Unsure, I understand what you're saying, but it doesn't ring true to me. To me, a good relationship is emotionally nourishing and I find long-distance to be very draining. Maybe I'd find that a long-distance relationship with a woman who was ACTUALLY my soulmate would be nourishing, but that seems like quite a gamble. How many enervating relationships would I have to try before I found the one that nourished me?

You might reply, "As many as it takes -- isn't it worth the end result?" The answer would be yes, except an emotionally draining experience makes me less fit for a healthy relationship. I'd be sabotaging the very relationship I was trying to find.

You never know till you try!! I agree on the long distance thing tho...I myself don't like the whole issue!! I have done it and don't think I would do it again. So yes I do know exactly what you mean.
I do wish you luck and I do hope you find what you are looking for

hmmm what are those magic words klc???

Playing devil's advocate...what if she lived 51 miles away? Broaden your horizons!

I don't play the friend request or favorites thing unless I know someone from email or the forums. If I am sent a request, I decline it. If I am not interested in someone for whatever reason, I try to put it nicely.

Right now, when I get the strange emails/friends requests, I ask if they bothered to read my profile. There is a pretty obvious update on my profile that I am dating someone.

I agree with the typos. Sometimes horrid spelling and no punctuation make me crazy!

Just my 2 cents worth...US and Canadian! M

wait let me help u out a bit i am guilty of doin that at times but this one guy stoppeed me in my tracks and got me 2 respond wanna know how

Why not 51 miles? Because 50 miles is too much. That's two hours round trip just to get to and from the date. That's a lot of energy invested that doesn't even contribute to the relationship. I think that it puts a lot of pressure on the couple, too, to spend a lot of time together when they're able to see one another. You never get the date where you meet up for dinner, take a walk around the block, and then head home. The kind of "date" that long distance encourages doesn't even seem especially appropriate for the first meeting or four.

And getting away from the long-distance discussion, have we pretty much established that nobody knows why so many emails get ignored? I've noticed that the matter of spelling has been repeated, but I think that it is evident that I have no problem in that department.

Player1, I would like to know how. What did this gentleman do that so impressed you?

Honestly, one man simply took my breath away by his email!! He simply said....I am that man that can look into your eyes and know exactly what you are thinking!!
No one has even tried that line before. He showed me that he read my profile!!

I doubt that's all it takes. I always read a lady's profile before sending her an email. I don't want to talk about nothing, so I try to talk about things that she likes. If she says that she likes to cook, I'll tell her that I also like to cook and ask her about her favourite recipe. If she says that she likes to travel, I'll ask about her most recent vacation. In fact, I usually won't send that first email if I can't think of anything relevant to write.

ephraimglass...maybe you are just trying to hard? Just have fun with things, relax a little bit maybe.

You are probably right about that. Normal methods for meeting people are pretty alien to me, so I probably overcompensate when I try to meet people online.

There's better than even odds that I stink of desperation and I know that's not attractive. I suppose I ought to work on THAT although heaven only knows how.

I didn't mean you sound desperate..I just think you need to relax and have fun!! Life is so short so just enjoy it!!

i respond to almost all emails... if they dont start out raunchy... but honestly i dont talk much to people without pics up or people who i dont see in the forums...

Life is kind of a bore for me right now. I'm taking a few steps in "real life" to mend to mend that situation, like working out with some of my coworkers and getting myself back to judo. Hopefully that will help with boredom, give me a bit of a confidence boost, and generally satisfy my need for human contact.

It's rough trying to have fun all by oneself, all the time, though. I've been living in the Twin Cities for a year now, but I've never been very good at meeting people. I kind of hoped that using some of these online dating services could help me to get past the really awkward stages of meeting new people so that maybe I could get out some more. That can't happen, though, if people won't respond to my emails. I guess that part of what I'm afraid of is that I come across online as awkwardly as I do in real life.

You don't come across as awkward as you may think. From what I've read of most of your posts, you seem very intelligent. I agree with some of the other ladies on the spelling and grammar and punctuation....which you don't have a problem with. Another thing that irks me is when they write to you like they are sending you a text message.....
I try to answer most emails I receive, unless someone clearly is just messing around or vulgar. I also tend to answer more to guys who have pics of themselves. Or guys I have seen in the forums where I can gauge more about them. Also, I may not have responded to some guys initially, but as I got to know a little about their personality in the forums, I sometimes initiated contact myself. Like Unsure said, relax and try to make friends. I have made more friends and correspond more with folks who aren't necessarily close to me. If a guy hasn't read my BRIEF profile, that is evident as well. Don't give up.

I reply to most emails. It helps when someone has read my profile and says something like "How about the Rams?" or something that can start a conversation. Don't give up-good luck.