READ MY MIND... (OR ATLEAST
MY PROFILE!)
By M.J. Rahahleh
Each and every one of us uses gay personals websites, such as GayDar, Manjam or GayRomeo. But we never took the time to stop and think to our selves: is this a blessing or a curse?
The answer to this question lies in us ourselves, and why and how we use those websites. For me, as a person that uses those websites, and on every log-in I get a flood of messages (and I'm sure I'm not the only one that does). But most of these messages are from people who only saw the pictures that are on the profile, and didn't care to see the "about me" section, my interests or the desired age range.
The whole idea of those websites is to meet the perfect mate, or lets be realistic and say at least somebody we like, that’s why they ask anyone that registers on any such website to provide somehow specific information about this "somebody that we like"… but as I've mentioned earlier, some (or most) people don't read the full profile page, and that might lead to many problems, one of these problems is the age range issue… I mean everyone of us wants to meet new people but those people are specified in a certain age range, for example, I want to meet people that are between the age of 18 and 27, but I get a lot of messages from guys that didn't even bother to scroll down and read what is written about the required age range.
Another problem that probably might be the biggest problem of them all is the "about me" section where you are supposed to give some information about yourself, so the person that views your profile can at least find some common ground to start with, and this part consists of at least one profile picture and some general information. I mean – with all due respect – some people on Manjam have profiles that have neither a picture (which can be sometimes understood because they might not be able to upload those personal pictures due to certain circumstances) nor the least amount of information that should be known about anyone you're going to approach and try to talk to… but not having a profile picture, not any kind of information and only posting a profile number? That’s somehow confusing, because me, as a person, when I view this profile that doesn't even raise to spark my interest, I wouldn't even bother to care about who ever owns this profile because it doesn't show whether this person is really "the one" or just "another one"…
But in general, the concept of online dating might be widely spread in our region, but if we are really looking for this "one" that we are all waiting for, and/or we want this prince charming to find us or for us to be able to find him, we have to provide sufficient info about ourselves and the person we want, and trust me when I say that we will save a lot of time on pointless meetings, trouble and of course pain while Mr. Right is still out there waiting for us