{"id":396,"date":"2019-03-20T11:29:36","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T11:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/?p=396"},"modified":"2019-03-20T11:29:36","modified_gmt":"2019-03-20T11:29:36","slug":"delete-online-dating-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2019\/03\/delete-online-dating-profile.html","title":{"rendered":"When To Delete Your Online Dating Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"woman-2937208_640\"Online dating can be a total bust \u2013 ridiculous e-mails from guys who aren\u2019t your type, discovering that\u00a0Oh, hey, men lie in their profiles<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 or it can be bliss. If you find someone you actually like and want to date exclusively, you might be ready to give up searching for love on the Internet once and for all. So \u2026\u00a0when is it time to delete your profile?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, what does your online dating service offer as options? Can you hide your profile completely without actually deleting it? If you can simply become invisible, this is a great choice. The fact is, creating a good online dating profile takes a lot of time and effort. (\u201cHow many pets do I want?\u201d \u201cUm, what are my interests again?\u201d) If no one can see it, it\u2019s worth it to keep it. You won\u2019t continue to get e-mails from suitors, and your significant other won\u2019t get a phone call from his brother asking why you\u2019re on the hunt. It\u2019s great to be optimistic, but even if your new beau seems great, you never know when you\u2019re going to find yourself suddenly single and desperately trying to remember your incredibly witty and sexy, \u201cAbout me.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you met online, it\u2019s much easier to have the \u201cSo we\u2019re not going to keep searching\u201d conversation. This is sort of like the \u201cSo are we going to be in a relationship on Facebook?<\/a><\/u>\u201d talk for the eHarmony crowd. You may both casually agree that you won\u2019t continue to pay for the service when it expires in a few weeks, or you both may commit to removing your profiles completely. If you and your boyfriend are an online dating success story, you should both remove your profiles\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0stay logged out; as members, you can still see the last time the other was on. No good can come of that.<\/p>\n

Sometimes though, you go on a few online dates and then meet the guy of your dreams at Starbucks! Funny how that seems to work out.<\/p>\n

If the new guy knows about your profile, he may be the one to ask you to remove it.<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019re ready to be serious, you most definitely should. You were looking for love and were lucky enough to find it! Don\u2019t be stubborn and don\u2019t self-sabotage because you think something better is going to come along.<\/p>\n

If he doesn\u2019t know about your online dating history, you might want to remove it before anyone stumbles across it. It could cause major drama, even if you know you haven\u2019t checked your \u201cWinks\u201d since you met him. Think about how you\u2019d feel if the roles were reversed. And while\u00a0the stigma of online dating is mostly gone<\/a><\/u>, it might be something you wish to keep from him.<\/p>\n

Although having the talk about removing your profile is good, there\u2019s also no reason you can\u2019t remove it pre-talk, as soon as you feel ready. Ask yourself a few questions.<\/p>\n