I've recently become fascinated by the different ways that people use their free internet dating profiles. If you take a cyber-walk around Datepad, you'll find profiles from all kind of people, using all sorts of statements and requests and quotes and drawings and... you name it. It's actually a lot of fun to see what people do.
The truth is, an internet dating profile is a lot more flexible than most people think. Most online daters tend to use their profile in a very simple, straightforward way. And while that works, too, people who get creative with the use of their profile often get a better response than people who simply fill out the information requested. One of the most entertaining ways to get creative with your profile? Use questions to get just the kind of contact you want-- and to sort out the profiles you like from the ones you don't.
On most internet dating sites, there is a free area that allows you to write more about yourself and what you're looking for. This is a great area to talk about what kind of communication you want to see from potential matches. My favorite way to do this? List off a few questions that you'd like potential daters to answer in their first message to you.
There are a lot of ways in which using questions on your profile works to your advantage. For one, it's kind of fun. It's fun to spend time figuring out what your questions say about you, and what you intend them to say about any potential dates. For another, using questions to encourage a certain kind of communication helps to separate the good prospects from the not-so-good ones. If somebody completely ignores your request or provides you with poor answers, you know that the best thing to do is delete the message and move on.
Getting answers to interesting questions posed in your profile will also tell you things about a potential match that their profile won't be able to. Chances are, you'll see the same kinds of answers over and over; so when you see something new, something different, or something funny, you'll know that you've come across somebody special.
Kinds of Questions to Ask
When it comes to posing questions on your internet dating profile, have fun with it! These don't need to be big important questions about life, the universe, and everything. They can be silly or serious or philosophical or... whatever. Some of the different questions you may want to use are:
Questions about their priorities in life. You might ask directly for a potential match to tell you about his or her priorities in life. Or you might cloak your interest in silly questions about what they would bring to a desert island or where they see themselves in 20 years.
Questions about their lifestyle. If people are honest about answering these sorts of questions, it should be an easy way to tell whether or not your lifestyles will be compatible. If their answer to a question about what the did last Friday night is "I was out until dawn with my friends, making fun of Luke Skywalker and kicking stray cats" when your preferred response is "I stayed at home watching Star Wars with my three beautiful kitties," you've already learned something pretty important about your compatibility.
Questions that are more about you. It can also be fun to pose questions that are more about you than anything else. Love Kung-Fu movies or reading Salman Rushdie? Pose questions (maybe with quotes or hints?) that may seem silly and random to the casual observer-- but will catch the attention of somebody who shares your interest.
You can learn a lot about people from their internet dating profile. But you can learn even more from how they communicate with you personally. Using a few fun and well-placed questions on your profile can really help your separate the wheat from the chaff... and tell potential partners something about yourself while you're at it.
