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Dating apps – the modern way to date. Media portrayal of “when dates go wrong”. Has taken isolated incidents and made them the norm. So, the likelihood of meeting somebody in a bar and starting something new is now very small. People just don’t trust each other.

Dating apps make dating safe and easy. Scrolling through profiles and choosing whether you like them or not has never been easier. It’s like shopping for your soulmate and you get an entire aisle to pick one from. All of them are different in their own way, but a lot are the same in many ways too.

I have been using online dating apps for over a year. I have had my own degree of success but I am now just using them. To people who watch and for entertainment – yes that’s right, entertainment! I use Plenty of Fish, Tinder, and Bumble. Let’s explain a little about each one first:

Online Dating –

By Dale Preece-Kelly

• Plenty of Fish (or POF)

This is the most complex of the three. You input a lot of information about yourself, likes, and dislikes. What you are looking for and personality, there is even a “Chemistry Test”. To complete for compatibility (although I am yet to see a profile with this completed).

You then add photos of yourself, in the hope of attracting that one person. And write a detailed “About Me” description. You are shown photos of potential matches in your area. And when you click on them you are taken to their profile.

There is then lots of information allowing you to decide whether to make contact. POF also has a “Meet Me” section. Which is a quick swipe where you decide based on one photo. Whether you would like to meet somebody – this is, however, a paid section, and as such nobody uses it!

• Tinder –

This is a famous online dating app. Where users swipe left or right depending on whether they like the look of the person in the photograph. Right for yes and left for no.

Tinder allows you to view all their profile photos, which can range from 1 to 8 images. If you like the look of the person and want to learn more. Then you can tap on the bottom of the photo for their description – some people use it and others don’t. When a match occurs, the onus is generally on the male to make initial contact.

• Bumble –

This online dating app is like Tinder but laid out differently. On  Bumble, the user scrolls up page by page. To view details of the person that they are looking at and their additional images. But like Tinder, it’s a left or right swipe depending on whether you are attracted to that person.

Unlike Tinder, when a match occurs, the onus is on the female to make the first move. In fact, the male cannot send the first message; and the lady has just 24 hours to send that first message. If you particularly like your match. Then you can use a function to extend that 24 hours to 48 hours.

It all sounds very complicated, but it really isn’t. I have found that the best “quality” ladies use Bumble, then Tinder, and at the bottom of the pile are users of POF.

Bumble users tend to be professionals who enjoy “the finer things in life and world travel”. Pof users are less likely to be professionals and mostly enjoy “watching tv, going to the pub, and family time”.

I have decided to write this, with a view to pointing out, it from a man’s perspective. Why do the women on these apps become unattractive, despite how they may look? I also want to point out where women have their information wrong when it comes to the male users of these apps.

I know some men do not read the description that is painstakingly labored. Over and go purely on looks, but there are many female users who do the same thing.

PROFILE DESCRIPTION

Let’s look at how the profile is viewed when read.

There are many ways that profiles are written, and the majority are very negatively composed. Others are amusing, and others are very sensitive and intelligently put together.

By “negatively composed”, I mean that they are an endless diatribe of why. The user is hacked off with online dating apps and men in general. And what a potential match shouldn’t do, shouldn’t say in the first message. A very tight description of how they should look! They use phrases such as “just jog on” if a user is looking for something such. As “one-night stands”, “a skinny supermodel” or even “doesn’t like children”.

These are all things that put a potential match off when they read your profile. It comes across as aggressive and being written by somebody with “attitude”. And a dislike of men in general… I mean if you dislike men so intensely then why are you looking for one?

Sizeism is rife – I once read one lady’s profile and it simply read:

“What do you call a man under 6 feet tall? A friend”

How is this conducive to finding a match?

OK, it made me smile, but also made me realize what I was facing. I am 5 feet 8 inches and in the online dating game, considered “short” and therefore not worthy of a date.

Why limit your options to finding a good man, who can satisfy your every requirement? Because he is an inch or two shorter than you when you have your heal on? It all seems to be about appearance, which immediately is a left swipe for me because it shows how shallow these “beauties” are. “

I want to wear heels when I go out and therefore this adds 4 inches to my actual height of 5 feet 3 inches” – oh so you are short too then?

Here is a quote from another profile. This one belonged to an attractive woman of 52 who was 5 feet 2 inches and looking for somebody of a similar age:

“Must be over 5 foot 10 (as I like to wear heels) and have a full head of dark hair”.

I thought, honey if he’s reached 50 plus and he still has a full head of hair he’s done well. But if it’s still dark then he’s using Grecian! If I wrote a similarly specific profile description and said, for example.

“Must be a size 8 to 10, 34 BB, and have red curly hair” I’d be shot on sight and get ignored. By every woman who encountered my profile. For being a misogynist! And it would probably be a screenshot shared around social media.

Clichés are another overused medium in Profile Descriptions. Two of my absolute no-nos are “looking for my partner in crime” and “love to travel abroad and in the UK”.

Looking for your “partner in crime”?

Well, I have no desire to help you bump off your ex, dismember him and scatter him around the county! I work in prisons but have no desire to reside in one, thank you very much! LEFT SWIPE!

So, do you like traveling and holidays abroad and in the UK? I think that goes without saying, we ALL do! The fact that you mention it in your profile, for me, means one of two things.

Either you could not think of anything interesting to write in your profile. And thought “traveling” made you sound interesting or mysterious. OR you are looking for a partner who will whisk you away somewhere; warm and sandy 3 or 4 times a year! LEFT SWIPE!

I once called somebody out on this, we matched and I asked her “I see you like travel, what’s the nicest place you’ve ever been to?” She replied “Scotland.” I asked, “No outside the UK”. Her response “Oh, I’ve never been abroad, but really would like to; maybe we could go somewhere together.”

So, you want me to take you abroad because you can’t or won’t take yourself? Yet her profile stated that she liked to travel abroad.

Ladies complain that they feel their profiles go unread. But given the number of profiles that I have read which are written in this way. There is no wonder that men don’t bother reading them. I can now quite accurately predict, just from a photograph, whether a profile is written in this way.

Your Attitude.

The other thing that puts me off potential matches is “attitude” in a profile.  When a profile is worded in a way that is aggressive toward potential matches.

Many profiles are worded in a way that aggressively states what the person is looking for, and what a match should and should not have in their profile photos. What a match should and should not behave like, how they should word their contact message etc. These profiles usually end with the words “if this is you then ‘jog on.” I hate this expression.

If you are writing a profile, ladies, and you want to attract a potential mate, then tell us about yourself, and put some effort into it.

Make us smile, grab our attention. Don’t, don’t, DON’T use clichés, or drone on at inordinate lengths. About how bad men are, or Tinder in general is; listing your assumptions about how men are all after one thing, hung up on their ex, or married.

These things just make you sound like Eeyore talking politics and nobody dates a donkey!

PHOTOS.

The profile picture is the first impression – It’s the thing that makes us decide if we wish to delve deeper into this person’s profile.

In which case why put your profile image as a meme, a black screen, a photo of your kids, a photo of a landscape, or a close photo of your eye? Really? Am I going to look at the rest of your pictures? Erm… no! As for my last example: is your profile a jigsaw, do I have to print off each photo in order to build a composite of your face?

There are a few things not to do when deciding which photos to include in a profile:

• Don’t use filters, ESPECIALLY Snapchat filters –

If I want to see you with bunny ears, then I will buy you some. And if I want to see you with stars around you, I will bang my head on something solid!

These filters do not give an accurate representation of you most of the time. Make you look scarily gruesome! When I meet you, I won’t recognize you, and when I finally do see through all the wrinkles.

I may feel the need to iron your face and make you wear rabbit ears and a shiny red nose. That I bought along with me to make you look like your profile picture!

• Pouting – NO!

Some of you look like a pufferfish trying not to kiss a shark’s backside! Just smile and be natural – show me the sparkle in your eyes. And the smile that makes the sun jealous.

• Skiing Photos –

Women complain that men’s photos always show them holding a fish. (you would be happy how many women have photos like this. You CAN NOT describe yourself as an animal lover and stand there holding a suffocating fish). Or standing by their car or motorbike. Well in my experience 75% of the female profiles. I have visited the show a photograph of them on the slopes leaning on their skis or something similar.

We do not wish to see you in skiing goggles, hats, scarf, gloves, skiing overalls, big boots, etc. All we can see is your red nose and all we can imagine. Are the copious amounts of snot you were trying to snivel up it? In order to have the photo taken without it running down and over your top lip onto your cashmere scarf!

• Tongue –

Please do not upload a photo of you sticking out your tongue, especially if you are over 50. It just isn’t attractive in the slightest. I guess ladies think that it makes them look playful and fun, maybe even mischievous. It really doesn’t, it just makes me think that you ran out of photo ideas.

• Blurry Images –

Given modern technology and the age of the selfie being upon us. There are zero excuses for the photos on your profile to be photos of old photographs. Or blurry in any way shape or form. They do not allow us to see what you look like.

• Face Only –

Please do not give me 8 photos of your head, from pretty much the same angle! I get what you look like after the first 2 or 3. I want to see more – show your personality in them, your style. Show me what you like to do in your spare time (except skiing for obvious reasons).

It’s amazing what can be hidden when all that you are seeing is a face. Show me you are in different clothes and at different times of the day. Do not show me photos of yourself in different outfits in front of the same mirror. With the outfit that you were in in the previous image; lying on the bed behind you or in a heap around your feet!

• Cheesy Puffs –

The specific example here of what not to do. This (large – I think BBW is what they refer to themselves as). Lady thought that it was attractive to place a photograph of her sitting in a plastic chair on her patio. Legs out in front of her, slippers on, fag in one hand, and an oversized packet of cheesy puffs in the same hand.

Her other hand shoved a handful of said cheesy puffs into her mouth! Hmmm, NOT attractive in the slightest!

The things people do! And then they wonder why they are having little or no success. Many will even combine all these things into one profile.

My profile has a variety of photographs, all taken recently, in different places. Doing different things and in different forms of attire. One photo got me a great deal of abuse from a few women. It is a photograph of me and a horse.

I’m sure that I have no need to explain the number of female profiles. That I have come across where they are pictured with a horse! Apparently, the fact that I am shown with a horse.

Who had buried his head in my chest upon our first meeting? Shows me to be weak and feeble and not a man at all; I was told that it was not manly, was unattractive and “wimpish”.

One woman really went to town on me about it, in a very abusive way. And it was quite upsetting but shows the sort of person that she is, and many others are on these online dating sites.

CONCLUSIONS.

Lots of ladies are looking for a gentleman, who is attentive, compassionate, caring, etc., but when they get one, you discover they are actually enticing to bad boys and find that they think you have some kind of ulterior motive because you are “too nice!” No, I am just being who I am – a genuinely nice guy and a gentleman who wants to treat you right.

Another reason for the above, of course. Is it that these women have been treated so badly by other men? That they do not believe they deserve the right to have somebody be nice to them.

This really saddens me,

That many men treat women in this way. This gives women the impression that this is normal and being treated properly is not. I had one match who took advantage of me being nice, to the point. Where I found myself paying her household bills as I felt sorry for her.

I had another who was convinced I was a nasty narcissist. Using incredibly complex psychological games to entrap her. When all I was doing was being genuinely kind and caring toward her. Because that is who I am and who I was brought up to be.

She could not find a box to put me in, based on her past experiences, and consequently, I was told it was over.

My experience and the matches that I have dated have, unfortunately, led me to conclude. That most of us who use online dating apps are, in some way or other, “damaged”. Usually psychologically, by some incident in our life or experience with past partners.

This, therefore, hinders our ability to “relationship”. Normally and consequently leads to us repeating cycles that ensure we remain in. To think that at some point in the future, every person in the modern world. Will have been on an online dating app at some point in their lives!

Statistics show this to be true –

They show that twice as many single people (compared to married people). Suffer from mental illness, with single women. Being twice as likely as single men to suffer from severe psychological disorders.

Showing that most women on online dating apps (at least two-thirds of them) are completely bonkers! You have at best a 1 in 3 chance of dating a decent woman. (Women your chance is 2 out of 3 for dating a decent guy). Therefore, for every 3 women, I  match with, only one is not suffering because of her past, if I am lucky.

SEX, Differences.

All of that said, women are the controllers where online dating is concerned. They have the upper hand in what is acceptable for them to put in their profiles and photos.

A guy doing the same sort of thing would end up having his profile several times. And considered insulting or offensive for his wording. Women can state exactly what they are looking for even down to height, hair color, facial hair, etc. – A man doing that would be considered as an “AVOID”.

Apparently, women can write whatever they like, regardless of how offensive it is. Again, a man would not get away with this.

It seems people forget that they are trying to attract somebody who will like them. And want to go out with them and at some point, presumably, enter a relationship with them.

My own view on the whole profile thing is honest images. That shows not just my face but my whole clothed body, in clothes I like to wear and regularly do, in places that I like to visit.

In terms of description.

I describe myself and my personality honestly and succinctly and am honest about what I enjoy doing. I’ve been told that all of this makes me stand out from the crowd. But because it is so different from most male profiles it makes it look suspicious to potential matches!

How ridiculous, that an honest profile can create suspicion amongst a myriad of fake ones. Or rather people are insincere about who they are.

Due to everything I’ve detailed here, I have decided to limit my use of online dating apps. To “fun” only – by which I do not mean one-night stands or any such shenanigans. That is people watching and entertaining myself, trying to guess from the initial image. What the person will say about themselves and how their profile will read.

I have also concluded that most profiles are just people. Looking the way, they think will attract the other sex, in terms of both images and description.

I think many of the images are staged specifically for an online dating app. And that the description of self is a word using “commonalities” that are identifiers when searching for a compatible match.

During my research for this piece,

I did speak to people who had matched on online dating sites and found the love of their life. I spoke to more, however, who had trusted dating apps for years. (7 years is the longest anybody I spoke to had continuously been using these apps). And had no success at all. So, it can be successful, but only for a very small minority of people.

I have decided to match the organic way, i.e. The meeting of minds and physicality that comes from a natural meeting somewhere. By chance, be it at a park or a bar or some such. Using online dating apps just causes you to force the issue when it should happen naturally and in its own time.

If it doesn’t happen, then at least I have known true love. Which unfortunately ended due to a terminal illness. I am just going to get out and talk to people and if anything is meant to happen then it will.

If not, then I will just enjoy my own company and continue to take myself on dates! Or I guess I could register as an escort and have the ladies pay me to take them on dates. Or better still on holidays abroad… certainly worth considering if all else fails!

I will leave you with one final thought, rather than ‘helpfully’ provided by a friend. Who has been happily married for many, many years? He said “You should avoid the Supermarket Online Dating App. I’ve heard that you just end up with a ‘bag for life!”

Check out our other article on, Dating Tips for Women in Their 40s, Starting a New Relationship. HERE