone what their main goals are in life, the majority of people will say love and happiness or mention some kind of achievement or activity that will correlate to those feelings. What many others will also admit is that finding love and happiness are one in the same, but such a task is easier said than done. 

With our fast-paced world making interaction and socialization much more difficult than it has to be, it is obvious why so many resort to online dating sites these days. But in taking on such an endeavor, one must be truly aware of what lurks in the depths of dating sites and the perils that can result. Heed these following warnings and tips presented in this post, they have been well researched and delivered with varying degrees of truthfulness.

 The Username

Look at their username, and I mean reeeaallllly look at it. A username can make certain individuals stick out, specifically to pique other user’s interests. For instance, if you’re looking for a long-term relationship, you should probably steer clear of a user named kinky_kaci19. And for a general rule of thumb, if you see a user roll across your screen with a name something along the lines of singlemom0404, that just about takes the cake for red flags, no one wants that.

"You have no idea how much I regret you...where's the dumpster?"

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Pictures

How you present yourself is very important, and pictures may be one of the best ways to do it. Not only can they show what you like to do in your free time and what is central to your life, but let’s be honest, a user’s appearance is a very dominant factor in online dating, and pictures give someone viewing your profile a good idea of how you look…or do they?

Exhibit A: What you think you're getting.

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Many users, typically girls (no use denying it), will have really good and professional looking pictures. BE AWARE. If this is all they have, you’re in for a toss-up my friend. These pictures look good but usually present at least a little deception to how they really look.

Exhibit B: The hairy situation you've gotten yourself into, no pun intended...well...kind of.

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The Strategy

Sometimes regular pictures will be mixed in with the really good ones, so a good strategy to analyze pictures is to find the worst possible picture they have and assume that’s what they look like all the time. What I’m saying is, if their worst picture shows someone you think you’ll be okay to look at every day, be ready and expectant of that. If their worst picture is a trollish-looking creature, be prepared for a Gollum to walk through that door…unless that’s what you're into...then...that’s cool...I’m not judging…

"Why do you always call me your 'precious', I have a name, it's Jenine."

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And I Told Them I Invented Times New Roman

The last tip I must mention is to be honest. Don’t exaggerate, fabricate or paint yourself in a better light just to make yourself seem more enticing to other users. Have confidence, take an honest approach and the right person will find you soon enough. Because if things work out and you hit it off, you don’t want to find out a couple months later that they've been to jail for armed robbery, or they’re married, or some other appalling piece of information that would have been nice to know from the beginning, like their favorite band is Green Day (instant deal breaker).