Your profile essays are absolutely essential to your success as an online dater. Along with your picture, they determine who responds well to your profile and who won’t. The essays are your potential date’s best way to learn what’s important to you, what you have to offer and how you view the world.

Dating is a lot like trawling for fish. You’re looking for a catch and want to use a net that will let the other fish pass right through. The portion of your profile devoted to describing the person you’re looking for is that net.

Let’s assume you’re on a good date with someone you’d like to see again. (Bailing on a bad date is another article entirely.) If you’ve ever watched gymnastics during the Summer Olympics, you know how important it is to “stick the landing.” A great evening can’t stumble at the end if you’re going to leave the best impression on your date.

Coming off a long relationship or even a marriage? Young enough to be pretty new to the whole dating scene? Here are some tips for successfully navigating the perils of a first date, which at times can seem like a complex mating dance—after all, it kinda is! Happily, a lot of headaches and heartaches are easily avoided.

Okay, guys. Do you want a woman’s point of view on netiquette? Do you want to know what we like, what we don’t, and what makes us write a guy off forever? Listen up, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know to grab a girl’s interest and keep it.

First off, what not to do. Writing “Got milk?” to a woman with big boobs will NEVER put you in the same room with those boobs.

Nobody enjoys the feeling of rejection. As a struggling screenwriter, I should be used to it, right? But somehow it feels different than a form letter when a person you’ve laughed with, someone you entertained hopeful thoughts about, suddenly vanishes from your life without explanation.