ClueChick: real clues from a real chick

We all have them: profiles on various dating sites. Some sites give lots of questions for us to fill out, while others leave a general "about me" section that you can complete with as much or as little detail as you like. Even those sites with many fields don't usually specify how much you need to say in each one.

I have one profile that I particularly like, and I tend to use it, or parts of it, as a default when I'm starting one on a new site. I can only come up with so many thoughtful things to say about myself, after all. And I can understand the writer's block that comes into play when faced with a whole screen that I'm supposed to fill with scintillating details about myself.

So what's the point?

You should fill out your profile on a dating site because it's the socially acceptable generic letter that so many of you are fond of sending. You know, the one that tells me who you are without telling me anything about why you found me interesting? The one that I pretty much never respond to, because it's so generic and doesn't tell me anything about how you AND I might fit together? Yeah.

But on a personal ad site, this is your big chance to have all that information in one place, where I would expect it to be. And then when you write me a short note to start a conversation, I can look at your profile and learn about you!! This is great, because it doesn't make me feel like I'm getting spammed, it means you don't have to write as much, and it shares actual information between us.

I get lots of pretty contentless approaches on dating sites. When they're backed up by an interesting profile, the chances of my responding increase dramatically. When I get a thoughtful (even if short) approach paired with a good profile ... well, that's golden.

You've gotta give me something to work with, after all.