Slinkmag

Maitreya Gold Salience Emerald

I am a shoe freak. In RL I am an obsessed collector and have…well I won’t tell you how many pair I have because I honestly don’t know. Let’s just says lots. Okay, maybe tons. I love shoes and have done since that first sparkly pair of my mother’s high heels I first played dress up with. Maybe even longer but the fact is, shoes have been a lifelong obsession with me.

One of my biggest frustrations in feeding my need for shoes is finances. I mean I really NEED those vintage pair of Hermes suede thigh high boots I saw on e-Bay, but darn it, I just don’t have a spare 20k or so in my pocket at the moment. If I had endless funds, I’d build a library of shoes (oooh library but my obsession with collecting books will have to be another editorial). I am often frustrated, have wept great tears and have dreamt of the wonderous pair that got away. I’m sure there are a million women just like me who dream of names like Blahnik, Choo, Weitzman, etc. Ooh Weitzman, did you see the new ones in the Neiman catalog? Oops digressing a little here. Sorry.

Lately, I’ve been doing some inventory cleaning and bloody inventory losing too (growls) and ran into a pair of my first SL high bling freebie noob hooker shoes and laughed. Those first shoes got me thinking about women, shoes and consumerism in SL.

I’m sure many non-SL people, some SL people and just about all the men are thinking, “Why on earth would anyone want a pair of virtual shoes?”. Well, I thought the same thing when I first landed in SL a year ago. “It’s software, pixels, bits of air why should I spend good (and real) money on a pair of air shoes?” I said to a friend and laughed. Joke on me. I landed as Noobs do after Help Island in a freebie shop getting myself some basic free clothes, hair, etc because well I looked like a Noob. I picked out my first pair of glaring bling pixelated footwear and wow, these even had a sexy walk AO stuffed into the clicking heels. My virtual hips were a’swingin. Yay and who needed to buy shoes anyhow? Here were these nice strappy (blingy) sandals and I was hot stuff. I was a Blingtard. Then I saw them. A lovely looking avatar, obviously not a Noob because she had real looking hair, her skin was omg and her shoes! Her shoes were gorgeous, stunning and classic. They made mine that I was so proud of look like something my puppy Ozzy chewed up and spit out. Suddenly self-conscious I tried to hide my feet.

“Your shoes are so pretty” I said to she who had become Avatar Goddess of the Shoe.

Stilleto Moody Mary Janes in Basquiat Blue

“Oh ty” says she. “Moody’s” and managed to convey in that one typed word all the gasping, hushed and reverent tones I use for words like Chanel and Laboutin. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Moody’s had to be the Blahnik of SL! OMG. Must. Have. Moody’s. The goddess (thank you whoever you were) handed me an LM (landmark for you non-SL’ers) and I quickly teleported to the store and when I rezzed, my little avatar jaw dropped to the polished floor. Shoes! Strappy sandals, boots, pumps, even omg even SCULPTED TOES! There were gladiator boots in fuschia, D’Orsay heels, slingback Maryjanes in the most glorious shade of blue. Incredibly detailed little golden chains and heart shaped sculpted logo on the bottom of the shoe gave me the same pitty pat of my heart that the red sole of a Christian Laboutin does in real life. I saw the prices, gulped and ran to Paypal. Got myself some lindens and became an official and voracious SL consumer of virtual shoes.

N-Core Luxury High Heeled Boot in Black

I’ve since found Heart and Sole, VDI, N-Core, ooh Maitreya Gold, Bax and many others. My SL shoe collection rivals my real one and I will drop everything I’m doing to see a new release or sale. I’m not the only one. Sometimes I can’t even move or TP into these places because the sims are so full of avatars just like me on fire with shoe lust. I know it seems crazy buying virtual shoes but hey, doesn’t 1000 lindens (roughly about 4 dollars USD) sound a lot better than an $800.00 pair of real life shoes for the same thrill? Can’t afford those Choo’s? Head on down to the Grid and get yourself some sexy stilettos with a clicking heel and a brand name to make your heart flutter for what you’d pay for that bag of chips that’s just going to make your cholesterol rise anyhow. Feet hurt in real? Virtual shoes don’t give you blisters and you can dance in them all night long. Heck, I even found a pair of glass slippers at Fierce that have a dancing Chimera hud built into the heel. Yeah baby, you CAN be Cinderella at the ball. Out of closet space? Well until LL limits inventory space, you can store unlimited pairs.

What’s my point? I guess I have none other than I’m now outed as a raging shoe fanatic with a big flashing neon light for designers to spam me with sale notecards (ducks deftly). I know you’re out there all my doppleganger shoe fetishists. Come on, comment and tell me your favorite shoe story, shoe maker, designer, etc. Send in some SLurls. If you see me online, drop me an IM or send me a pic of your favorite virtual shoes. I’ve always got time to hear a shoe story.

See ya on the Grid.

Mari

Popularity: 11% [?]

Didja ever walk into a mall or store here in SL or for that matter RL and think to yourself, “WTF am I doing here with all this pink frou frou shit?” You know those places with pink glitter, poofers full of butterflies and rainbows, fantasy flowers that look like a Laura Ashley nightmare that have you reaching for the nearest barf bag? I hate those places. I mean I’m as girly as they come. Love my makeups, skins to match m gowns, ballgowns galore and I steadily contribute to the SL fashion economy with my insane shopping sprees. But a girl has her limits and my absolute fingernails on the chalkboard pet annoyance is walking into a mall and being showered by a heart poofer or glitter or rainbows. UGH! Just let me fucking shop and find something stunning for my avatar.

When I first landed on Ali Couture’s mall, I landed on a damned flower that spouted glitter or some such shite and if the lag hadn’t have propelled me into her store I would have left. Thank God for lag not to mention the fact that I was on a hunt and my compulsive, completionist self wouldn’t let me leave.

The clothes were amazing! Sleek, sexy, great textures, fabulously priced and without the big skirts with ruffles that I loathe so much. I started buying and buying, so much so that I got an IM from Ali herself saying , “Woman! You’re buying my whole store!” That started a conversation and I made a friend. When Ali announces a new design I come a running and do my best to ignore the flowers and bunnies and crap that is so NOT Ali.

Well good news! Now that Ali doesn’t have a partner on the sim and it’s all hers now she has re-designed her mall into something as sleek and sexy as her clothes. The new mall is lag free, chic and gorgeous. Yay! No poofing flowers.

I’d been wanting to interview Ali for quite some time and what better time then now when she’s redesigned her mall? Sounded like perfect timing to me so I IM’d her and started asking questions. As usual, she made me laugh with her fresh take on things and total lusty love of her SLife.

MM: How long ago did you start designing clothes in SL?

ARL since i was a noob. .i used to love wearing boxes then i found out i could make hot shit out of them

MM: Are you an artist in RL, what is your experience in creating textures, etc for your designs?

AR: No farrr from that!!!! I like something.. i do it.. didnt have any ideas on how to make textures but i needed leather exposing my ample SL breastesses so i had to learn…

MM: The Delicia dress is one of my particular favorites, though I love them all – but it just blows me away the detail you managed to get on the lace. The texture is amazing. Was it a lot of work? How long did it take and what inspired the dress?

AR: I was in Mexican / Spanish mood and tpd to spain and I saw all the Spanish dresses .. i said omg.. my breastesses need to breath.. so voila Lace Espanola (Delicia)!!! Its a whole excursion when making a design come to life. Starts with inspiration, then design then the whole look.. ..im soo picky about how it will show up on the poster.. Luckily this one.. all came together and i soo wanted to do myself.. (smiles wickedly)

MM: What do you love most about SL?

AR: That i can do and be nething i want… a few months ago one of my vendors was upset because there was a box that someone placed on her floor.. Here i was trying to calm her down that it was a mistake bla bla bla.. then I panned to myself and totally forgot that i myself had been a ‘box’ avi w/ a mean face for a week! I asked her.. you mean this box here on the floor.. or me?

MM: What challenges do you run into as a designer?

AR” TIME.. there is never enough time.. i have so many designs in my head wanting to explode out and I have to pick and choose which will be born.. So men.. stop asking me for sex .. let me design PLEEEAZEEEEEE

MM: What SL designers inspire you or challenge you to create?

AR: Actually they all do .. in here (SL) im a designer/builder so my eyes look for that.. lines/ colors/ leather / leather / leather/ chains/ leather/ latex. .hahahaahaha.. im always designing.. even when i get to take a break im always looking around on who i will do next. I mean ‘what’ i will do next.

MM: Any advice for people starting out in SL clothing design?
basically just DO IT.. you wanna design DO IT. I did.. i didnt know many ppl but those that i knew always said i would do well.. and i have.. now they mooch for mah clothes. So if u wanna design.. and ur a hot male in rl w/ a hot avi in SL .. im willing to trade some info muajajajajaja

MM: How long have you been creating your own designs in SL and how long did it take you to learn how to make clothes?

AR: About 4 months into SL.. I traveled, I played , I danced, I fought, next step was to build….while playing , dancing and fighting.. works out rather well.. Wanna have a hint on how im feeling.. sometimes check out the name of my new designs…. cough cough ‘RAGE” or “GTFO”

MM: I love the work of Coco Chanel and Diane Von Furstenburg. Do you have any RL fashion heros?

AR: Yes, anyone who makes badass purses ..totally a purse whore.. i have a closet filled just for my babies , shout out to coach, kate, michael, fendi , prada, marc..and the rest of mah boys!!!

MM: Your designs are daring and extremely sexy (thrilled, not complaining) without being raunchy but I was wondering, do you ever find that people complain about your clothes? How do you handle it, if they do? Laughing as I ask that because I am pretty sure the answer is “go fuck yerself”

AT: LOL yeah some do.. ppl who find me in hunts ask me if i have a pg version.. I tell them yeah NO!… Also i had one model for a show i was in ask me that she wanted to wear something else cuz it was too revealing.. and that she was at my store looking for something appropriate to wear AT MY fashion show… i told her.. ‘hold on a sec”.. when she found out what SHE wanted to model … she IMD me I said.. oh i just replaced you for someone who will show her pixelated nipples sweetie.. ta ta… I like to have fun and be naked…. so if ur a bit conservative..hmmm maybe u should go across the way…

MM: Is there a design you are dying to create?
Yes!!!!!!!!!!! a nun outfit to be given for free in case pixelated nipples, nakedness or skin is offensive.
.. but tbh a his and her line.. i have been asked alot lately for some of my designs to be made for men.. and guess what.. there will soon be Male Biters among us and I cant wait (takes off her panties)..

Laughing as I write and running over to the new mall to pick up a dress or two. Check out Ali’s if you love your clothes sexy, chic and with a bit of a bite. Make you you join her group and participate in one of her sexy little outfit hunts. Alia Rabeni is all about fun, joy and style. Oh and by the way, she’s totally lying about taking off her panties because I happen to know that Ali doesn’t wear underwear.

Wear Ali’s or go naked.

*All images courtesy of Alia Rabeni.

Popularity: 21% [?]

There are hidden places in SL, secret places that hide magic and dreams.

A princess seeking knowledge and beauty wandered for days and nights to find a place she had heard only in whispers. “Mayhap you will find The Temple of Sighs”, said the whispers. “Within that ancient and lonely place is an oracle, a beauteous goddess that relies on a magic sculpture called the Thirteen Winds. In that is knowledge, poetry and art”.

Finally, when it seemed she’d never find it, she climbed up a massive mountain and came upon a vale with ancient columns. The light glowed the sacred purple of the goddess’ gown and with a gentle nod from the goddess, the princess touched upon the sculpture which gave her the knowledge of the thirteen winds.

Thirteen Winds

I.

Yoked to the mill, the wind
kneels,
and with a flick of his index
spins the child’s pinwheel.

II.

The wind
staggers
taking off
rooftops
in an effort to
support
drunken
legs.

III.

Human voices are carried
to the presence of God
on the deafening wind.

IV.

It is difficult to
determine one’s direction
when all four winds
are blowing at once.

V.

The weary wind
drops everything in its hands.

VI.

When the wind blows,
scraping its blade across miles of plains to the edge of the horizon,
love is no small anchor.

VII.

A woman
throws her hair into the wind,
leans into an invisible embrace.

VIII.

Without realizing it
a man can stand in the eye,
be made more firm
by hurricane winds.

IX.

The wind
reminds the soul
that it was once
unhindered by flesh
unburdened by bone.

X.

The soul cleaves to physicality
resists the wind’s embrace
refuses to return to
disembodiment.

XI.

Ubiquitous,
the wind’s absence is most
Conspicuous.

XII.

The sun inspires
worshippers to raise hands and song.

The moon lulls
worshippers into soundless meditation.

The wind,
having no worshippers,
must demand submission
thus, forcing forward the heads of the trees,
the sacrifice of leaves.

XIII.

There is strength in solitude:
one red rose,
the diamond as solitaire.
What is so frightening then,
about that single note,
the sigh of wind?

Sculpture and original poetry by Eliza Quinzet (previously published in 2007 by RL Eliza) of Pygmalion Gallery. The Temple of Sighs is secret.

Eliza will be revealing her Fall collection or art glass and sculpture on Monday 19th, 2009
Meet the artist 3pm 5pm and 7pm to 9pm

Popularity: 35% [?]

I’d been hearing about Xaviar Thunder’s leather for a long time and kept meaning to get to his store, but something always got in the way till a few days ago when I stumbled into one of his shops in a mall.  Then, OH MY GOD!!!  Total gorgeous, buttery leather outfits with jaw dropping textures.  I fell in love with his a couple of his outfits for the special man in my life, Magister Constantine, especially the Safari.  I knew my guy would love them.  Chatting with a friend, I grumbled about no gift option and that I couldn’t find them on Xstreet.  “Just send him a note” she said.  Yeah, I was gonna.

I sent Xaviar an IM asking about gift options and to my surprise, he immediately responded then sent me a TP to his main store so that I could do the transaction.  A friend and I chatted to him for a while and i found Xaviar to be completely charming as well as generous.  In the course of a half hour, I found myself with a few extra outfits, a dress, a new friend and the two outfits for my guy.  Magister wasn’t online, so I forwarded the two gift outfits through his IM and went along with my day.  Last night, when he logged on, he tried on the 12:21 AM and as I suspected, it was perfect.

Today, I was working on the sim when Magister logged on and I chatted to him about Xaviar and his gorgeous leathers, stopping to model one of the catsuits I had bought.  He remembered then the second outfit and tried it on.  RAWR!!!  It brought to mind Indiana Jones (young Harrison Ford, not the WTF were you thinking Indy 4 or 5, old Harrison) and I immediately wanted a photo in some egyptian temple or a cave or something.

I mentioned it to my friend Jordy who said “oh, I have a cave.”  Course she does, Jordy has everything, so bam we were on an impromptu photo shoot and Magister, good sport that he is was right along for the ride.  It helps that Jordy is awfully cute.

I whipped out my copy of the Safari outfit Xaviar gave me while Jordy rezzed her cave.  Seeing three poses in it, I invited Jordy to hop in the pics with us.  She had the hottest little mummy costume ever! Bet archaeologists never find this kinda treasure and Magister sure as hell wasn’t complaining.

Magister in XTC

Look!

She's alive!

What's that mummy doing?

Rescued after 5000 years

XTC Leather - Take it on all your adventures

Stop on by XTC, I can’t guarantee you’ll find a half naked mummy but the leather is rich, gorgeously textured and reasonably priced.  Xaviar is a delight and his customer service is unparallaled.

Popularity: 24% [?]

So I’ve been a noob before – plenty of times. Noob in a chatroom: “What, doesn’t anyone talk in the AFK room?” Noob in a online role playing game: “Why shouldn’t I go into that room with 100s of bad guys solo at level 10?” Now I find myself as a Noob in SL.

Being a Noob in SL is so much different then the other places where I’ve been a Noob, if for no other reason than the fact that you can buy a penis! Fortunately for me, I’ve got somebody to show me a few of the ropes. She enjoys watching me flounder a bit, and really, what fun is learning a new place without a bit of trial and noobie error.

I found it odd when my friend told me that I’d have to purchase a penis. I mean really, I rezzed in the starting area as a dude right? Shouldn’t I have come already equipped with a schlong? Oh no, and she explained further that, much to my disappointment, I was indeed a “Ken doll” and would need to buy some enhancements to denoobify myself.

I exchanged a fair bit of green for SL dollars and was ready to go shopping. Being that my friend is a woman (yes I have verification of this, a completely different noob story there) she didn’t take me penis shopping straight away. She figured there were much more important things I needed than to soothe my dismay at my newfound Ken doll status. Or more likely she was getting more than a few laughs at my discomfort with my neuteredness. Poses and clothing were the order of the day for my first couple of forays out into the huge world that is SL.

At one juncture, I found myself teasing her over something and she curtly replied.. “Keep it up, and we’ll find you a Freenis!”

“Freenis?” I asked.

“Free penis.”

Hmm I probably don’t want to know what sort of tackle I’d end up with there.

Being a guy, I wanted to un-Ken-doll myself and so while she wasn’t looking, I went out penis shopping on my own. Not too terribly hard really (pun intended) just search: Penis. It would seem that unlike RL, typing penis into the search engine on SL isn’t quite as hazardous as it would be if you, oh say, typed it into google. But it’s close.

Penis search results, 2980 pages.

Three of the first four of those search results being pages of penis, penis, penis… One of the four however looked like a vendor and it led me to a decent looking, out of the way, penis store. The store offered one schlong and it seemed like an okay piece of equipment. Not too short or long. It looked like a dick, and once I’d recovered from the fact that I was standing in a store looking at a phallus, I bought it.

Later that day when my friend logged on, I proudly proclaimed that I had a cock, and now I just needed to learn out to use it.

“Is it attached?” she asked.

“Um, you have to attach it?”

Being that we were having this conversation over IM from different locations in SL, I quickly went to find my penis in my inventory, and attached it. While I was in the process of figuring out if I’d attached it correctly a message came through.

“You’re not standing in the street with your dong hanging out are you?”

Lo and behold I was. Being that my new cock didn’t seem to have any menu options, I quickly detached it and put it back in my inventory. Alas, a Ken doll once again.

The day led on into a shopping and exploring excursion. Eventually we found ourselves at Karnal Rage. My friend knew the proprietor. After introductions, we all chatted for a bit, after they helped me figure out how to not make my hands do typing gestures in the air. As the banter about my noobness came up eventually we got around to the subject of my penis.

“I’m going to take him to get a Freenis!” my friend explained.

“Take him to Lotus,” advised her friend.

“I was going to, but he went out and got his own wanker.”

Mikhail, from Karnal Rage, was an extremely gracious and generous host, and it was nice to see that within a couple of days on SL, I’d made a new friend.

The next day, I logged on and wandered about a bit, seeing the sights, playing with buttons, shopping for clothes. I noticed my Noob helper/torturer/friend was online and we began to chat. Out of the blue a teleport come up, and I found myself at Lotus, which is quite the upscale penis shop. I appeared, and there was my friend gazing at the display of a very nice, realistic looking, quite erect cock. I smiled an rueful smile as I found myself yet again in a phallus shop, staring at yet another cock, though albeit a much better rendered one, and that this time, I was discussing its attributes in a clinical fashion with my female friend.

“So what do you think of this one?” she asked.

“I like the texture, the rendering is very nice, it’s quite realistic, I think it’s a good one,” I replied.

Upon that recommendation, I clicked purchase. Seeing that there was a gold enhancement package available, I queried her as to whether I should get one of those as well. She responded with “definitely!”, and I plunked down the extra dough for the gold package, hoping that that didn’t mean I’d end up with a gold plated woody in the end.

“Woot, I’ve got a penis, now hopefully I can get you to show me how to use it. I suppose it’s considered bad form to attach and check out your newly purchased cock right here in the store eh?”

“Yes, indeed that’s rude. We really have to get you a place.”

My friend disappeared, and I soon received another teleport, and found myself at her home.

“Okay, now you can try it here.” After clicking attach, and then fumbling with the camera angle I found myself standing there with a schlong hanging limply from my fly.

“Click on it” she said.

Clicking on it, I found the menu of options, and after playing with each in turn, minus peeing, cause that’s just not cool to do on somebody’s bedroom floor, I found myself quite happily a whole man in SL. A whole Noob man granted.

Review:

The Lotus penis is a very nice piece of work. It comes with four sizes – show off, modest, proud and standard. After reviewing the options with my friend, she and I both agreed that standard was pretty much a decent size and shape, and over all not to obscene, and less likely to poke the back of a female avatar’s head out. The graphics of the phallus showed up well on my computer (Macbook pro). It renders very nicely, and looks quite realistic. The controls are easy for even a Noob like me to operate and again, there are many options, such as flacid, erect, soft (semi erect), hard, come and pee. There are two optional packages that are available for this model. I purchased the gold package, though I haven’t had the chance to play with it yet (stop laughing you!)

Overall if you’re shopping for that perfect male accessory, I’m thinking you can’t go wrong with the Lotus.

*Twisted Barrowstone or Twisty as he’s known amongst fine purveryors of prim penises, is a writer, Gorean combatant, self-proclaimed world class cyberfucker and all around Ken doll slinking round the grid as our Noob on the Town. His biggest role however, is the one of Jordy’s beotch and kisser of her boot.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Not everyone in SL is looking for sex, incredible as that seems. Or relationships. Some people in SL are happy with their own company and just exploring the amazing creativity on display. To those people I say ‘have a great SL’.

For the rest of you, who enjoy the social aspect of SL in some form or another I have a few thoughts to share about profiles. Some people argue that your avi is the first point of contact for other people and that’s where the creative energy should go. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for an attractive avi, but in a sea of hot looking skins and shapes how does one person stand out from the crowd? In a word – a killer profile (three words, I know, but this isn’t an article about maths).

An interesting profile gives a sense of who you are, how you think, what you enjoy. It doesn’t have to be your CV or tell your life story or give out compromising personal information. It just has to make someone want to say hello.

Now I’m the first to admit I’m a profile snob. But, having read an inordinate amount of the damn things, I’ve distilled a few thoughts for the profile-challenged:

Rule #1 – Blank profiles are boring. No ifs, ands or buts.

And I don’t care if you just arrived this morning. Spend 10 mins and write a profile. Change it as you go, by all means, but start with something more than a blank slate. Because if that’s all you have then that’s what you appear to others as – a blank.

Rule #2 – Write something that shows yourself, not everyone else.

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest we all like to ‘have fun, chat, dance and meet people from all over the world’ Or some combination of those. Otherwise why would we be here? If you don’t say any more about yourself than that then you’re really saying nothing.

Rule #3 – Being lazy isn’t the same as being deep.

For those who argue that you cannot express all the complex wonder that is you in just a few words, you’re right. Nobody can. But you can paint some broad strokes, give a hint. If you really can’t come up with some thing about yourself then I’m not convinced it makes you intriguing. Consider that many people with the same qualities have great profiles.

Similarly, if your profile just says ‘ask me’ then ask yourself why anyone would, given you’ve got nothing interesting in your profile to make you seem askworthy.

Profile 2

Rule #4 – Don’t just stand on the shoulders of giants.

I’m talking about quotes here. If you read a few profiles you’ll quickly see that some quotes – inspiring, witty or pithy as they are – just get overused. You know the ones I mean. You’ve seen them a dozen times. I don’t want to single out anyone in particular (‘those that matter don’t mind and those that mind don’t matter’, I’m looking at you). If you must use a quote, try something you haven’t seen in another profile.
And if your profile is just a ‘best of SL quotes’ then you run the risk of looking like you have to rely on others because you can’t string together any thoughts of your own.

Rule #5 – Biting bites.

‘I don’t bite…much/hard/often/unless you want me to/wink’. Look, I know it seemed cute when you wrote it. Sadly that’s the only time it was cute. Afterwards it just makes people cringe. Sorry, but if I don’t tell you these things, who will?

Rule #6 – Sppeling counts.

Typos. Yes we all make them in chat but often you’re fighting lag and the rhythm of the chat means your mind is racing ahead of your fingers. But in your profile you have time to correct typos. So if you’ve left it full of bad spelling then you just seem lazy or illiterate. Is that really the first impression you’re trying to make?

Rule #6 – Roleplaying belongs in a roleplaying sim.

Profiles that consist entirely of the backstory you’ve made up for your RP character often show imagination and creativity. But frankly, outside the RP world it’s just kind of creepy when your whole profile is about how you were kidnapped from your village by elven pirates as a child and grew up swearing that one day blah blah blah. Put it in a pick instead.

Rule #7 – Don’t write it if you’re not prepared to defend it.

I’ve had people get defensive when I take them up on some comment in their profile. Really? If you don’t want to talk about it or defend your point of view, then why put it in your profile in the first place?
Say what you want, by all means, but expect people to respond to what you write. That, is the point after all,.

So there you go. Some thoughts about profiles. In real life we can rely on looks to make a first impression but in SL it takes more. And a little effort can reap big rewards in terms of attracting the kind of people you’re interested in. I can’t count how many pleasant conversations have started as a result of people commenting on my profile. Which is all it really has to do – start the ball rolling. After that it’s up to you.

Popularity: 47% [?]