The basis of appeal
If you don’t have a picture in your profile, your not actually swimming in the pond with the rest of the fish, you’re jumping about on dry land struggling to get back into the water so that you can breathe. The chances of you being considered as a likely candidate for someone to contact are about the same as you surviving as a fish out of water. It doesn’t matter if you’re a guy that says he’s 5′10″ with jet black hair and green eyes. It doesn’t matter that you have an athletic build, that you’re an outdoorsy kind of guy, that your dream home is a cabin in the forest on some mountain and that for a first date you’d take a walk in the park. All that writing won’t get you anything, because (and this is a huge generalization, although it’s an observed one) without a picture, not one word of your profile is likely to be read. The same goes for girls. I could be the 5′4″ with dirty blonde hair, hazel eyes (that depending on the day can be more green or brown), average build. I have a cute smile, my favorite color is blue, one day I hope to build a cabin in the forest on some mountain with a trap door in the living room that is conveniently placed over a stream so that I can open the trap door and go fishing from the comfort of my own home. I love the outdoors, camping, hiking, biking, taking walks on scenic routes during sunset. My favorite music is classical but I listen to a little bit of everything. Car of choice would be an SUV, the current pick, a Nissian Xterra. I love to travel but rarely get to. I don’t drink and I don’t smoke. I’m very adventurous and always willing to try new activities. The riskiest thing I ever did although it was inadvertanly done was fall down a waterfall. I have a gnarly scar, but I live to tell about that adventure…None of this is likely to be read, because I don’t have a picture posted. Why do we not post pictures with our profiles, I don’t know about everyone else, but for me it’s because I don’t want a guy to be attracted to me because I’m cute, by the same token, I don’t want them to be turned off by me because I don’t meet their standards and rank lower than a 10 on their 10 pt scale. There is more to us people than just the way we look. Although a person’s outer apearance may not be what we ideally want, their inner beauty may be more beautiful than we expected. But if we don’t give them a chance because there is no picture or their picture doesn’t rank well, who are we hurting more…I’d say ourselfs, because we’re not giving ourselfs to truely get to know the person. A little extra weight, not quite tall enough, the teeth not quite straight, the hair not cut correctly; all that can be over looked when you get to know the person well; when you see thier inner beauty. Where they want to be in 5, 10, 15 years. If they want kids or not and how many. What’s their religious preference. Do they want to be married and what do they want out of that marriage. What are their life ambitions. What’s their favorite book, movie, song and why are they their favorite. There’s so much more to a person than just looks. It’s a shame that looks are the basis of appeal.