The lack of content/detail in a profile I can deal with as most people find it hard to talk about themselves.

It’s the lack of conversation in an email exchange that I find really frustrating/off putting.

I chatted with someone yesterday who had an incredibly short profile and didn't like to read profiles. Finding something he'd chat about was really tough. And all he tried chatting about were things he could have found out by taking a few minutes to read my profile.

This is why I skip profiles that are blank.

I put nothing in my profile because I found what I am looking for. I wanted to post on the forums and get to know the regulars which would create nice friendships.
Mission accomplished.

Ummmmm........
So the second cup o coffee isn't really gonna lead anywhere...
is it???

Well that is different you sexy hunk of man!

I'm puttin on....
Another pot!!!!!

@ soufiehere - My profile is consistent with my opinion. I suggest to ask me more if you are interested after reading the rather detailed blurb on my profile. My post is directed to people who actually believe they are going to have success on here with minimal effort. If you sign up on a whim, and then decide to give it a real shot, go back and edit. If you don't want to take it seriously, then don't. That is your choice, just as it is mine to choose not to waste my efforts just to find out what I already know about you, which is that you are not what I want. I don't have to accept everyone as they are. What I am suggesting is that people who put generic infomation in their blurbs are not representing themselves fully, and so all is not good, or not good enough for me anyway.
@singmesweet - Thank you for the defense. :)

Knockanique, no problem. Welcome to the site!

@pyxxie - I am glad you found what you are looking for, but this post was meant for people who are supposedly looking for dates, as this is an online dating website, but put minimal effort into doing so and basically expect people to want to pursue them for reason at all. I did not post this looking for explanations for the many reasons people come up with for not typing up a blurb, so you should not feel the need to defend yourself or carry on irrelevant conversation here. I suggest that you and ghostrider take your pot of coffee to your private messages where you can defend your lack of desire to find dates on an online dating site where everyone interested in this post doesn't have to be sujected to your irrelevant banter.

The people who don't write in their profiles because they don't know what to say often say the same in emails/IMs. I have very little patience for dragging info out of someone and I don't like to ask a ton of questions, as it feels like an interview, rather than a conversation. So, I tend to avoid those who have blank profiles, unless I found them in the forums and have something to email them about.

I was about to say the same thing @singmesweet in response to the back and forth between you and @42. If I had some kind of indication that a person with a short profile was more interesting when emailing or chatting, the profile would not stop me, but I would never assume it was worth the effort and pursue. That would be like going to the store and picking out the most boring plain burlap sack of dress you can find and hoping somehow that it will look like a red carpet find on you. Possible? Yes. Likely? No. Why waste time tryin on sacks when you could just seek gowns? Now if you message me something worthwhile or if you present something genuine somehow otherwise, I would obviously talk to you. I am just saying that you are not doing yourself ay favors by giving people as little as possible.

trying*
any*

I had a very short profile for a while, because no one was reading it anyway. I always laughed when guys would email me, telling me how much they liked my profile.

But yeah, I don't ignore people when they contact me, even if they don't have much of a profile. I try to give people a chance to at least start a conversation.

I get e-mails every day that contain nothing more than "Hi" or "Hello" or "How are you?" I don't reply to those anymore. Back in the days when I would reply, the follow-ups they sent were never any better than their original messages -- a few words (usually badly misspelled or otherwise garbled), no content whatsoever.

When they do write a few extra words, it's usually something along the lines of "Hey, I read your profile and I loved it! Where are you and what do you do?" Of course, that information is IN my profile, meaning they didn't actually read it at all, or they have serious short-term memory retention problems.

Either way, I'm not replying.

Exactly. This is not a judgement about the person. They might be fantastic. This is just a suggestion to people who actually care to find dates. Put more effort into it if you wish to gain the attention of others.

@Lex - I am seriously laughing out loud. You hit it right on the head. People like that make you wonder if you are the silly one. Why do people make us out to be criminals for expecting some level of authenticity?

Damn! LMAO!

To give benefit of the doubt, some people are just shy and not comfortable about saying alot about themselves, as I have encountered. But through multiple email correspondences, one has opened up and I'm beginning to see more of who this person is, and just needed a little encouragement.

I don't really understand that level of shyness online, though. If they're that shy online, how are they going to be able to meet people in person?

I don't write to anybody first, but if I did, I would try to include something interesting and/or humorous and/or relevant to something they had to say in their profile or in the forums.

And I've always made sure I had some genuine material in my profile for people to work with. Or complain about, to be more accurate, but whatever. I'm not trying to put myself out there as some sort of mindless blank slate.