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FirmhandKY -> RE: A "hint" for "subs" looking for Doms... (5/3/2006 3:32:16 PM)
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Preface. This was written before I had read the posts about givemyall's profile.
Hint:
Artistic Profiles.
Everyone's definition of what is "artistic" varies widely, and I'm not trying to make any judgements on the esthetic values of whatever you consider artistic. So, the normal caveats: these are just my opinions, based on my experience, and there are always exceptions and people who will see everything different. YMMV.
But in this environment, I would consider something "artistic" in the same way I consider some McDonald's ads "artistic". The art should serve a very specific and important function: selling yourself to just the type of man you are seeking.
And no, I don't want to get into a discussion about whether you are "selling yourself" or just putting yourself out there, like honey hoping to attract bees. If you have a profile with anything on it in hopes of making a connection, you are advertising and "selling" something. In this case, yourself. Argue all you what with others or with yourself, but I'll likely not respond to any discussion on that point.
And like any good ad, it is not only the content that is important, it is the format as well.
What I mean by "artistic" profiles are primarily those profiles that attempt to make a statement using a non-standard use of words (poetry, usually but not exclusively), visual effects (photos, color and text formatting) as well as nick-names and the overall style.
A humorous profile, in this definition, could also be considered "artistic"
Two big warnings:
1. Artistic profiles, even when "wildly" successful, will confuse many, be too much for some, and ignored by others. It will reduce your response rate. But if you are looking to pinpoint market to a very complementary type of Dom - they are excellent vehicles.
2. Artistic profiles are very, very difficult to do well, and will backfire on you if not done carefully and with a lot of thought. If you don't really have a lot of talent or experience in ALL aspects of form, color, and the written word, tread very carefully.
One of the main purposes of any profile should be clarity. Most artistic profiles flunk this test, because some women feel that a bunch of different colors for the text and background make things "more" attractive and attention getting.
In reality, the majority of the artistic profiles that attempt to be non-standard simply cause me to skip them. I don't pretend to be an expert on form and color, but I do know some things.
Contrast should be good between the text color, and the background, and appealing. Chartreuse and shit-green simply do not present a very good appearance, and has been known to cause some color sensitive people to lose their lunch. I even saw one profile where the submissive was able to incorporate html color commands to change the color layout of the portions of the page outside of her profile. Ugly would be a generous assessment.
Another thing that makes me shake my head are some of the unreadable and horrendous fonts, text alignment and word spacing. How many men have seen a woman's profile where everything she has written in the text box is center justified? Sentences are chopped off from line to line, and reading is a chore. Please ... if you aren't ee cummings, right or left justify.
Speaking of ee cummings, did I mention punctuation? The purpose of punctuation is to make things easier to read and understand. Yes, you can sometimes use it for visual or emotional effect, but multiple exclamation marks and the use of a lot of smilies simply clutter and confuse.
Poetry deserves a special place in purgatory, most of the time, especially multiple, long poems that convey the same impression and feelings, over and over again. Most of the time, the impression and feelings that are suppose to be given are not the same ones that are received. My impression is usually "full of herself" or pretentious.
No, don't get me wrong. There is some very good poetry out there. I've seen it. Just ... come on ... if done well, a single poem will get your message across and be attractive to the kind of man that likes that stuff. Having a few poems in reserve will give you both something to chat about, and trade in a few emails. Spare the rest of us. Please.
The use of humor (especially sarcasm) is also dangerous, but can also instantly cause a connection and the desire to communicate. Depending on how your humor is interpreted, the desire to communicate can mean either a flame or a funny email in response. It also is a very effective way (in my opinion only) to separate the men who have a sense of humor and a sense of proportion, and those who don't.
But even a man with a sense of humor may wonder about your mental stablity if you are really outrageous or over the top. But like anything else, if you are pinpoint marketing, humor is an excellent way to sift out those men that you aren't interested in.
Now, that was a lot of negative stuff, but I also want to say that I've seen some very effective "artistic" profiles out there. Probably the best, I've seen mentioned in the forums before, from a 30 year old woman from Wisconsin. Her profile is still online, but she apparently has had a bad experience recently and has taken down most of her profile, and changed the short poetry fragments that were there.
But when it was complete, it was the best example of an artistic profile that I have ever seen. Her entire written portion was about 5 sentence fragments, conveying a very specific idea, with excellent use of color, form, punctuation and emotional words. Each of her 15 photos were evocative and classy and invoked an emotional response. Overall, I couldn't see how any man - or woman for that matter - could not have been touched.
But really, profiles like that are an exception, and my recommendation is to tread very carefully and if in doubt, be conservative.
FHky
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