Did you read the fine print?

Back in the stone age, before the advent of online dating, men and women commonly faced this dilemma:

You spot someone attractive across the room. With some luck and persistence, you snag a first date. Then some time later you make some disturbing discoveries. It turns out that your Wonder Date bites his toenails or smacks her gum like a horse — something that you absolutely, positively cannot abide. What a cruel disappointment. If only you had known before….

Every Prince or Princess Charming (even you!) has a dimension or eccentricity that just might be a deal-breaker. I call this the fine print, and the sooner we all read it, the better.

In the old days, when I left my dating opportunities to fate and random meetings, I was regularly blind-sided. Among my dates who looked promising at first blush, were:

The gentle professor. He pretended he didn’t smoke so I would date him, but after we became intimate, he decided it was okay to puff freely.
The boyish cowboy. Even though his jeans fit so well, he turned out to believe that dogs belonged only in the back of pick-up trucks… including my beloved pooch.
The sexy artist. It took a while to discover that he liked wearing high-heels and nail polish more than I do.

I was thrilled to discover you can post a free member profile at Match.com. Loads of fine print right up front. No need to interrogate dates to glean important personal information! In a few minutes, I could learn more from a profile than I ever could from a come-on line. As a time and energy saver, this was the way to go.

To benefit fully from online profiles, first consider the little (or big) idiosyncrasies you could live with; then decide which would drive you straight to an asylum. Would his nightly glass of wine smack of alcoholism? Does coloring her hair constitute fraud? The more realistic you are with your expectations, the more effectively you can screen online profiles. But remember, if you set too many limits, you just might overlook someone who is great in the most important ways.

What about your own little foibles and quirks? Maybe it’s something small, like practicing your accordion at breakfast. Or maybe it’s a “biggie” that could short-circuit a match. When you’re accurate in your own profile, you save yourself the indignity of face-to-face rejection. You’ll only get email from folks who like what they saw and read. If you’re a smoker who hopes to someday quit, how wonderful to find a date who accepts that before the romance begins.

What’s folly for one is fabulous for another, so the trick is to find your match. Once you get clear about what would or wouldn’t be a fit for you, turn to Match.com profiles for the fine print. Search for local singles today and surf your way to someone special!