Counterpoint: A friend of mine had an okcupid profile where he dedicated 500 words to denying that he ever had sex with a bowl of macaroni and cheese. It was hilarious, and he's the one person I've met in my entire life who reversed the equation presented in the article.

That said, unless you've got some comic gold up your sleeve, you're probably right.

I suspect none of those 500 words were about him directly, so the respondents had something to ask about, and no information about him specifically to dislike.

Sounds like he found the butter zone with that.

Different things work for different people. I once had quite a few positive replies to a personal ad where all I did was list things I hated.

The real key is to distinguish yourself from the ocean of generic ads and profiles.

Even without pairing off, simple age dynamics skews it in favour of women first and then men. Young women statistically want to date older men (even if only by a few years) since older men are more capable, confident, and have far more resources. Men want to date younger women (usually again by only a few years).The end result is that men have a much tougher time competing up until mid-20s, and then roles suddenly reverse and women in their late 20s and beyond are left wondering 'where all the men went'.