How to say “thanks but no thanks” to online winks, flirts and teases

When someone is not a member of a dating site — or they are lazy — they float a trial balloon by clicking on “Wink” (depending on the site, these are also called flirts or teases).

I am convinced some men do a rudimentary search by criteria such as “breathing” and “lives on the planet Earth” and then wink at every woman who comes up. I say this because I get winks from men who are not only not in the same area, but are not in the same state or country. This is like fishing with a net, verses the more skill-based fly fishing — they are just seeing who will respond to their broad contacts.

I’ve had winks from men 30 years younger, 5 inches shorter, who are far below my other criteria. On one level, I admire their boldness. On another level, I want to say “Do you really think the Goddess would consider going out with a 27-year-old movie usher who lives with his parents and rides his bike to work because he doesn’t have a car?”

So what to do? Do you just ignore them? If you get a LOT of winks — say 5 or more a day, then you have to. But I like to respond to every contact, no matter how lame or mismatched. So I have a macro saved with a polite “no thanks.” By typing 3 letters I get the following:

Thanks for your wink.

I’m sure you are a nice guy. I appreciate your interest in me, however, I don’t think we’d be a good match.

Good luck in your search. I wish you the best!

I’ve even been thanked for how I say no! It seems so many people don’t respond to any contact — whether wink or email — that any response is considered polite and classy.

Create your own polite message so you can just cut and paste.