If I remember correctly, last time, I simply talked about
which dating sites I was considering using, and why I chose the way I did.
Getting back to following up on that, I should talk about a few of the major
things I encountered when I first got started.
First of all, you’ll never know how difficult it was for me
to give away any sort of personal information outside of my name and e-mail
address. I suppose it is from all of these years of practicing internet safety,
but it was really difficult. Despite that, I did finally manage to force myself
to do it. Once I finally put in all of the information it was asking me for, I
needed to upload a picture to my profile. I finally managed to choose a good
one that came from a photo shoot a few years back. Still, up until this point,
I guess I never really realized how few decent pictures of myself I actually
have.
For those that never read some of my previous blog posts (I
believe I've mentioned it several times), I am notoriously unphotogenic.
Basically, I look horrible in all of the pictures taken of me, unless they are
done and edited by a photographer. Now, that doesn't mean that I think I’m bad
looking or anything. I just look terrible in pictures. I’m not sure… it’s like,
whenever a camera is around, I always find a way to look my worst. Even worse,
is the fact that I’m going to need more than just one picture in order to
actually make my profile worth looking at. Not to mention, multiple pictures
add to the credibility of any profile. I mean, it makes it a lot less likely
that you’re a scammer or something when you have multiple pictures of yourself
in various situations uploaded to your profile.
And yes, a lot of these are things that the website itself
told me. But I can definitely understand what it is saying and why.
Of course, it also asked me for all kinds of additional
personal info. It also gave me a series of questions to answer about myself.
There were certainly more than a few of them too. It was actually really
entertaining going through and answering as many of them as I could. They
certainly asked some rather deep questions about relationships and my opinions
on various matters pertaining to them. If only I had a list of those questions,
I could probably go through all of them on here… though that might be a bit
much.
Returning to the present, I should mention that they have
made several changes since I originally joined the website. This included
streamlining the interface, and changing/adding several features. I would say
the most important section is the “settings” panel. On it, you can adjust
several different settings relating to your matches, or who gets matched with
you. I figure I’ll cover each of them in more detail as they pertain to me in
upcoming posts. The general setting feature simply dictates how matches appear,
and whether they appear at all.
Of course, there are a lot of other features besides the
settings pertaining to your matches. Various tools let you view matches in
general, or edit your profile. They also offer several other services and
articles relating to online dating and dating advice. I’ll have to check those
out at a future date.
I should probably take this opportunity to mention that I am
not actually subscribed to the online dating service at this time. So I can’t
communicate with other people via the website. I can’t look at other profiles
either. This is a bit of a drag, but I want to be sure I’m ready before
beginning to pay money in order to use the service. I also want my profile to
be ready, depicting the most accurate representation of me as possible.
In addition to wanting my profile to look its best before
broadcasting it to the world, I also want to feel as though I’m ready. There is
no going back for me now though. I already have one foot in the water. I just
need to feel like I’m ready to take the final step. This is a bit more
difficult than some might imagine. There is a lot on my mind, and a lot that
worries me. I think, most of all, I’m afraid of being judged. I know I
shouldn’t be so worried about it, but I can’t help it. Maybe it is just human
nature.
In any case, my journey is only just beginning…
