I have to take a moment and just complain about online dating. My girlfriends and I have gotten a lot of laughs about this over the last few weeks. We love nothing more than drinking mimosas and exchanging stories about the kind of people that we have the pleasure of encountering in the dating world.

Online dating sucks. There’s no other way to describe it. There are so many factors and red flags that you have to be aware of. If you don’t do online dating right, then you are setting yourself up for an hour or so of awkwardness when you finally agree to meet the person that you’ve been chatting up for the last few days. And let me tell you, there is nothing worse than being let down on a first date. I have come up with a few rules to consider before meeting someone in person.

1. All his pictures are selfies: This is an issue for  couple of reasons. He’s either obsessed with himself (gym selfies for days) or he doesn’t have a lot/good friends. Or if all the pictures are of his face, then he is probably self conscious. Of course people say, “Why would you put your friends in pictures with you? That might confuse them of which one you actually are.” False. I have 2-3 pictures with friends. This shows people what I look like in relation to others and that I actually go out and do stuff with friends. Same factors apply to women. Women are camera gypsies. We will take 100 photos at various angles and choose the one that makes us look best. Why do you think we have so many selfies on our phones?
2. All his pictures are group photos: If he decides to put up all group photos, you have to go by the most unattractive one in the picture. Sad to say, but true. If they aren’t smart enough to put one photo of just them, or descriptions in the photo to explain who they are, then you have to assume that any of the people in that photo could be him. Now, some of us are really good at picking them out of the crowd. You can go through them all and try to find the common denominator. I think it’s actually an impressive skill to have! However, ain’t no body got time for that.
3.  There’s no information on his profile: Chances are if there is absolutely no information on his profile, he’s probably just as boring in person. When the “About Me” section says “ask me” I just roll my eyes and move on to the next profile. There’s absolutely nothing for me to go off other than your pictures. And when you have one picture of your dirt bike and one picture of your cat… chances are I’m not going to write you back. How would anyone write you back?! Also, your username is a bunch of numbers? What the heck? So stop writing me because I’m not going to change my mind. 
4. There’s so much information on his profile it’s like reading a novel: There’s a fine line between enough information and too much information. I recently read a profile that really caught me off guard. This guy was telling me all the things he was not. I found it completely unattractive. It was like he was bitching about all women. 
   Dude, you sound like a freakin’ catch! NOT! After reading that.. I’m definitely not interested in you. Red flag. This man has some issues.
5. Snapchat and Facebook are your friend: When you get to the point where you two have agreed to exchange numbers and text, adding them as a snapchat/facebook friend is always a good idea as well. Snapchat ensures that you get REAL and up to date photos of the person you are talking to. Facebook stalking is always ideal as well. You get to see more than just the best pictures that people have put on their profiles. In return, they get to look at all of your pictures too. Win-Win. 

Bottom line — No one wants to be catfished. You are who you are. So why deceive others into thinking you look a different way? Because when they show up to meet you their mind is going to change because you’re the most honest, fantastic person they’ve ever met!? FALSE! You just lied to them for the past few days about who you are and what you actually look like. And for the record, whether you are going to admit it to yourself or not, physical attraction to someone TOTALLY matters. Everyone has their own ‘type’. So own what you got! Someone will like you for you! Do you want to be with someone who makes your jaw drop? Who makes you think that you are the pretties and luckiest person in the world because of how they make you feel and the way they treat you? I don’t deceive others. You either like me or you don’t. You either are attracted to me or you aren’t. If only everyone operated that way.

Rant Over.