Im not complaining when i get a message from the blue from someone on here but it's nearly always the same message.

"Hi"

.... and thats it. From then on its up to me to make the first impression, break the ice in a more practical way, and be charming. If this was a once off thing, fair enough, but the majority of first messages i've gotten from women on here are the exact same.

Taking inspiration from the great Dr. Freud i decided to conduct a social experiment and started sending the same thing back "Hi/Howdy/Hello" instead of trying to start a conversation from nothing and i either get no reply, or a banal delaying sentence graciously giving me another chance to impress them. At which point i either do or i never hear from them again.

Im not gripeing here, a message from anyone is flattering, all im asking is, why just plain auld hi?

It gives the impression that "I've noticed you... Now impress me "

Is it because its hard to small talk or women still prefer to feel chased or what is it?

I've not started on here yet, but on a couple of sites the 'Hi' messages get two stock responses...

I HEARD U LIKE MUDKIPS!?

GREETINGS PROFESSOR FALKEN


Stone dead. Every time. Just the way I want it.

In reality of course you're going to start with a simple hello, but on the internet your first message is everything. Idleness and/or ineptness means you're on to a hiding to nothing.

If thats all they've got they're not even worth a response.

Makes me chuckle this one. On occasion I've even received 'Hi! Wana chat?' which I suppose shows some intention, but would you say that to someone you met in real life? What happened to the good old tradition of commenting on the weather to break the ice?

I think i may have said this before.

I like messages that show that whoever has sent them, (unless you have been speaking on the Forums of course) has taken the time, and bothered to have a look through your profile.

Because of my username (which i would change if it didnt mean fooking about creating a whole new profile) i get a lot of "oooh, can you live up to your name?" and "I reckon you wouldnt be able to handle this" and stuff like that.

If you actually take the time to look at my profile, you will see that i ask that you are not fooled by my username, that i am not just up for a quick shag, but would rather get to know someone first etc...

The people who just say Hi are just ignored, and i know that might be deemed as rude, but what are you meant to say back? Hi is something you say to some random stranger who smiles at you in the street. Hi is something you say to a client on the phone followed by "...can I help you?...". Hi is NOT a chat up line, and therefore my fellow FB fans, should NOT be used as one!

Here endeth the first lesson.

I must admit, just sending "Hi" seems darned lazy. When I first started getting them, I used to reply "Hi back" and it went like this usually:
Him: Hi
Me: Hi back
Him: how r u?
Me: Ok. U?
Him: got msn/webcam/want sum fun/blahblah?
Me: nope.

End of. Takes about a week for the messaging to follow its course. Ok when you are bored and intentionally treating them in exactly the same vein in the hope they'll realise how pointless it is....but thats the kind that about a month later I get another message from the same person saying "Hi" and round we go again!

Now I have asked on my profile not to receive messages other than from forum members, and my inbox remains devoid of lazy one-liners.

well everytime i send a Hey/Hi, hows it going, ususally hints to the other party that im just up for some fun.. i aint, just just here for making friends, if it leads to something then fine... not that it ever does.. !

I usually get messages saying, "Do you want to chat?" And then when I reply saying yeah go on then... they come back with something like "Ok" or "how r u."

Eerrrrr......

Now, whenever I get them, I always say yes and ask them what they'd like to chat about. You'd be surprised (ok maybe not) at how many people respond with...

"Anything."

or even worse,

"I don't know."

I get them.......GOODBYE
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I'm tempted to PM a few dozen people with just 'hi' and see what responses I get. The internet is just a huge social experiment after all

I mostly still answer the "hi"s and "hello" s and if I like their profile I will make an effort to engage them, if I'm not bothered I write the same back and see if they can follow it up with something worth reading.

I think it shows arrogance more than anything. Its like they don't think they'll have to work for it, that you'll just chase them.

Bollocks to em. I just say 'Hi' as well, and if they think I'm not gonna chase them, they don't message again.
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I can see why people sometimes do just sent short messages saying hello. I mean, when most of the time you get no reply, it gets a bit tedious writing long messages. I switched to shorter intro messages myself for this very reason.. usually manage a bit more than "Hi" though (or used to, since I'm not "doing" online dating any more.)