I had a personal a couple years ago, why I did it I have no clue. I guess out of boredom. I ended up with hundreds and hundreds of responses to choose from but after two were narrowed down then the talking phase started and I kept that up for a few months for each one was four months, the other almost six months then after a few dates it bored me to tears so I gave up on it. It didn't work for me so I decided to go back to the old fashioned way of meeting people. Maybe you might have better luck I'm just very picky.

YES...they do work...I know from experience! hehehehe

I wish I were so lucky Doug...

good luck to you :)

;) jenna, I have to say I have almost gotten married to someone I met through personals...they can work...and yeah a thousand replies to an ad is a wonderful feeling, but not when out of those thousand there isn't one who truly wants anything that you want....there is one out there...who if he hasn't yet...will soon see you or your ad..and that'll be it...one good reply is worth a million of the nonsense ridden ones that I have received as has any other woman who has placed an ad. just my two cents...with that and a few more dollars I can buy a burger.

and trust me...am starting to understand the lack of "unattatched" men in MO....understanding it too well!

Thanks Cabrylla... welcome to my world.. ROFL :)

A lot of guys on the site I work for tend to visit profiles of the women who are online at that moment - they don't want to waste their time/money/energy on someone who hasn't been on the system in a while, you know what I mean?

If I were you jenna, I'd pick a site and visit it at a good time - 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. especially 8 p.m. - 10 p.m.

I have also had great luck with the personals. I found one woman with whom I had a 2.5 year relationship on match.com, and my current girlfriend was on both match.com and salon.com (which I accessed through nerve.com).

I recommend a picture - a nice, normal shot of your face, not a glamour shot, and please just you, no dogs kids or exes cut out.

Describe what you do simply, and describe who you want without a list of your ex's bad habits.

Remember - guys lie about their income and height, girls lie about their age and weight, so be honest.

Power-date. Put your ad up on a Friday afternoon and take it off the following Friday morning. Throughout the weekend, answer every response in some fashion, reply to every interesting ad, and change your add in some small way every day.

There's someone out there for you!

I love your advice, seriousfun!

It's soooooooo true! Women lie about their weight but, working in the biz, I have to say men lie about their age an awful lot! And I'm sorry but you're not all eight inches!!! ;)

They've not really ever worked for me. I met one woman in person after a long time of having such an ad up, but it went no where. I'm NOT pursuing this avenue anymore. Cheers to those of you who've gotten them to work, but my luck has been firmly in the other direction.

I've got my girlfriend convinced that all of her rulers are wrong! Using them, I'm 8 feet tall!

LMAO...jenna, get in touch with SS sometime, we can all three get together and the two of us can see what we can find at one of the local waterin holes ;)

I tried it and had success. I don't get out much to meet people, so I gave it a shot. I figured, what the hell? Starting in December, I started looking at personal ads based on search criteria I had submitted. I did this for about 2 months with no luck. I had contacted a couple women that seemed promising, but nothing ever materialized. I was about to give up, then a new ad popped up that caught my attention. Among other things, she said she was a Mechanical Engineer, like outdoor activities, and liked classic cars, preferably convertibles. So I replied to her ad and told her a little about myself and she wrote back in about a 2-page e-mail telling me about herself. We had a lot in common, from liking the same kind of movies, favorite foods, hobbies, etc. I work at an Engineering firm as a drafter/Mechanical designer, so we have that in common also. We wrote e-mails back and forth a couple times, then talked on the phone, and then finally met for drinks (about a week after my reply to her ad). We've really hit it off and have been out about 4 or 5 times. Now here is the crazy part. Before we had even met in person, I had forwarded her a joke that I also sent to my brother Chris. The next day we were talking on the phone and she asked if Chris was my father. I was like, "No, but his name is Chris too". Then she asked if my mom's name was Rosemary? A little freaked out, I said that it was. She was like, "Well, my parents know your parents!" It turns out that her dad and my dad used to work together and our parents would party together on the weekends! How crazy is that???? What are the odds of that happening??? Small world!! We've been seeing each other for about two months now and it's going great. I'm not one who really believes in fate, but this is a little strange :)

I think my good luck may have been just that.......luck, but who knows. What have you got to lose?

Well, now I'm curious. Jennaflower, how has this progressed? If you feel like talking about it that is :)

Jenna sweetie -

A few months ago I remember seeing your posts around and about the place and I swear they were pretty much interchangeable with my own! We both had the same problem: we are intelligent, attractive (yeah I've seen your face pic, so I know what I'm talking about!) thoughtful, discerning women. The things is there are lots of single guys out there but not many of them are good enough for a woman like you and you know that - that's why you're single.

The reason I draw your attention to our similiarities as people. is that I have a suspicion that you will find a partner the same way I did: when you least expect it and from the most unlikely source.

Believe it or not, it was I who first PMed Fussy - not because I was in lust with his pictures or I'd been particularly moved by some response he'd had to mine, but because at that precise moment, when I saw him surfing Pixies I felt lonely and wanted to reach out to someone. We became good friends - best friends in a way that probably none of the other people at Pixies were aware for the first few months and eventually it grew into something more - in fact it still is growing.

And that really is the way it happens....because when you are talking to someone because you enjoy their company and have fun with them you are not worrying about how you appear to them all the time.....you are more yourself and when you are yourself, that's when a person is going to fall for you.

Don't think too much about the future. Don't worry that the guy isn't 'Mr Right' as sometimes Mr Right can be different from what you thought you wanted.

And on a lighter note - in the profile - if I were you I'd flirt a little more! I know you're intelligent and want someone to be serious, but you have to make sure people know you're sexy and fun too.