An unfathomable post and an unattractive profile.

Maybe it is a good indication of who you are but that profile will only be attracting from the bottom of the barrel, including the scammers of course.

A plane crashes on a desert island. The seven survivors are three Spanish people, three French people and an Englishman.

Six months later:
One of the Spanish men has killed the other and is now living with the Spanish woman;
The three French people have decided to become a threesome;
The Englishman is still waiting to be introduced to the others.

I agree with motowndowntown on this one, though there can be other reasons than scammers for why someone isn't responding well:

If they are responding curtly or only partly, the other likely reasons are:
1) They don't speak your language and are struggling to communicate. If in doubt, ask them. I have a wide vocabulary and find that if a foreigner knows English so poorly they will use online translation, the problems are very different than if they have a school-taught understanding of the language and are struggling because I don't speak foreigner-English (e.g. "Could show to way to hotdog stand at station?" which I have seen in a school book). Also, even a small grammar error/typos on my part (such as being sloppy and writing 'grammar error/typos') can be terribly confusing.
2) They are already chatting with half a dozen prospects and just don't have time to get to know you at the pace you want.
3) They grew up on farcebook and twit-ter and have no idea how to communicate. More than one phrase at a time, more than 180 characters, overwhelms them. Seriously, I am suspecting this is a thing with a lot of people. It's why they (not just scammers) want to use chat systems: a few words at a time, back and forth. They are the kind of people who would NEVER read this posting of mine. Work out whether you can relate to them at all. Personally, I can't imagine trying to hold a real, one-to-one conversation on this basis but maybe it works for those who just want to twitter away at one another. Just stop asking two questions at a time and never say anything that should have a comma.

If they aren't responding at all, the likely reasons are:
1) They are already chatting with half a dozen prospects and can't cope with another. If you really like this person, consider leaving off for a couple of weeks and coming back to see if you can compete to get their attention again.
2) They're a scammer and they realise you aren't responding right.
3) They are genuine and have already told you (possibly too subtly) that they aren't interested and you haven't realised you've had the cold shoulder.
4) They are genuine but don't think you are right for them and don't understand that it is polite and helpful just to say so. (Yes, some people will keep writing after this point anyway.)
5) They aren't active on the site any more. Thankfully these days most dating sites make it clear roughly when they last logged on (with Mingle, anyone not seen for over a month is listed simply as just that, since a contact not kept alive for a month is likely to have to start from scratch even if they do come back).

Well said. I am not here looking for a platonic relationship. Sex is a part of the relationship I will have, if I have one at all. So just as I want to discuss hobbies and interests, political and religious views, and other areas of potential incompatibility, I also try to (respectfully and politely) get a sense of sexual interest.

Because someone who one wants sex no more than once a month, or who thinks that laying in missionary position crosswise on the bed is the height of kinkiness, is not someone with whom I'm going to be able to sustain an intimate relationship. And I'd rather not wait until six months of otherwise platonic communicating and dating to discover that we aren't suited for one another.

So I would urge people to think about how to control the sexual conversation. Too intimate, too soon? Tell them, plainly, politely and simply. Trying to get an early sense of sexual awareness and compatibility? Be as upfront as your upbringing allows and close down the conversation until you are willing for more (if you ever are).

Phrases like "I enjoy sex with a committed partner | once I know someone | with any stranger {delete as appropriate} several times a year | month | week | day {delete as appropriate}" can help. If you need to, add on something like "And I'm not willing to talk any more about it at this point." If you are a little more liberated, unusual or kinky then this could be a good time to sound out if your correspondent might also be "open-minded to what goes on in the bedroom."

Neat

I would also say to indicate how long you have been separated. It won't stop women contacting you but will give fair warning (or encouragement, depending on how long it has been) of your ability to form a meaningful, workable, new relationship.

We hear a lot about food shortage but it should be borne in mind that there is not an actual shortage of food in the world. There is a distribution problem.

The news is full of how Ukraine's food supply is not being exported and that this is causing world hunger. Really? Ukraine is still exporting minerals, manufactured goods and has freedom of movement across a large border. Weapons and supplies are going into the country. Why do we believe that food is not being exported from Ukraine?

Russia's food exports of around 14,290 million USD per year are being stifled by sanctions voluntarily placed upon them by the countries now demanding food, oil and gas from them. Obviously, Russia wants to export all it can: countries have to balance their trade and sell to the rest of the world. Very little of their food went to Africa.

Ukraine's food exports of around 1,304 million USD per year, like Russia's far greater amount, also mostly goes to Europe and Asia, with only a little going to Africa.

If Africa is running low on food, it is because food they would have been buying is instead being bought up by countries who are refusing to buy from Russia. Most of these countries are likely to be European but I have not looked into that.

The countries who helped push Russia into a corner, by laughing at them when Russia wanted to join NATO and the EU, are now the ones also applying sanctions to Russia while demanding food, oil and gas from them. Obviously, Russia wants to export all it can: countries have to balance their trade and sell to the rest of the world. But they have to trade on a reasonable basis. Trading in a currency that they are then being denied to use, is not trade, it would be giving it away.

Meanwhile, the behaviour at the United Nations is as bad as—if not worse than—that in the League of Nations in the 1930s (often blamed for the reason WW2 got underway). Such an organisation should be the place to discuss, negotiate and try to understand one another. Instead, the global warmongers and haters are making the situation worse. Any school teacher knows that you don't diffuse a situation by slinging insults and petulantly refusing to talk; yet many in the UN are doing just that, heaping extra problems upon Russia on top of the forced isolation of keeping them out of security and trade groups. The food distribution problems, which could be sorted out by the UN, are being made worse.

It can be like saying "Don't think of a pink elephant." The more you think about what you don't want to think about, the more you are thinking about it.

Consider what triggers memories of that person. Make alternate memories for that trigger. Let's say it is eating pizza together: go have a good time with some friends and eat pizza; let your mind have a different memory of enjoying eating pizza that has no connection with that person.

But don't try to replace the love too soon. There are all kinds of reasons why the attempt to do so usually leads to disaster and more heartbreak. (Which is just as well or we humans would be even less faithful than we are already.)

If you have spent a lot of time with someone, there will be an awful lot of mundane, ordinary things which remind you of them. There will also be a habit of thinking about them – your mind will automatically cycle around to thinking of them. Oddly enough, although it goes against what most people are inclined to do (if only because many breakups involve a breach of trust), being platonic friends with your ex can help you to get over them. This is seen a lot in couples who break up but have to stay in contact because of children: they much more quickly get over their ex than those who stay completely away, hurt and still in love. Their mind rapidly builds new pathways of thought with that person, converting them from lover to friend, or to the reduced status of your children's parent.

So while you can do some things to help, it often does just come down to getting on living a life without them and letting time sort things out in your head.

Whenever I get asked this, I wonder what is going on. After all, where I am now is (near enough) on my profile. It is supposed to be on everyone's profile.

They have a profile; didn't they fill it out truthfully, do they therefore not trust what other people have filled out?

And if they want to know where I was before being where I am, I wonder why they want to know, in what context, and at what stage in my life?

I know: I over-think many things, yeah yeah. Maybe it's just like saying "how are you?" when people who ask don't really want to know or care how I am: they just want to open a conversation.
Poorly.

For thousands of generations, and probably before we were even humans (if you believe in evolution) it was important for a woman to find a mate who could support her (someone had to hunt while she was gravid, and nursing) and who had a high status in society (because this creates safety from others).

Women who were not successful in getting a provider of high status were less likely to have surviving children. Each generation, the more likely a woman naturally sought out a man who would lead to her and her children surviving, the more likely those children were to survive. Likewise, the more a man was willing to submit to being the provider, gain social standing, and care for his offspring, the more likely his children of similar tendency would survive. All of us—men and women alike—carry the genes of this very natural progress.

Today, this is reflected in women looking for men with assets, who are looked up to by others, and who work hard to bring in money. Men, meanwhile, generally do not feel fulfilled unless working to provide for their mate and children. Modern society, the welfare state, etc. has distorted all this but it is still a part of the natural people we typically are.

I agree with you that a man (and to some extent a woman, too) is more likely to be successful when with a partner. The saying in English that all great men have a great woman behind them carries a lot of truth, even if the great woman's main effect is to provide feminine motivation for the man. When you look at great women, you will also usually find a great man doing what he finds natural to do: work to support or to maintain the wealth of the family. In modern times, in societies that allow for mobility in status and wealth, I think there is some recognition of this, though young men and women would do well to remember that if only they support one another and stop trying to compete with each other, their individual and joint success is a lot more certain.

Welcome.
I hope you manage to find who you are looking for.

Hi Ali,

Welcome.

It would help you if you put some thoughtful and unique words about yourself in your profile, letting people know who you are looking for and giving a chance for some initial conversation more than just 'hi'.

I hope you find what you need here.

Only up to 80? Are you sure it stops so soon?

I am glad somebody said that.

If a system enables corruption, then corruption will occur. Not necessarily with every individual and certainly not in the same way but very often the person who is not corrupt when others around them are, is the person who won't be getting anywhere.

The sign of a lonely man, I guess!

Welcome to Mingle2.

I once went along with a scammer quite a way. I started doing it just out of interest, having realised early they were clearly not the 'African daughter of a businessman' they were pretending to be.

They broke UK law quite early and I alerted the police. I/we kept them going, chasing through an intricate scam until the police in the USA tracked them (apparently it was a woman, which surprised me). The attempt to defraud was against U.S. law but I never tried to find out the eventual result of their efforts.

I believe that all the scammers on all the dating sites possibly number only about a hundred. So I might follow another one through soon, to trap them and get another off the internet.

But that is just the point. You say men "go as far as to ask.." when this is quite standard (though not universal) for women to want to know of men.

Do you enjoy being laughed at? I can't see what else to find funny by your post.

Quite so. Primarily, the race we belong to is Homo Sapiens. From one extreme of Homo Sapiens to another is incredibly small when given the right perspective.

Snoring helps drown out the disturbing sounds from outside, thus helping one's partner to get better sleep.

Why does milk go sour?