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Are Vancouver women too picky when it comes to dating?

A new survey from an online dating site has ranked Vancouver women as the pickiest in Canada and the least likely to respond to a man’s message online.

According to AYI.com, Vancouver men have the hardest time getting a date through online dating sites than any other city in Canada.

Montreal women were ranked second and Ottawa came in third.

The dating site reports that Calgary women are the least picky, followed by women in Edmonton and Toronto.

President and owner of Vancouver-based Executive Search Dating Paddi Rice agrees with the findings of the survey, but doesn’t think being picky is necessarily a bad thing.

“There are more people in Vancouver online dating than anywhere in the world because one of the largest free sites Plenty of Fish is based here,” he said. “With a bigger pool, your odds of meeting a quality person are less, so screening is essential.”

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Rice said that women in Vancouver should be picky when messaging with men online, especially on free sites.

“Any woman in Vancouver has a handful of online dating horror stores, so that’s probably the reason they have the perception of being picky,” he said.

In a Global BC Facebook poll, we asked men and women whether they agreed with the survey.

Ryan Kelly said in his online dating experiences Vancouver women were pickier than those in other cities.

“All the girls said they wanted genuine, well thought out, individual messages sent to them. So I did. And maybe two per cent wrote back. And I’m not an unattractive man,” he said in a Facebook post.

Simon Lock agreed, “I’m close to giving up entirely,” he wrote.

But Vancouver women defended their picky ways.

“Selective is a better word. And if being selective means he is happy with his career and taller than me, than yes, I am selective,” Janice Pliska posted.

Stephanie McGavin said that she is a picky online dater because she has standards.

“I get really scared of the online dating because I’ve heard horror stories and there are lots of creeps on there, so I definitely understand why you don’t always get back to certain people,” she said in a Facebook post.

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Others said that while it goes both ways, being picky will help weed out dates who are not compatible.

“All I want is a man with a kind heart, clean criminal record and a job! A car would be a bonus too! I’m not fond on having to pick up my date,” Holly Laffin posted.

However, some men said they have no problem meeting women online.

Michael Washington said that as a single father he has done all his dating online and has had no problem meeting women.

“I met my current girlfriend of approximately six months through Plenty of Fish. While women might be pickier in Vancouver, having done internet dating in both Ontario and B.C., I’d have to say my personal experiences would say otherwise,” he said.

For men who are having trouble meeting women in Vancouver, Rice suggests a simple solution.

“When you’re out socially and you see some people that look interesting just go up and say ‘hi,'” he said.

“Vancouver men should forget the stereotype that Vancouver women are unapproachable,” he said. “Very few men approach women and women complain about it.”

To get more responses online, AYI suggests opening a message with the question, “do you like to travel?”

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According to the survey, this line received 61 per cent more responses than just saying “hi” or “what’s up?”