Shifty First Dates – The Her.ie Guide To Dating In Ireland: New Year, New Men

In this weekly feature, Her.ie goes behind enemy lines to see what it’s really like to be single in Ireland. From speed dating to making speedy escapes, our no-holds-barred blog will follow our attempts to venture into the dating jungle, play the field and share any wisdom that we finds along the way.

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Week Thirty-Nine: New Year, New Men One thing that is as synonymous with Christmas as mince pies and hangovers is making terrible decisions when it comes to the opposite sex. Even if you managed to behave yourself at the office party (and fair play if you did, you're better than us!), returning home to your old stomping ground inevitably means either hooking up with a old flame who you last saw when you were 18 or scoring someone with a face like a turkey's rear end because your secondary school crush still doesn't know who you are. If you're part of a couple on shaky ground, the festive season is even more challenging as the pressures of spending time with family, delivering the perfect present and keeping your passive-aggressive digs to a minimum over the dinner table can spell the end of many relationships. So, it's not a major surprise that January is the most popular month of the year for online dating sites. Whether you're new to the game or determined to bag a higher standard of man in 2015, we have a few hints and tips for you. Firstly, a note to the newbies - stop being a dating snob. Yes, it would be great if we could stroll into a bar, met the soundest and sexiest man we've ever seen and live a life of hilarious banter, solid companionship and major fireworks in the sack. Unfortunately, it just don't work that way. Essentially, trying to meet a new guy without trying some form of online dating is like trying to find a job without sending out a CV. There's no taboo anymore and we guarantee you that at least one of your best mates, work colleagues and relations are doing the same thing. So, log on with pride and enjoy it. Admittedly, setting up your profile is the most daunting part so the lovely people over at Elite Singles decided to poll their users to find out what are the biggest turn on's and turn off's when it comes to your vital stats.... Over 27 per cent of those polled thought that revealing photos were the most off-putting aspect about a profile picture, same goes for wearing sunglasses (19 per cent), photoshopping (17 per cent) and group photos (13 per cent). Fifty-two per cent of online daters said they do not open a profile without a profile picture. This means that users who choose to stay anonymous online are putting off over half their audience! Twenty-four per cent of users chose sexual innuendo as the number #1 profile fail and other pet peeves included profiles that are incomplete (20 per cent), negativity (21 per cent), spelling mistakes (17 per cent), narcissism (ten per cent) and clichés (eight per cent). On the other hand, 92% of online dating users are not turned off by a profile selfie - despite their bad reputation. Sixty-six per cent of singles wouldn’t even consider a relationship with someone who stretches the truth in their profile but younger users are a bit more forgiving, with 28 per cent of Generation Y users said they would not mind if they met up with someone who looked different to their online profile, which was more than double that of older users. Of course, if you really don't have a clue where to start with your dating profile or previous attempts have failed miserably, why not get an expert to do it for you? A new confidential service called Dating's Little Helper has been launched and for a fee of €50, they will write or edit your dating profile and advise on your best profile pic. Clients will also receive guidelines on online dating etiquette, what to do, what not to do and how to avoid trolls.