A(n)nals of Online Dating

Your Bastille Day photo is cute. But you’re costing yourself a lot of potential matches by listing as “curvy,” which you aren’t.

_________________________________________________

My Buzzfeed column this week is all about Pick-Up Artists: The guys who use tried-and-failed tactics like “negging” on unsuspecting women online. The PUA game is simple: A PUA will send a vaguely insulting (or sometimes insulting-insulting) message to a lady and expect it to ding her self-esteem enough that she’ll think the PUA is “better” than her and will respond. It’s the psychology of the dumbest. And yes sometimes it works, and the PUAs and their “targets” can enjoy a nice glass of Red Bull and vodka together. But more often than not, they just sound like dicks.