Hi Everyone!
I’m back with another installment of my online dating chronicles!
Part 1: It Started One Night At A Bar Named ‘Darling’…
Part 2: The One Where Jen Swiped Right
Part 4: Dipping My Toe In The Water
Even though I was on Tinder and Bumble for two weeks and POF for only one, I obviously got more messages on POF because you don’t need to match to get a message. Like I said in Part 4, I had it set so that Males in Canada (aged 23-35) could message me. I received several messages as I was setting up my profile. I wrote a more lengthy ‘About Me’ and came up with a headline (a sentence to get people to click on your profile).
On a dating site set up like POF where anyone can message you (unless you have restrictions on your mail settings), you’ll obviously get a variety of messages: creepy ones, gross ones, funny ones, nice ones, sweet ones, etc.
I wrote that I loved action movies, liked burgers and that I’m probably one of the few girls who would prefer to be given food instead of flowers. A lot of the guys that messaged me were excited to find a girl who liked action movies. One said he had never met a girl who liked the Lord of the Rings trilogy and would never even consider watching the extended versions. I told him he wasn’t meeting the right girls lol. A few made a joke that they’d bring me a bouquet of burgers. It was cute when the first guy messaged me saying that, but then when several others said the same thing, it obviously wasn’t as funny/original.
There were a few lines that seemed original and were pretty funny, but I don’t want to ruin it for the guy if that’s his pick-up line for every girl he messages. Here are some of the funny/cheesy ones that aren’t exactly original (these are verbatim, so excuse the grammar and/or wording):
- Can I follow you? My mom told me to always follow my dreams.
- Excuse me, Mademoiselle, could you give me directions to your heart? I seem to have lost myself in your eyes…
- There’s a strange feel in my stomach either I’m hungry or I’m in love and the only way to find out by asking you for lunch
One guy wrote ‘looking for committed girlfriend’ in his About Me. I laughed at it because it should probably say ‘committed relationship’ or ‘serious girlfriend.’ A ‘committed girlfriend’ makes me think he wants a girl from a psychiatric hospital. Another guy wrote that he liked my profile and I “sound like a really ‘cool girl’ if you know what I mean.” Why was ‘cool girl’ in quotes and why did he write ‘if you know what I mean?’ Well, I didn’t know what he meant, so I asked him and he said that he thought I sounded cool. I have no idea why he put it in quotes and said ‘if you know what I mean’…He could’ve just said “You sound like a cool girl.” *shrugs* moving on…
I got a few messages that I should’ve probably felt offended, but was flattered. One guy messaged me saying, “Hey, would you ever consider playing on cam for $? No offense intended.” It was gross, but I felt flattered that he wrote it. Another guy messaged me calling me a catfish and I messaged him back saying that I was real and he said he didn’t mean any offense by it. I felt flattered that he thought I would be a catfish. Either he liked my bio and thought it sounded good or liked my pics. Another guy, we’ll call him Mr. Captain Jack Sparrow. He said, “Reallyyy Jennifer? Your profile seems TOO good to be true so I think you should respond to me vs. the other 500 messages so that at least I can verify that you are real :p” I replied and we exchanged a few messages. He was a perfect gentleman and it proved to me that there are nice, not creepy, normal guys on POF- you just have to weed out the ones that are creeps and jerks.
After a few days, I decided to get rid of the age limitations and allow any age to message me. I wanted to see if guys a lot younger/older would message me. I waited until I received 1000 messages so I could get a proper sample size. The majority were closest to my age with a few here and there that were a lot younger or older. A few of the men had listed their age as 25 or something and then they’d put it in their About Me or in their first message that they were actually 40 or something. I assume it’s because most girls will probably set their age restrictions close to the age they are.
Using the 1000 messages, I took the time to sort the messages into two different categories. Based on approximate percentages, this was the break-down:
- 70% would say Hi, Hello, What’s Up, make a comment about my appearance (smile, eyes, attractiveness) or use a pick-up line
- 30% would make a direct reference to something in my About Me section or comment on one of my secondary pictures (proving that they looked at my other pictures and didn’t just message me after seeing the first one)
It was alarming how many of the guys wrote ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re.’ *face palm* It was flattering to get messages saying that I’m beautiful, but if you spelled it ‘your,’ it just made me cringe.
I am a fan of Friends (if that wasn’t evident by two of the titles for this blog series), so I thought it would be funny to write this in my bio:
Wanted: …non-smoker, non-ugly. ← If you know what that’s from, make a reference to the show 🙂
I wasn’t sure if everyone would get the reference, so I made it clear that it’s from a show and that I wasn’t the one saying it.
Here were some of the first messages I got:
- *looks down and up* How you doin’?
- “Could that BE any more obvious” jk lool (in chandlers voice in case that made no sense xD)
- “Could I be wearing any more clothes???”
Love,
*This blog series is not affiliated or associated with any of the online dating sites/apps mentioned. It is also not meant to discourage any person from using these sites. This was just something I thought would be a fun topic to write about and let you know about my experiences with online dating.
