We touched on it the other day in our piece about one woman's online dating horror stories: sometimes you need to kiss a few toads before you find your prince. Occasional bad dates and poor compatibility are just part of the game when you are dating, whether you are dating online or somewhere else. However, there do seem to be a few "types" of bad connections that you meet, particularly when you are dating online.

It seems that, when dating, you tend to encounter some of the same bad behavior over and over again. A few of the top bad internet dating types:

1. Mr. A/S/L. This is a guy that doesn't just live on internet dating sites; he and his ilk show up in every corner of the internet, from forums to chat rooms. A/S/L stands for "age/sex/language," the first three things someone might be interested in finding out when they are looking for some sort of online connection. The problem is, on an online dating site, anyone who even takes a few seconds to look at your profile would have the answer to all three of these questions. Which brings us to type number two:
2. Ms. Can't Be Bothered to Read a Profile. She's an avid cat person, your profile states that you are allergic. Or, she asks if you want kids, when your profile clearly says that you are childfree. Failure to read a profile is an online dating red flag. If they can't be bothered to read a couple of paragraphs, how interested could they be?
3. Mr. Form Letter. Everyone who gets into online dating enounters this person eventually: the one who seems to have created a single introduction email that gets sent out to every person he is interested in. While this bad internet dating type probably means well, it can make you feel like they are trying the shotgun approach, sending messages to every person who is even remotely compatible.
4. Ms. Too Soon. Some people in the online dating game seem to want to put their love lives on a fast track. These people tend to come on frighteningly strong, sometimes wanting a solid commitment before you've even met, or discussing marriage on the first date. It could be that they are marriage-minded, and just want to separate the casual daters from those looking for a serious commitment.  But, this sort of aggressive attack can scare off someone who she might have been able to form a solid relationship with, given a little more time.
5. Mr. I'm Not Looking for Friends. Like Ms. Too Soon, this guy is trying to eliminate people early who aren't going to be a good match. His method involves stating up front that he has no intention of winding up in the friend zone. While an efficient declaration may seem, on the surface, to make sense, this guy has a tendency to make potential matches feel like he's not interested in them as a person.

Photo: thegnome54