Online dating can be tricky. What do you say? How do you reply to people? What should you put in your profile? Should you use that profile picture from 15 years ago?

Well, fret no more, because OkCupid, an online dating service, analyzed over 500,000 introduction messages and whether or not they got a response from the message receiver. For example, the above graphs shows reply rates for intro messages that used netspeak. Here’s a tip: don’t use it, probably because it makes you sound like an idiot or you take writing advice from the comments on YouTube.

Other fine tips include: avoid compliments on physical appearance (because it’s the inside that counts) and don’t try to bring the conversation outside the service (because that’s creepy).

[via Waxy]