For the gazillionth time I have seen the use of the term "serious" as in seeking a serious relationship or a serious person...

the number of times it appears seems very close to the number of times "real" appears in the forum as in seeking real persons or real men or real women...Usually it is in the form of a question - "are there any real people on this site"?

I think the use of "genuine" is a distant third but gaining ground...

so what is your view on the use of these words?...when you see those words what do you think they mean?...Do they communicate anything specific or just too vague?...

Fire away!

someone who seeks serious, raises a flag that they need someone to 'complete' them, it is their primary objective to find someone that ticks all those boxes.

someone who seeks real, makes me believe they are skeptical and/or have been duped by someone who was not honest in some way about who they were, what they wanted, or what photo they posted, or someone who thinks the site is a scam and we are all robots ...lol

someone who seeks genuine, makes me think they are interested in someone who allows themself to be vulnerable by showing the ups and downs, the weaknesses and flaws, about themselves.

This ^^^

Well said msharmony!

I say "genuine" in the forums and that's basically what I mean. Someone who is being their true self rather than putting on an act for whatever reason.

The words serious, real and genuine are code for "I'm going to deactivate my Mingle2 account quickly."

mmm. Well, I don't know. I see lots of repeated words and phrases from people on dating sites. I think it has more to do with the way most humans behave overall.

Mainly, most people learn to express themselves by copying each other. Especially when they are in a new situation, whatever they think the official or common "way to talk" is, they will follow.

Therefore, lots of people use the words "real" and "genuine" and "serious," because they see lots of other people using those words, and because their own vocabulary isn't large enough to come up with their own. It's a snowball effect.

Remember when you were a kid in school and your English teacher kept saying to write in your own words? This is why. When you copy everyone else, everyone tends to assume you don't know, or really mean what you are saying.

Germans have the reputation to be serious

But I would reckon, at least half of those, who use these words, don't even half mean it.

I've been here for two years

But typically, yes it appears to be the way it goes.

I agree with the above
Most people that add me as a friend are not real
Most people that add me to their favorites are doing it to nudge me to say something.
Most people looking for companionship, or marriage are real if they fill in the physical appearance questions and put something on interests. If there is nothing in both interests and physical appearance then they are most likely to be of internet construct.

The words serious and real have different meanings to different people. Example if you ask people if our money is real, most will say yes, but it is not. Our money is an IOU for it represents an IOU's. Most people who view my profile are not real. The age, city, state and pictures of those people change constantly. I know for fact that 90%+ who view my profile are nothing more then an internet construct by a few bad apples for the purpose of making money off of me in some way be it a scam, cam pictures or whatever. To prove my point all you have to do is write down the name they use, age, city, state and so on and in a few days you will see all kinds of patterns developing.

The one thing I have learned here is don't give out your email address unless you know the person is real. Try to get them to go on google hangouts. Always be careful about opening pictures they send you for it is very possible they have something attached to those pictures to get into your computer. It is kind of like on gas stations where you use your debit or credit card only to have somebody come along right after you uses that machine to get your credit or debit card information.

I see them as nothing more than meaningless,
overused, overplayed buzzwords.

I agree with Igor, you’re reading too much into those words. People aren’t putting that much thought when they write it.

I haven't "copied" anyone since i was out of grammer school...
Sure..when you are in a different cultural enviroment you quietly observe how to act, if your aren't familiar...but I know that is not what you are referring to...

The thing about "real, "serious", and "genuine"...
It's like that egregious word people throw into their profile.."drama"..
The problem with *that* is that if you ask 10 different people what they mean by "drama".....you get 10 different answers..

Same way with "real", "serious", and "genuine"..
It's open to interpretation based on what it means to *that* person....which makes it difficult for others to know what exactly they mean..

haa

I literally LOL'd on that one. nice.

You Minglers give meaning to the words real, genuine, serious, as well as witty, thought provoking, hilarious, outside the box, and much more (but muh fingers are ole and tired)

I thank each of you for taking time to share your thoughts on this matter....this forum experience has been and continues to be quite enriching...

You're welcome mayb and thank you too!

A simple captcha system would root out the fake profiles here for the most part, other than the ones likely generated by the site itself for revenue purposes... as for the serious, is anyone here really serious? not if they spent a few days wading through this place and are still here;)

It's fun to do a reverse image search on those too-good-to be-true pictures..

Really, darlin'...you are a model with an agency in Brazil..?????
Imagine that....

My view is I don't really care unless I'm attracted to them via their photo and whatever else their profile says.
If that's all their profile says, if it's just a big "I want!" list, that's not very attractive.

If I'm not attracted to them, the point is moot.
I don't think profiles matter all that much.

I mean some people typed theirs 8 years ago and haven't changed it since.
Others just broke up with their ex 2 days ago and are venting their frustration from that relationship.
Others use their profile like a poor mans twitter or facebook page.


For me, they don't really communicate anything.
People use profiles as either bait to attract mates, or walls to keep people away because that's what they really want, or they try to make it both because they're control freaks.

Profiles are not a positive indicator of anything.
The only thing that matters is the direct interaction.