I understand that so much of this is soul-destroying especially when you get no replies in, what, 18 months? I've even seen some posts of men who claim to have a lifetime reply rate of literally 0%, as in, no replies ever, on any site!
I was on a site for 3 weeks and got at least 8 replies from different women in that time. Sometimes, given what I see here, especially from "WalkingDead" and others, I consider myself lucky. But then, all of it fizzled out very quickly, and I still had to go through much aggravation and much reassessment of self worth. The fact that it was so painful, just shows how insecure I still am. I won't be going back on ANY of those sites, at all, until I learn to like myself completely, and feel complete by myself. I think everyone else should do the same, if they haven't already.
The other thing I wanted to say, for those who are absolutely *certain* it's only the top 5% of men getting replies. Well, since you've come this far already, why don't you test the theory? And In this way: include the same pictures you usually use. But add an extra 20K or even 30K onto your income. If you don't have a college degree, add one in. Or two.
To avoid local people finding you, see if you can place this profile in a different location. Check to see how much your luck changes.
If there is no obvious improvement, then you know the problem is either:
1) Photos not good enough (there's a reason people are asking professionals to do this, nowadays!) It's not always one's looks, but crappy photos, that ruin everything.
2) Response content, or timing of responses, is off. This is something where if you don't know it innately, you need loads of experience and/or advice to make it work.
Obviously, the intention is NOT to deceive, so do not follow up in conversations. This is more a test to see what your problem is. Again I do not advocate lying.
