Rushing the Process

If you're online dating, there's usually some hoops that need to be jumped through before you meet someone. It seems like a hassle but they are probably there for a reason.

In e-harmony there's an incredibly elaborate process before you actually get to freely message someone.  If both parties check and progress one step everyday, it would still take over a week before you can message.  It's a pain but if it's important to go through it, b/c if you're both honest when giving information and carefully reading posts, then you'll be able to weed out people who are not good matches.

Like in the previous post where I talk about the importance of reading, those steps are there to help you get to know each other beyond the typical, age, height, job, hobbies questions but discuss things that are also important like are you an introvert or extrovert, what are you life goals, do you like to travel, do you want kids?  Yes, you could find out those questions the old fashioned way (talking, OMG!) but if you have a goal of meeting a long term partner, do you want to find out you have a lot of personality and physical chemistry only to find out that one of you wants to travel the world and the other wants to stay in their hometown??  (Ala Ted and Robin from HIMYM) I know some people like the excitement and the whirlwind romance but I'm for finding out as much as possible in the beginning so I know what I'm getting into.  

So if the dating site has a series of steps you need to take before sending you out into the meat market, take it seriously b/c some of us are, and if we wanted a free for all, we'd have joined match...or okcupid.