“You’re catalog shopping,” said my sister. “I don’t like having important things show up on my doorstep. I like to go to the store and see them in person before letting them into my house.”

I was talking to her about my recent almost-tongue-in-cheek profile update you can read about 3 posts down from this one.

My profile update was meant to be humorous, but also a clever way to weed out responses from men who had no sense of humor or intelligence, or did not read profiles before reaching out. I’ve gotten a record number of responses from three of the four dating sites on which it was posted. Most of them still consist of nothing more than a comment on my appearance. Half of those turn out to be a humorous response (although it’s not always apparent until I respond with “lol.”) A relatively good number of responses are witty, insightful, respectful of my “warnings.” In other words, I have proven that a lot of men, and probably women, don’t read profiles and reach out based on looks alone. The good news is, my experiment worked and I’ve connected with several quality men — more than in the past.

And so I’m doing a bit of an about face. As much as I love writing humor, I think it’s also important to also write more blatantly insightful things about the state of relationships in this e-dating world. From a self-serving standpoint, it will continues to help me cope with my own struggle. Stay tuned.