Personal ads written by people you've met

[Deja Q]

Which come across as the most annoying?

(I'll vote #1, myself...)

[JVS]

1. They are fucking hilarious.

I ran into someone I know on www.jdate.com and laughed my ass off because I could grasp the reasoning behind many statements.

Care to see the ad?

[Missy Vixen]

2. Okay, I'll bite

I met my husband through a personals ad. We celebrated our tenth anniversary on September 18th. I estimate that I met 300 people before I found "the guy," and ran ads on three different occasions. My first ad netted over 500 responses; I learned to "qualify" after that.

I am a plus-sized woman. I was very upfront about that fact, in both my printed ads and in my voice mail. I also was upfront about the fact that I was looking for someone smoke and drug-free, and preferred the childfree. It was astonishing to me how many responses I got from those who smoke, those with kids, and those who didn't care to meet anyone who wasn't HWP. (Interesting when the title of my last ad was, "They shoot non-HWP's, don't they?"

My shopping list was pretty short -- easy to get along with, great sense of humor, looking for a long-term relationship, didn't want kids, didn't smoke, use drugs, or abuse alcohol. I met men whose shopping lists would rival the page number and poundage of the national budget. I also met a lot of nice guys who were just plain lonely, and looking for someone to care for. (If there wasn't interest between us, I introduced some of them to my single girlfriends, which worked out well!)

Here's a great way to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. Formulate a few questions to ask those answering your ad; you can ask them in the initial phone call. Here are some of the ones I used: "Why did you answer my ad?" If the person in question hemmed and hawed, I knew that they weren't truly interested in any kind of relationship. "What are you looking for in a long-term relationship?" Again, if they just wanted a one-night stand, I didn't get much of an answer. If we'd talked for awhile, this one was the dealbreaker: "What happened to your last relationship? Are you friendly with your ex?" If the first words out of his mouth were "She's a bitch," I politely ended the conversation and didn't meet with the person. By the third ad, I received less than fifty responses; one of them is my husband.

Good luck.

Julie

[DS1]

3. Mad Magazine did a GREAT spoof of this years ago

I remember one ad being written by a Satanic older hag living in her mother's basement written something like

"Very Religious Mature Lady, down to earth, seeks similar, etc, etc, there was more, guess ya had to be there :evilgrin:

[hippiechick]

4. How 'bout ALL OF THE ABOVE ???

Don't even get me STARTED on "Hippie's Online Dating Nightmare Saga" ...

:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[DoNotRefill]

5. An honest personal ad:

"Wanted: Woman. Disease free, large breasts, short attention-span, self lubricating."

That's what 90% of men want.