>>53498I am the guy you are replying to (I don't know if I will still have the same poster ID - probably not, but I am him).
There is a lot to address here.
First of all, with your woes with dating apps, I have two main points to address.
>MunsterA big problem with online dating in Ireland in general is lack of population, which is severely exacerbated by living/swiping literally anywhere outside Dublin. I have the luxury of living in Dublin. But I will say this again about Tinder - it sucks (all dating apps do) but it is essentially the most viable in Ireland because it has the largest number of users by a large margin.
>5'6"This is by no means insurmountable (especially if you are willing to date big girls, which you obviously are), but I won't lie, it is a big hurdle to overcome. I'm not saying this to be cruel, but I'm sure you are well aware of what I'm getting at. My advice is to be honest - it sounds like you are being honest with these girls about your height, but I'm saying this anyway. I am 6'5", which I'm aware is probably a big part of why I've had success. Amusingly, women on dating apps have accused me of lying about that, but fuck 'em lol.
>Is it worth travelling?You need to answer that question for yourself. But if you live in bumfuck Munster, travelling is basically a requirement. Having a car is a
massive advantage for online dating regardless of where you live (and again not to be cruel but it goes a long way to offsetting the 5'6" debuff), but especially if you live in a rural/low population area.
>I don’t want to be driving for hours to meet someone and then find out I am not into them. [...]. I also really don’t want to date super long distance [...] unless there was like a guarantee with an absolute dream girl.Then maybe online dating isn't for you.
>I’m also not a big texter and much prefer to meet people in person. Meeting in person works better to my favour anyway and it is hard to keep up long term through text. I can keep it up for a few days but when I am on the fence whether I am into them or not I don’t feel as motivated to meet up if they live far awayThen maybe online dating isn't for you.
Both of these paragraphs make me think that you are the kind of person who doesn't like the whole process of online dating, but feels as though he is too shy to approach women IRL. Again, I am not saying this to be cruel. I've been there myself, I am saying this from a perspective of empathy. I can't tell you how to solve that conundrum. That's something you need to figure out for yourself.
>Tips for online dating? First off, what pictures, prompts or bios should you use?My advice is to use good quality (as in high resolution, well lit) photos. Have a photo of you, just you, as your first photo. Not you just taking a selfie in the bathroom, bedroom or gym (although a gym selfie may be a forgivable sin if you are very physically fit, depending on the kind of girl you are trying to attract). Get your mate to take a good photo of you while you're at the pub, or doing some kind of activity. Your subsequent photos should ideally show you doing activities with your friends. Again, even just going to the pub will do, but if you have any kind of skill or talent (e.g. playing guitar), use that to your advantage. I would also advise you to only have about 3 to 5 photos. Having fewer than 3 photos will make girls think you're either a fake account or some other kind of spoofer. Having too many photos (especially using all 10 slots or whatever the maximum is) will make them think you're trying too hard.
For bios, my advice is to keep it short and sweet.
At one stage I had a fairly long, detailed bio with my interests etc. I matched with a girl who asked me some questions to which my answer was "oh, I said that in my bio", to which she replied "I'm not reading all that shite lol". And hey, you will probably say the same thing to this post lmao - but when she said it about my Tinder bio, I took it on board and I still consider it good advice for a Tinder bio.
Something short, pithy, witty, amusing and descriptive is ideal but obviously much easier said than done. Avoid self-deprecating humour, clichés, or (above all) listing things your turnoffs. If you want to put in your profile that you like big women, you can try that; but I've personally had mixed results with that tbh.
>Like for instance I matched with a girl who had only 2 blurry photos of her face on her profile [...] Was there a better way to find out what she looks like?You're looking at that situation completely arseways, no offence. Yet again, I am not trying to be cruel here. The correct thing to do in this situation is to not match with girls like that in the first place. Also the fact that you asked for her insta and she didn't give it? That's when you unmatch (assuming you asked her after already chatting for a few days - but again, I would not have matched with blurry photo girl in the first place). It might sound cruel but you need to have a mercenary attitude. You need to be like "fuck this girl, she's a melter, unmatch, let's go for the next one".
>Also, just an observation but why do so many of them have awful tattoo and always want to get more of them?For the third time: Then maybe online dating isn't for you. I jest, but tattoos are something you're just going to need to bite the bullet with, or else severely limit your potential candidates. If you straight up tell girls you hate tattoos, that will most likely go very badly for you (refer again to my advice on not putting your turnoffs in your bio). The trick there is to just swipe left on a girl who exhibits a turnoff, rather than wasting time and energy talking to her because you're hoping for a crumb of pussy. I am aware that it may not be immediately apparent that she has tattoos, but you need to decide for yourself if that's a dealbreaker or something you can live with.
Finally there is one big topic I need to address that you did not address in your post. Age. How old are you? I started using Tinder when I was 18 and didn't get a date until I was 22. I'm 27 now. Those 12 dates I went on were spread out over 5 years. IMO online dating is completely fucking useless as a straight guy in his late teens / early twenties unless you are exceptionally handsome. People will say that about online dating in general, and perhaps they are right, but IMO the problem is severely exacerbated by youth.
Finally finally, the trick with online dating is to not take it too seriously. Put effort in, sure, but don't put all your eggs in one basket. Online dating is something you should have chugging along in the background while you actually do shit and meet people IRL. And when I say "don't take it too seriously", you should consciously give off that vibe in your profile and messages too. Don't be rude or disrespectful, but don't come across as desperate either. That is one of the most important things. Women can smell desperation (especially IRL but also through your phone screen) like a shark smells blood in the water, and brother, nothing in the world turns them off more.