Personally I prefer the shorter introduction.

Yeah I want to know all about the person that is contacting me but if I recieve a long winded detailed decription however witty the person may seem it just makes me step back and think I dont need to talk to this person because I know everything already.

Surely its better to start off general and work your way into things so you can discover what someone is like for yourself and whether or not you'll be compatable rather than be told "I'm this, I'm that"

You don't go up to someone in the street and start telling them your life story, first point of contact is looks then a hello and take it from there. I dont think this should be any different.

I used to answer every message straight away, but it's hard to keep it up now. So for me, I like to receive a punchy first liner or a longer message to tempt me to reply (I still answer 98%).
It's annoying when someone sends an empty title box 'cos you can't open the message and you get left with it always counting as a message received. So I always have 3 in my inbox.
I look to see who has looked at me and check out their profiles too if they have a pic, if not I don't bother. Having said this, if I receive a good message and there's no pic, I do answer. There are some good reasons why people haven't posted their pic, but not so good if they're 'hiding', 'cos they're planning on cheating........

Would just be nice to get a message HA ! No real luck on that front yet! Never mind will keep ploddin on!