In your profile? Don't break the fourth wall.

One technique that I've explained in the past is the idea of easing tension about the meetup.

As I've practiced this before, I always did this during my first phone call. Essentially, during the phone call, I let her know that I've met a few women on eHarmony, that "chemistry" doesn't always happen, and that, if it doesn't, she seems like she'd make a good friend.

Recently, I experimented with placing statements like this in my profile.

Unfortunately, this experiment did not go well. Response rate went down slightly - although this may have been due to chance.

However, levels of excitement and interest on the phone dropped. Dramatically.

In a way, I used a technique from theater, called "breaking the fourth wall". These are the times, during a movie or theatrical performance, where the actors remind the audience that they're viewing a scripted performance, instead of immersing themselves in the fantasy world of the show.

Used as an occasional, rare, jarring moment - it can be effective. If you use it too much, though, you miss the point of going to the show - which was to immerse yourself in the writer's world for an hour or two.

And, in retrospect, breaking the fantasy in the profile is doing it much too early.

So, give her the go-ahead. Let her build romantic castles in the sky for awhile. And only break it to release the fear that it may break anyway.

Oh well. That's why I do these experiments. :-)