I've been doing the online dating thing for about three weeks now, and so far it's been an almost total failure.

I'll see a woman's profile and think we have a lot in common and might be right for each other. I'll read her entire profile, write a custom, personalized message that talks about her interests. I *think* I look nice in my profile pictures and I've written some nice stuff about myself.

Yet I hardly ever even get a response.

This morning OkCupid showed me a lady's profile with a 93% match. (If you don't know OkCupid, their match percentages are actually pretty accurate.) She was online at the same time I was. We seemed to match in every significant way. So I wrote her a nice message, witty (I think), custom for her.

She did not even respond. She read it (OKC shows you when they read the message) but no response.

Then, on another site, I got a "like" from a lady. She also looked interesting, so I responded. No response back.

I've never understood what women want. Now I don't even understand what they want in an initial message.

Can anybody clue me in?

If you're one of the regulars with whom I've exchanged comments, I'll even privately link you to my profiles and show you some messages. Feedback is welcome.