Are they jerks or am I oversensitive?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Sure. You are ugly, and I am a grilled cheese sandwich.

Ignore the h8rz. They probably have nobody and have to spank it like Fred Willard.

[Slayergrrl]

You're adorable! Never think any less than that! I too am on a dating site. Some of the messages I've gotten are from the Mayor of crazytown! Some of them should take a look in the mirror before they open their mouth. Ignore them.

[Zellie Crescent]

Those guys are assholes, you're very pretty. Hell if I were single I'd want to take you out on a date, but I'm not a guy so I don't know if you'd say yes. :/

[dragon_wings]

These dudes need to grow the fuck up. And learn to appreciate a beautiful woman.
I'm with Sarah. I would totally ask you out, if you didn't mind I'm also a female.

[Shpepper]

They are Jerks and you are stunningly beautiful. If they can't accept you for what is there, They do not deserve any of your time.

[blas]

That is so mean and, well, infantile!

Who would just troll around a dating site to trash people? Seriously.

Oh, that's right. Idiots in their protected cocoons, hiding behind computer screens.

Bet you my next paycheck, those fuckers wouldn't dare say something like that to a person's face. Hell, they probably don't even go out in public much.

I'm sure they are oh so perfect themselves.

[Victory Sabre]

I'm also in the ignore/block the losers camp. You're a pretty woman, and there's no excuse for those idiots. My philosophy is if I don't have anything nice to say to a person on a dating site, I won't say anything.

[hinakiba777]

Aww, you guys. You are all so sweet. You are the best, absolutely. Also, it is amazing to have people confirm that my long standing belief that I'm pretty is not me being delusional.

But yeah, I love you guys. You totally made my year.

Sometimes a person starts hearing enough hate that they start to think the negative stuff has to be true. Thanks for reminding me it's not.

My confidence is totally refuelled, plus a bonus.

Again, you are all amazing.

Sure. You are ugly, and I am a grilled cheese sandwich.

Though this breaks my heart. How will I live knowing that Irv is not, in fact, a giant sentient talking grilled cheese sandwich. My world is crushed.

Now everyone imagine that! Imagine him at the Swamp. Either Mayor McCheese style or as giant sandwich with arms and legs and a face.

[dragon_wings]

Sometimes a person starts hearing enough hate that they start to think the negative stuff has to be true. Thanks for reminding me it's not.

I know what you mean here. But I'm glad you realize the jerks are just being hateful.

or as giant sandwich with arms and legs and a face.

Oddly enough this line makes me think of Cassandra, the last 'pure' human from Doctor Who. Yes I have a warped mind. What of it?

[cashierbex]

I get that from my grandmother on my dad's side all the time (never says it directly to me , though). Don't worry about those jerks, you will find love somewhere.

[AccountingDrone]

Nothing wrong with you, however the picture sucks.

I hate it being on the diagonal. Makes me want to turn my head and lean until I fall out of bed.

What is with the heavy yellow filter? Woofda. I can't tell if you are healthy or the world has jaundice.

If you are trying for frisky and full of fun, the clothing and blowing a kiss works for that, the tilt and yellow, not so much. If you are going for cheesecake, may I suggest that my hubby do some portfolio shots for you.

Sorry if the world thinks I am being insulting, but I can pretty much guarantee there is a fair number of people that inhabit dating sites that will be thinking the same things that I do.

Rob just wandered in and essentially mentions the same issues, color shift and tilt. He did suggest instead going black and white, and classic Hollywood:

He thinks a fascinator with veil would kick ass.

Veronica Lake but blowing the kiss

Here is some talented work with black/white shadow and light work, and color work but more of a retro look I find interesting

To be more bluntly honest, we have lost the concept of 'foundation garment' and now mentally substitute 'torture-corsetry' when a proper foundation garment would smooth the lines of the body under a gown. Since you are not exercised to tautness, the current 'fashion' being to exercise until the body is pretty much without a fat layer, any seeming of any sort of fat layer immediately means slovenly, lazy and gluttonous pig. I will not say that you should or should not consider a foundation garment, that is entirely up to you but for formal portraiture I use foundation garments accordingly. I will also point out that I wear 3x, and have for 20 years. I am nobodies idea of slender.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

There is a population of losers out there whose MO is to find some way to chip away a woman's self-esteem because he thinks if she's more desperate, he'll have a better chance with her. It's a form of manipulation.

There is actually a name for it. It's called "negging."

Avoid anyone, male or female, who attempts to manipulate you like this. This is just flat out disrespectful, and probably on some level dangerous.

I mean, think about it. That's what people who abuse their partners do, they try to bring them down so low that they start believing no one else would ever want them. Guy tries this shit when he's just trying to talk to you ought to throw up a huge red flag.

There's actually a book floating around out there that suggests men do this. I wish I was making that up.

If they were looking for girls based on looks, they'd simply look around at pictures until they found what they were looking for and not bother with anyone else. That they are taking the time to say something passive-aggressively nasty to you suggests to me that something else is going on here.

[Jester]

That is so mean and, well, infantile!

Who would just troll around a dating site to trash people?

Mean, infantile trolls. But that's just a guess.

I'm sure they are oh so perfect themselves.

Oh, you just KNOW that in THEIR minds, they are God's Gift to Women. "Hey, baby....want some of this?" Nauseating, sure, but they don't realize how lame they are.

Aww, you guys. You are all so sweet. You are the best, absolutely. Also, it is amazing to have people confirm that my long standing belief that I'm pretty is not me being delusional.

Of course you're not delusional, nor ugly. Please. But, let's for just a moment say you were ugly. A total hosebeast. A ten bagger. A total woofer. The kind of woman that, when walking down the street, would cause parents to cover their children's eyes for fear of emotional scarring. Even if you were uglier than a rotting tree stump, people actually SAYING this to you on a dating website (or any other place) doesn't make them any less jerks because it was true.

So they are still jerks, and in this case, they don't even have the truth as a defense. So, again...fuck 'em. Douchebags.

There's actually a book floating around out there that suggests men do this. I wish I was making that up.

No fucking way! Really? What the hell is the name of that disaster?

That they are taking the time to say something passive-aggressively nasty to you suggests to me that something else is going on here.

Kink, they weren't being passive-aggressively nasty. They were being aggressively nasty!

And what's going on here is that they are delusional scumbags with nothing better to do than to try to ruin a stranger's day for no other reason than they think it's "fun."

[RecoveringKinkoid]

The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by Neil Strauss.

I'm guessing it was probably written because "Just treat women like human beings and try to have a little more confidence in yourself" would have made for very short reading.

[Jester]

Well, there's that. Also the fact that it's written to help guys who want to pick up women, not for guys who actually want something resembling a meaningful relationship. I'm tempted to give that a perusal to see how much rampant bullshit there is, and to see how much of it is based on actual reality. Because the sad truth is, if you're just out to pick a woman up, some of the "pick up" artists' stuff actually will work.