I had a guy friend who was also single and many, many, years ago we both decided we wanted to get on match.com to try and find a date.
Now, this is right when online dating began, so there was still a bit of a stigma attached to it. It was like you were some sort of loser for giving it a try. But we didn’t care.
The one thing that was so different back at that time were photos. Neither of us had a good solo picture. All of our pictures included friends and we didn’t really have the tools to photo shop. I mean, we were still taking pictures with cameras. Old school at its finest.
So, we both take a couple pictures of each other so we had some up to date options. We were so excited to write a profile and go live on match.
Writing a profile is another interesting topic. If any of you are considering it, I would ask some friends to help describe you because they can be tough to write. It is so much easier to have an assist.
Anyway, we both go live and check out each other’s profiles. I pull him up and he has 10+ pictures on-line. I was perplexed. We only took a handful of each other. So, I have to scroll over and see what else he has going on.
Much to my surprise, he went home and took some pictures of himself in his bathroom. He had no shirt on and with the tricky bathroom tiles behind him. I was stunned. I called him and said, why did you post those additional pictures? He said, I have a great body, I want all of the girls to see it, so I added to the pictures you took.
I said, what type of girl are you going for? He said, a girl next door. I said, I fear that is not who you are targeting with these pictures. I suggested he take them down because the naked pictures had a creepy feel to them.
I said, if it was you at a pool or beach, it would be much better than your bathroom. He insisted that this was the look he wanted. So, I moved on.
At the time, match had a counter of sorts on your individual page (they still might, it has been years). This enabled you to see how many people have viewed your profile. He asked me how many viewed my profile? I told him that isn’t a fair comparison because girls generally don’t search. He still wanted to know.
I had a feeling I should downplay the hits, so I took my number and cut it in half. I can’t remember what it was but let’s say it was over 1,000. I then cut it down to 500. Well, he was super bummed because he only had 50 views.
Now, most people would wonder if perhaps he/she should tweak their profile to gain more attention. Not this guy, he was sure his counter was broken. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was probably 30 of those views because I kept pulling him up.
Do you think he let it go? No, he actually called match.com to let them know he had a bum counter. He insisted that it wasn’t tallying all of his activity properly.
I still smile when I think of the customer service person who received that call!
Lesson learned? Leave some things to the imagination with your pictures. Also, enlist friends to help with your online dating profile. And be sure to be open to feedback from friends. They are only trying to help!
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