First, keep things fun. You don't want to lie to the other member and say that you are only interested in fun if you're not. But every step in the process of meeting someone should be fun, including flirtation. To keep the flirtation fun, approach the other member with a light-hearted conversation, and smile while you're typing. Discuss something that you're interested in, perhaps something that you have in common on your profiles.

If it makes you nervous to flirt, try approaching it from a different angle than you've done before, but don't give the impression that you're someone you're not. For example, if you usually get nervous because you run out of things to say, or you run out of things to say because you get nervous, approach the conversation with one or two topics to bring up and use wait time. Discuss something and then give the other member time to respond with his/her own thoughts. You may be surprised by the direction the conversation will go. You don't have to sustain the conversation all on your own.  Also, be prepared with a polite goodbye. If the conversation does die, just excuse yourself politely.

Also, use language that sounds like you. This way if you do wind up meeting this member it will feel like you already know each other because there won't be a big change in your speech patterns. This makes you more personable and it also makes it more likely that the other member will respond to you because you sound like a real person.

Remember, flirtation is all about forming a quick connection in a fun but genuine way. Try something like this, "Hi! Wow, I love your profile picture. That look of your face makes it seem like you're really enjoying yourself. What were you doing when you took this picture?!?!..."

Measure your self-confidence
Men who are attracted to timid women are often over-bearing and looking for someone that they can control. To attract an emotionally healthy and mature man, you must have self-confidence. If you find that you are lacking in this area, work to develop your self-esteem before you begin dating. There is no sense wasting valuable time cultivating a relationship if either party has issues that need to be addressed. Becoming confident in yourself will assist in making wise choices once you start dating. Possessing the self-confidence to realistically assess a potential mate and discern whether that person is compatible and appropriate will reduce the potential for future heartache.

Your body sends out signals
Body language speaks louder than words, letting others know lot about a person without even speaking. Evaluate your body language, asking a trusted friend to help, if necessary. What image do you project to others? Are you showing the world that you are a confident and valuable person? Or do you need to work on projecting the image you desire?

There is no substitute for good posture and direct eye contact. Stand tall and look your date in the eye. Demonstrate respect and insist on receiving the same. Be attentive when he’s talking and expect to be treated in kind. Lean forward slightly to more fully engage in the conversation. Do not tolerate rudeness or inappropriate behaviour. Body language is an extremely powerful tool; use it to your best advantage.

Keep your wits (and your humour) about you
When beginning to date, it is very easy to be carried away by emotion. The new love interest often takes on an importance completely out of proportion, overshadowing other areas of one’s life. Do not let this happen! Enjoying the emotional high of a new relationship is fine but guard against being totally swept away.

At the outset of the relationship, keep in mind that this man may be around a very long time. In fact, it’s possible he may be around too long! Keep a healthy perspective in any budding relationship and keep things light. Move slowly, allowing the relationship to blossom naturally. Maintain contact with friends and do things alone, as well. Avoid building your entire life around another person.

Dealing with rejection
Few things in life are more devastating that being dumped. The initial reaction is shock and disbelief, which quickly changes to anger and hurt. When a love relationship ends, try to focus on the big picture and see it as an opportunity for self-improvement and growth. Allow yourself to feel the pain but work to move beyond it to a place of peace and acceptance. Use this time to examine your life and determine what you want to do and be.

Sometimes rejection comes early in a relationship, possibly even on a first date. Do not take this personally. The purpose of dating is to find mutual compatibility. Lack of attraction on the part of either party is no reflection on the value of the other person. Always keep in mind that the closing of one door simply allows for the opening of another.

Ethnic Origins & Religious Beliefs

Many online daters indicate their race with an abbreviation. They use W for white, B for black, A for Asian, NA for Native American and H for Hispanic. Religious affiliation is indicated similarly. J stands for Jewish, LDS stands for Latter Day Saints or Mormon, and C stands for Christian.

Sexual Orientation

There are also abbreviations that explain sexual preference. BI means bi-sexual, and G means gay. Usually, straight individuals will not use any special abbreviations to let you know that they are heterosexual.

Status & Lifestyle

Sometimes, abbreviations can let you know a lot about someone's background and lifestyle. A D on a profile usually means divorced. If they occasionally indulge in recreational drugs, they will let you know by putting a 420 somewhere in their description. Social drinkers or light drinkers identify themselves with a SD or LD. If an individual does not smoke, they might let you know that fact by writing NS. Usually non-smokers indicate that they are seeking a fellow non-smoker.

Characteristics

In addition to letting you know a little bit about themselves, online daters use abbreviations to let you know what type of person they are looking for. HWP means Height Weight Proportional, indicating that they want someone who is reasonably in shape. SI means that they want someone with similar interests. GSOH means good sense of humor, something that is necessary in any relationship. ISO means in search of. So if a dater writes MISOWGHOH, that means he is looking for a woman with a good sense of humor.

Not everyone on a dating site is looking for a long term relationship. If they are looking for a long term relationship, they will indicate that by writing ISOLTR. Sometimes people just want a STR, or short term relationship. Others are looking for something even more serious. MM stands for marriage minded, so you should only contact that individual if you are ready for a very long term commitment.

Online daters even use abbreviations to let potential matches know what they like in the bedroom. BDSM or SM means that they are looking for some kinky sadomasochistic fun. One abbreviation that is showing up more frequently on dating sites is GGG. This abbreviation, coined by sex columnist Dan Savage, means Good, Giving, Game, meaning that you are willing to indulge a partner's fantasies, even if those fantasies might not be your exact cup of tea in the sack.

Think of these dating abbreviations like little clues that need to be deciphered. Your prize for figuring out the puzzle might just be finding the love of your life.

Here's a list we've managed to compile from profiles we've seen and on various places on the web.  If you know of any more then please let us know using the Comments form below.

• A :  Asian
• B :  Black
• BI : Bisexual
• BIF: Bisexual Female
• BIM :  Bisexual Male
• BIMF :  Bisexual Married Female
• BIMM :  Bixesual Married Male
• BDSM :  Bondage, Discipline, Sadism, and/or Masochism
• BBW : Big Beautiful Woman
• BHM: Big Handsome or Hunky Man
• CPL :  Couple
• D: Divorced
• DDF : Drug and Disease Free
• DTE :  Down to Earth
• DWF : Divorced White Female
• DWM : Divorced White Male
• F2F : Face to Face
• GGG : Good at Giving Game
• GSOH : Good Sense of Humour
• H :  Hispanic
• HWP : Height and Weight are in Proportion
• ISO : In Search Of
• IRL : In Real Life
• J :  Jewish
• K :  Kids
• N/K :  No kids
• LD :  Light Drinker
• LDS: Latter Day Saints
• L :  Lesbian
• LTR : Long Term Relationship
• LFG :  Looking For a Group
• LSD :  Latter Day Saints
• LGBT : Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender
• M4M : Men For Men
• M4W : Men For Women
• MBA : Married But Available
• MM : Married Men or Marriage Minded (be sure to determine which!)
• MNC : Married, No Children
• MWC : Married With Children
• NSA : No Strings Attached
• NS or N/S :  Non Smoker
• PF : Professional Female
• PM :  Professional Male
• RL :  Real Life
• SALT : Single and Loving It (shouldn't that be SALI?)
• SBF : Single Black Female
• SBM : Single Black Male
• SCF : Single Christian Female
• SCM : Single Christian Male
• SD :  Social Drinker
• SGL :  Single
• SI :  Similar Interests
• SWF :  Single White Female or (Straight White Female)
• TDH :  Tall Dark and handsome
• TS :  Transsexual
• TV : Transvestite
• W/E : Well Endowed (yeah - right!)
• WLTM : Would Like To Meet
• VBD :  Very Bad Date
• W :  Widowed or White
• WAA :  Will Answer All

Halloween is when witches ride their brooms, ghosts and ghouls are howling and haunting and things go bump in the night – but it’s also a chance to vamp it up for a great night if you are in high spirits.

So, if you are someone who’s not scared of their own shadow and wants to make Halloween a night of romance, take the chance to show your darker side.

Here’s a few ideas of how to while the night away if you are out in the country and away from lots of others having Halloween celebrations:

• Put a horror movie on the DVD or Most Haunted on TV, turn down the lights and strike a match for some candles and snuggle up together on the sofa in the flickering shadows.
• If scares and thrills are not your scene, then try out some spoof horror flicks like The Young Frankenstein or Shaun of The Dead.
• Mix up some love potion cocktails – these are spirits you want to see, white ones like Bacardi, gin and vodka that mix well with blood red grenadine. So does any aniseed drink like ouzo or pastis.
• Don’t forget that old favourite – a Bloody Mary by mixing vodka, tomato juice, lemon and some Worcester Sauce or Tabasco to taste.
• Have some harmful fun with love spells – try writing out the character traits you want from your lover – these should not be describing a particular person but the type of lover you are seeking.

Dab some perfume or aftershave on the paper and put the list in an envelope and hold the envelope in your left hand. Meanwhile, gather some flower petals, preferably red or pink, and drop them in the envelope with your right hand.

Think loving thoughts while you perform the spell, close the envelope and seal with a kiss. Never open the envelope or the spell will break.

Just remember you don’t always get what you wish for…

• A midnight walk is not for the faint-hearted but you may have to cuddle together if you see some ghostly shadows in that moonlit country churchyard or hear eerie noises as the wind blows through the leaves in a dark and mysterious wood.
• Don’t forget to play some ‘trick or treats’ on each other as well. No suggestions here – you can come up with these yourselves depending on how well you know each other.

Whatever you do, make sure you don’t give your partner the fright of their life that makes the night a horror story they just want to forget.

Clean-cut thrill seeker: James Bond
Do you always have the latest gadgets to hand in any situation? Do you come across as demure, but have a different side to your life, which takes you to dangerous but consistently stylish places all over the world? As James Bond man, you may shy away from commitment, but you know that your charms will not be lost on the fairer sex as you leave a trail of stunning and contented women in your dating wake.

Hunky Himbo: Ronaldo man
If you prepare for a date with a stint at the gym, followed by an impeccable grooming regimen including barrels of fake tan and perhaps even a little man-makeup, you’re Ronaldo man. While some people might describe you as superficial, don’t despair - any woman would be thrilled to be dating a trophy man like you.

Man-next-door: Nescafe Gold Blend man
There’s a reason why Antony Head shot to fame in the late 1980s as Nescafe man – women love that guy. If you resemble the archetypal man-next-door, whose conventional exterior barely disguises a passionate and sensual spirit, as Nescafe Gold Blend man you will have instant appeal as the thinking woman’s dating crumpet.

Rugged man’s man: Gladiator man
Grrr. If you can kill a wild boar with your bare hands and eat it in one sitting, if you don’t know the meaning of the word metrosexual, and don’t want to, you’re Gladiator man. You may be a bit rough around the edges, but secretly the ladies still love to be swept off their feet by dating a bona fide macho man like you.

Stiff & Starchy: Pride & Prejudice man (Mr Darcy)
You might prefer not to open up at first, but when you fall for a woman, it’s for real. As Pride and Prejudice man, you can come across as a little cold, but for the type of woman who usually has men falling over themselves to go out with her, this can be a welcome challenge. She knows she’ll be well rewarded for her efforts in the end.

No-nonsense man: Jack Bauer (from 24)
If you don’t suffer fools – or bad guys – gladly, but are impossibly sweet and romantic when it comes to your loved ones, you could be a Jack Bauer man. With your workaholic nature, Dating you might sometimes be a little stressful, but your charms lie in your genuine goodness and indubitable desire to save the world.

Diet Coke Break man
Are you a plumber, a window-cleaner, or a handyman? Are you oblivious to the office women who are strangely distracted from their work when you turn up to do your thing? Then you must be Diet Coke man. Dating you is doubly exciting, because as well as enjoying your well-toned physique (from all that manual labour), your date can secretly fantasise about all the things you could fix at her house.

Whatever your dating alter ego, at match.com, the UK’s biggest online dating site, you’ll find more people looking for someone like you than anywhere else.

The desire to impress a woman on a date can bring out the actor in all of us. Whether we take on the suave refinement of the Nescafe man or prefer to see ourselves more as a strong and silent type like Mr Darcy, everyone has their own special dating alter ego.