The perfect Tinder photo: yes, it has to get you on your good side and disguise that double chin, but is there more to it than just looking good?

Hana Michels, a comedian and writer from LA, who shared a screengrab of her Tinder profile to Twitter this week, found that a lot of men whom she matched with weren’t interested in her at all but in her toilet paper holder. She explained that she had been chastised by no fewer than 23 men in a year for the direction in which her toilet paper was facing – a small detail in the background of the photo.

Hana Michels (@HanaMichels) This is my tinder profile. I’ve had it for a year. 23 men have contacted me to say I’m incorrect about toilet paper pic.twitter.com/uBAcQlZ34r

This has provoked uproar across the internet as to which way a toilet paper roll should be loaded into its holder, with turf wars erupting between “unders” and “overs”.

pgh-belle (@pgh_belle) This is the only correct way to have the toilet paper pic.twitter.com/pbY1vyXE0M

Yet for many online daters, what’s really going on is obvious, and has very little to do with a sudden surge of passion from single men about how toilet paper should be properly loaded.

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On apps like Tinder, you’re expected to start a conversation with very little to go on: just a name, a couple of photos, and an emoji-littered biography. As such, mise-en-scene trawling has become an essential way of opening a dialogue. Whether it’s a toilet paper holder, the pizza toppings somebody’s chosen or the fact they’ve forgotten to switch their washing machine off, it’s all fair game for a committed Tinder sleuth. After all, what better way to show how much you’ve got in common than by letting them know how much you too enjoyed Zadie Smith’s latest – the pixelated spine of which you can just about discern on their bedroom floor?

It’s turned dating into a bad sci-fi film, with participants trying to enhance photos for hidden ice-breaker opportunities.

A number of Tinder users I spoke with admitted to scouring the backdrop for conversational fodder. Ed, 25, said he wouldn’t take it as far as toilet paper but has in the past recognised a big top over somebody’s shoulder from a particular music festival and used that as an “in”. The same goes for Rich, 30, who readily admits to inspecting images for conversation starters. A number of female dating app users told me there was no end to the specifics that men, in particular, would pick up on, from referencing famous landmarks to pointing out “messy beds”.

Indeed, the practice has gone so far that many people purposefully leave clues in their photos, aware that they’ll be used as conversation starters. Edie, 25, says she’ll try to make her pictures intriguing and is aware that “wearing interesting earrings” will always get people talking. And who can blame her? It might seem like psychological brinkmanship, but surely anything is better than the alternative – the most ubiquitous Tinder opening: “Hey”.