Messaging – What You Need to Know

At Muddy Matches we receive a lot of questions about messages (which makes sense as they are one of the key aspects of internet dating). So we thought it would be a good idea to answer some of the most popular queries:

Why do I have to pay to open a message? – At Muddy Matches we offer two levels of membership; a free membership and paid for subscription. It’s free to look around and view people’s profiles, but if you wish to send and receive messages, you will need to pay for a subscription.

Although some sites offer completely free membership, they do not offer the same level of customer service. At Muddy Matches we are on the end of the phone if our members need advice. We also carefully look through all of the profile texts and pictures submitted to us, to make sure that our members are not revealing too much information within their online dating profiles. Finally, another benefit of using paid for services such as Muddy Matches is that you will not be inundated with adverts when you access the website.

How can I tell if my message has been received? – You will receive an email to tell you that your message has been read (unless you have changed your settings to not receive messages). You can also check on the status of a message that you have sent by looking in your sent box and checking the ‘Read On’ column.

Why hasn’t my message been opened? – We advise members to give it some time for their message to be opened, as, due to the nature of our website, it is possible that the person who you have messaged may not yet have had the time to be at a computer for a long period of time to be able to reply to your message.

If you don’t receive a reply, do not bombard the other person with messages asking why they haven’t contacted you!

Why can’t I just email people instead of messaging them? – The Muddy Matches messaging service helps to keep your personal details safe, until you get to know someone a bit better.  When you send a message through the service, only your chosen username will be displayed.

However, when you send a message from a personal email account such as Hotmail or Yahoo, your full name will be displayed and the recipient may be able to find out more about you by googling your email address.

Is it OK to send messages to more than one person? – Yes, although we certainly wouldn’t encourage our members to have more than one relationship at once, it is OK to send messages to more than once person at once.

We encourage members to get in touch with all the people who they are interested in getting to know better. Just make sure that if you are contacting more than one person at once that you don’t get their names wrong and make sure that you personalise each message.

Remember that the more messages you send, the more likely it is that you will  receive a response.

What should I write in my messages? – Our guide to what to write in your first message, explains what you should write in your message, how long it should be and how to avoid common mistakes.

If you would like sign up to Muddy Matches for free, click here.