One Line Replies

[jcbicouple]

We just posted in several Yahoo groups, stating that we were looking for someone to meet. Details of the post aren't important to the question we want to ask, so we won't bore you with those. Within 24 hours, we had 6 e-mail responses, and several IMs. So far, so good, but......5 of the e mail responses were one liners. They varied from "I am interested" to "Do you have pics". No hello, no description, no interests, no how's the weather, etc. We've used the groups many times to set up meetings, and always get a couple of responses like that. This, we have to say, has been the worst. Our response to all of the one liners was a very brief "Not interested".
Our question.....how common is this, and when you receive a one line reply to an ad, how do you respond? If any of you are guilty, what are you thinking?, and what kind of response do you usually get? OK, that was more than one question.

We know it can be difficult to know what to say in an initial contact, but we always make sure to tell a little about ourselves when replying to an ad.

[biblonde]

Well i have to say...We got a repsonse to an add on a site we belong to of...."INTERESTED". It intreaged me so much i responded with "MAYBE" lol It ended up being a couple that we got to know pretty well and even played with for a long time. They ended up being real sweet and alot of fun. I did ask her why did she respond that way. Her answer was she was tired of writing long messages and thought she would be short, sweet, and to the point. I must say it caught my attention enough to respond back mostly out of curiosity...so not all short replys are bad it is how you take them..

I do have to admit though if they only ask for pics i reply with sorry dont play show and tell with everyone only those i know i want to play with. If they want pics they can buy playboy or penthouse!! lol

my 2 cents for today! s

[jcbicouple]

Maybe we could look at it that way if we didn't get so darn many! LOL! Most don't even have anything on their profile. Hell, Even a "Hello, I don't know what to say, but I'm interested." Would be ok! Oh, Well. We've met a lot of nice people through the posts, and as everyone knows: You have to go through a bunch of people to find others that are compatible with similar interests to your own.....especially if your interests aren't exactly the "norm".

[OhioCouple]

If someone sends us a one liner... especially a canned message, immediately they are declined. I personally will not even read their ad. (Mr. O will) They get a response from us that is equal to the attention paid to our ad. Generally it does not take more than a few words. "Sorry, We have no interest". Sweet and to the point. I used to feel bad about it, but two years of dealing with that stuff....naw, not anymore. Now I have to refrain from saying what I really want to say. I've also gotten to the point where I just delete with no response. I am of the opinion that if we aren't worth their time, they surely aren't worth ours.

[gsu22]

I've always sent nice, thought-out, sincere emails to couples. I include my name, what I'm interested in.... both in and out of the bedroom, my rules, and some kind words with a picture. I close the email out with "hope to hear back".

Results: 0 for 9

Doing one-liners is just plain lazy in most cases.

[OhioCouple]

Originally posted by gsu22
I close the email out with "hope to hear back".

Speaking from this couples point of view, I would change your closing line. If you are sending a well thought out note and not a one liner...then I would suggest closing with something simple like:

"Sincerely XXX"

Remember, if you are sincere, it will show in your note and you don't have to say that you "hope" for anything. You are just as important as the couple who is seeking another, be it a couple or a single.

Just a thought, and as usual, my $0.02 cents worth.

[gsu22]

Thanks for the advice! I'll try doing that from now on.

[Brit_Pair]

biblonde's post is a classic example of how nothing can be taken for granted. We've always applied the rule of thumb that the likelihood of success is proportional to the amount of effort put into an intial approach or a reply. I wonder how many good prospects we've turned down as a result? Still, given the number of time-wasters out there, there has to be some sort of sieve employed, so we're likely to continue as before.

[JustAskJulie]

I think a lot has to do with your medium of choice. Yahoo groups (in my experience) seem to be full of a lot of pic collectors, fakes, etc, rather than real people (swingers) actually interested in meeting others.

[tamster6584]

We put a lot of thought into the ad we posted in an online site, so I think that I'm much more likely to pay attention to a response that shows that our ad has been read.

I will generally answer all who respond, but for the one line notes, especially if their ad is equally short, I will reply with a question or three or ten about their interests and hobbies, lifestyle and otherwise. IF they send me back a note with more info about themselves, THEN I will pursue further contact. Quite often, I don't get any additional contacts; I'm not sure I understand the point of this, unless the person or persons are only interested in a **whambam** kinda meeting, and thats something that our ad very specifically states we aren't into LOL.

Go figure

Tami

[Greg & Sheryl]

It certainly annoys us when people send us one line introductory letters, but we are willing to give these people the benefit of the doubt especially if their ad or profile is well-written. Unfortunately, the quality of the correspondence rarely improves.

[LadyCleo]

What I hate worse than one liners is: when you know they have read your message and they have not bothered to respond. Even if it's just a, "no thank you, we're not interested"
I, at least, have the common curtesy to write that.

Oh, and no reason is necessary. Contrary to popular belief, we do not bite if you say no....really!
But seriously, you do not have to make up a lie that you are seeing another couple right now or you are taking a break looking for a while...just say no...that's all that's necessary.

When I send an initial email, it is only a couple of sentences long. It's never a one-liner.

Hope this helps,
LC

[jcbicouple]

Originally posted by JustAskJulie
I think a lot has to do with your medium of choice. Yahoo groups (in my experience) seem to be full of a lot of pic collectors, fakes, etc, rather than real people (swingers) actually interested in meeting others.

We agree there are a lot of fakes and picture collectors on groups, but also think they are everywhere. We have actually had worse luck finding people that meet what we are looking for, through the ads. We could safely say that over 70% of the people that answer the ads from boards/ad sites are straight, and we're pretty specific that we aren't interested in straight people. Not that it's a big deal to respond and politely tell them that we aren't interested, just an observation.
We always answer the e-mails we receive even if they are one liners. We think it's rude to not respond at all, regardless of the content of the original message. We try to be as upfront with people as possible, and appreciate the same in return.

[EternallySingle]

If you check the times of the one line replies you get, I bet most one line replies are sent between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm. Most of the single woman I received one line replies admitted they were sending them while they are at work. At least the ones who replied after I asked why they only send one line replies after I spent so much time with my responses. Some people get so upset when you say you want to learn something about them before you agree to sleep with them.