Having read all of the above advice regarding techniques, here is what I have...

1. Message anyone who interest you
2. Find others you get along w/ on the forums
3. Wait for messages, but reply. Then chat, phone, meet(in public)
4. Initiate contact "on an ongoing basis".

Numbers 1 and 4 (aggressive messaging) make sense. How one finds local people to message wasn't specified. I presume it's done using the search feature, since most forum posters don't live nearby (not into LDRs myself).

Number 2 (forum participation) seemed to be scoped to other websites where forums are more local.

Number 3 (Replying) is good advice, but I assume that works best for people who receive messages. (I am not so lucky.)

So... for those of you who engage in aggressive messaging, how do you find whom to message? I assume you use the search feature, find a pretty face, and then pick something interesting from each profile to comment upon? Most profiles are one-liners, so what, exactly, is the technique? "Hi, uh... nice shirt."


Advice?

I can't speak for others, but there's basically no active locals on here for my area. So, I just use this site to chat in the forums. In the past, I've used another site to actually met local people to date, but did not use the forums there. For that site, my profile actually had information in it. And that site also made it quite easy to find people to contact based on their recent activity and search functions.

I think it depends on you. Some people do better in a more in person environment, and some in a more quiet and personal environment.