Decoding a Person’s Profile

With thousands of online dating profiles available to you, how do you work out who will be a good match for you? We have a guide to decoding profiles and how to read between the lines.

Honesty

Honesty is a crucial characteristic in a new partner, so how do you go about finding someone who is genuine and honest?

• Check that their lifestyle matches up to what they say in their profile text — for example if someone says that they are country-minded and love spending all of their time in the countryside, check that their photos aren’t all indoor shots, or taken in city locations.
• Check that personal details match up — two of the most common fibs told on dating websites are about age and height. If their photos look like they are taken decades ago, they might be trying to appear younger than they actually are. In terms of height, you can gauge someone’s height from standard height items in the photograph such as door frames.

How keen are they?

If someone is keen to find love online they will spend time working on their dating profile and photos. This will mean that they will write enough text for you to find out about their lifestyle and personality.

If they write very little, it will show that they have either just signed up and are going to come back to it later (see if they are a new member), or that their are a bit complacent.

A large amount of text can show that they are worried about meeting the wrong kind of person and that they think that a detailed profile will stop them from meeting the wrong sort of person.

Hurt

Sadly a lot of people who join online dating websites have been hurt in previous relationships. Being hurt doesn’t make them a bad date, but it means that they might be a bit wary at first. Signs that someone has been hurt include statements like ‘all men are…’, or ‘all women are…’. They might list criteria such as ‘don’t get in touch with me if you’re a cheater’.