Yes, a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (but it depends on the picture)

Since I am basically an OkCupid expert now (I mean in this day and age having a blog devoted to a topic is really more than enough to be considered an expert in it right?)  I would like to offer one important piece of advice to all current or potential online daters: DO NOT USE A MISLEADING PICTURE! Nothing good will come from this I promise.

Here is a perfect example taken from a conversation I had tonight with one of my guy friends who is also on OkC. He had been messaging back and forth with a girl for a few days. She seemed cute from her profile pic -- and he was getting ready to send the "we should meet for coffee" message (which the appropriate time for the coffee message is a subject worthy of its own blog post, and of a spirited debate, but I digress) when right before he is about to send it he notices that she has changed her picture. The new picture is definitely the same girl -- but with an extra 75 pounds. He did not send the coffee message after all. Now the point of this illustration is not to argue whether or not that is right or wrong. We are attracted to who we are attracted to -- and this is after all a dating website (and last time I checked physical attraction was kind of a key component in that whole thing). Now the girl most likely knew the coffee message was coming and realized that she could either post a more accurate picture of herself before it happened or show up and see the look of disappointment in my friend's eyes. (This might sound cruel -- but it's totally true.) If she had posted the second picture to begin with none of this would have happened and it would have saved them both a lot of embarrassment.

This is why it is important to also post more than one picture. Anyone can take at least one good picture in his or her life so that alone doesn't really tell you much. Often I find the guy's main profile picture is fairly attractive, but he looks significantly less attractive in all other pictures he's posted. This of course isn't as bad as just posting the one misleading picture, and maybe is a good strategy if you happen to have a particularly good profile (or are a doctor) as it will increase the odds that a girl will click on your picture and go to your profile and find out how rich, funny or charming you are (or you think you are).