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Original poster

Off-putting photos on dating sites!

113 replies

ExtraOnTheSide · 18/02/2018 19:35

of course there's the obvious ones - in full motor cycle gear.

But why the ones showing them when they're younger?

e.g. 50 year old man (not terrible looking), a few photos, fair enough. Then one - when he's 35 i.e. 15 years ago. Why would I want to see that? Some men even put photos of themselves when they were children Confused.

Sometimes I wonder ...

Still, I guess it saves time ...

OP posts:
RosaDeZoett · 19/02/2018 21:20

Yeah OK, I just googled it, that's not what I was thinking at all!! 😂

TheLastSoala · 19/02/2018 21:20

OK - I disagree with lots of the PPs.

Photo with friends - to show that they are a social person (good thing), you know which one to look at by the other photos

Photo with dog/children - so you know they come as part of a package (important), and that you know they are caring (good thing)

Photo of them on mountain/cycling - so you know they are active and fit (good thing)

Photo of car/motorbike - so you know they would bore you to death within 30mins of meeting them

custardcream1000 · 19/02/2018 21:32

Not a photo, but I read one man's profile where he wrote 'I'm a really nice guy' repeatedly. However, at the end of his profile it said something along the lines of, all the women I've met on here are so boring, so don't message me if you're boring too. I couldn't resist sending him a message and pointing out the contradiction....he never thanked me Hmm

Bloodyuselessatthinkingofaname · 19/02/2018 21:33

and the guys who want to only date a slim size 8 woman- WTF !

Icepink39 · 19/02/2018 21:35

Lol you have made me laugh thank you just what i needed

Catinthebath · 19/02/2018 21:39

Agree with Soala, it’s nice to have an insight into someone’s life as a conversation starter. There’s a lot of chaff out there but also some top quality wheat Smile

Time40 · 19/02/2018 21:56

*@Time40 "Owl Holders" display the following characteristics (not a comprehensive list)

Also have pictures at top of hills/ mountains
Often work in IT
Outdoorsy- like cycling and climbing etc
No imagination
Often wear bobble hats*

Thank you so much! Ah yes - that type. I see. Shame - I'm very fond of owls (I've never held one, though).

Spudlet · 19/02/2018 22:06

Lol, I met DH on OLD. He had gone for 'mysterious' (he reckoned) so wasn't smiling - I just thought he looked grumpy Grin He also had a dog with him. Nice dog, I thought. It wasn't his bloody dog though! Blatant false advertising!

However he was following a policy of messaging anyone that viewed his profile, and I was following a policy of replying to every message, and we got on well in writing so we met up, and both nearly crashed our respective cars on the way home due to how excited we were to have met someone so nice. And now we are wed! With a child! And a house! And (at present) marching stinking colds, which aren't so romantic... And a dog, albeit I came with that (can't remember if I had him as one of my profile pics though I expect I did). So, not sure what the moral of that is, beyond don't judge a book by its terrible profile picture?

Unless it's a dick pic or something, definitely judge that Confused

Annabelle4 · 19/02/2018 22:07

I'm Shock at the fish holding. Is that supposed to be impressive? Confused

RainyApril · 19/02/2018 22:19

I feel brave enough to say that I know two fish holders. One was introduced to angling when he was a child, by his dad, and the other one came to it later in life as a way to bond with his teenage son. I haven't dated either of them, but both thoroughly kind, thoughtful, lovely men. They only go fishing one day a month. I reckon you could be missing out on some good'uns!

Catinthebath · 19/02/2018 22:23

I know some fish holders myself but I think they’re self aware enough to not use a 25lb carp as their profile pic

chestylarue52 · 20/02/2018 05:18

I wonder with the fish guys whether for some of them that’s the only time they have their photos taken?

murphys · 20/02/2018 07:05

Re the action shots. It is all fair and well if they actually do the sport they are showing the photo of, but from my short dabble on Tinder, everyone single one of these profiles with these photos, were fake. In fact, I was matched with about 10 guys at one point and not one of them was ...

  1. in the same country as I am (how is that as my filter is on 50km radius),
  2. when questioned how they show up as being in my area, every single one was/had been working here, all in oil (either drilling or engineering) which still made no sense for the radius as the area they claimed to be working in, is still nowhere near where I am,
  3. everyone of them had one child, a teenager
  4. all were widowed, wife died from cancer (time frames do vary on this though, but all within the last 5 years)
  5. they were all lonely
  6. every one was extremely good looking, so unsure why such a handsome, wealthy, single yet outgoing chap was oh so lonely

One of them even had a full on website, his 'company' and a huge bit all about him on the site, with even more photos etc. Except I did a bit of digging around to find that the site had only been set up for 2 months and was registered to a vet practice not that far away from me...... am so very tempted to name and shame he he

So, after that I decided to only swipe on pictures where I could see that the person is actually local, familiar setting, if the team shirt he is wearing is from a local team and that sort of thing. Yeah, well the matches slowed down a lot after that, and eventually I decided that it really isn't for me at all. I only registered as my friend and I had a few glasses of wine, and she though I needed a date. Anyway, after that put off I couldn't be arsed, and really not wanting to go on a date anyway. But it was a bit of fun while it lasted, which was about a fortnight....

RainyApril · 20/02/2018 07:18

Cat, one of the fish holders I know has a fish pic as his pp on everything, including fb. He's still great though! I think as an experiment you should all accept a date from a fish (or owl) holder!

Ofthread · 20/02/2018 11:54

Think how many fish would be alive today if it were not for online dating.

GrannyGrissle · 20/02/2018 14:57

Never ventured into OLD, i'd assumed it was full of Nigerian Princes wanting money, but the promise of Owl Holders is very tempting would dating someone just to cuddle their owl be morally wrong?

Ryder63 · 20/02/2018 15:42

Well, Granny, I too have held an owl (sadly no pictorial evidence) but the owl was not my own - so beware false owlage!

Zaphodsotherhead · 20/02/2018 18:27

murphys - that sounds like a lot of them are moonlighting across from Facebook (they weren't all American forces guys, were they?)

Reverse google image is a very important tool when you meet someone like this (although they don't appreciate being told that they are a dead ringer for the American Secretary of State - wonder why?)

nixso29 · 20/02/2018 18:42

I cant stop laughing at the fawn comment, properly chuckling 😂

EagleRay · 20/02/2018 18:53

I used to do nice profile pics for friends for using in OLD profiles - it was kind of a hobby for a while.

Best result was with a male lodger - he was ok looking but his confidence wasn't great. I did some nice, natural uncontrived pics and it turned his life around as he suddenly had loads of women after him and became a bit of a player

Ryder63 · 20/02/2018 19:04

Eagle I think you could help a great many people out on OLD! I'm on a hidden account atm, have browsed today and there are some truly awful and offputting pics Sad

TinselAngel · 20/02/2018 23:15

You know I always just assumed it wasn't their own owl they were holding, but I suppose I could have been mistaken....

murphys · 21/02/2018 05:56

Zaphod

Mostly from US yes, a few from UK (I am not in either countries), none in the forces surprisingly but every single one of them was in oil drilling in some form or other. Must be the new "forces" of the moment.

Explain reverse google images for me if you don't mind. It was my first dabble in OLD so not at all experienced, but that short stint put me off completely, none were as they seemed. Unless I just swiped on all the wrong sorts.

Zaphodsotherhead · 21/02/2018 09:08

reverse.photos/

Drag your image here and it will often show you other uses of the same image (or images of the same person). Sometimes they are genuine. The oil workers/forces/engineers have almost always stolen their pictures from quite famous high profile people, usually in the States.

I really doubt that the American Secretary of State is that desperate for a date that he'd contact me!!

And sadly Granny, you can't cuddle owls. It damages their feathers. So beware any owl holders luring you round with a promise of 'cuddling their owl', it could be a euphemism!

MeetMeInMontauk · 21/02/2018 11:06

Ok, I have questions about the whole 'sedated big cats' OLD trope. Precisely where are these guys going to obtain these shots? Is there a rogue zoo offering out bring-your-own-tranq sessions, or maybe some specialist-interest online companies offering it as a day excursion? Genuinely baffled here Confused