* Your hobbies and interests. Please, please, please, not that you like movies or long walks on the beach. We mean what makes you, you. Your causes, your crafts, your passions, things that interest you. Don't be shy about mentioning video games - it's the 21st century, and everybody has played them by now. * Your religious beliefs, if important to you. If you absolutely cannot marry outside your faith, say so. Too many people forget this. This applies to atheists and agnostics as well; will you be happy becoming attached to a strong believer in a religion when you regard all religions with contempt? * Your "travel policy". You're dating online, so you have to remember that even people from the other side of the world can see your profile. Would you move to another country? Another city? Across the street?

And while we're at it, here are some thing to LEAVE OUT of your profile:

* Lists of adjectives. "I'm funny, smart, sexy, romantic, intriguing." Really? Isn't everybody? Try reading a lot of profiles online and you'll see what we mean. Everybody does it so much that when people read them, they tend to scan through it like they were reading the ingredients on a box of instant pasta - and forget it two seconds later.

* Long walks on a candle and dinner by the beach. No, wait, we mean walks on the beach and candle-light dinners, of course. You know what that sounds like? Boring! We like composing sonatas, taming wild tigers, dressing as a box of cornflakes for Halloween, mud wrestling, dirt-bike racing, and videotaping muggings downtown. We like color in our lives.

* Negativity. Issues, baggage, moaning about how hard life treats you - it's not fun to read and it tells people that you're not fun to live with. Even if you just lost everything in a tragic fire and you've nothing but a pile of ashes to your name, if you're here to date, then cock your head, give us a willing smile, and say "I'm ready for anything, because I have nothing to lose!"

* Denying that you usually do this or that you've done this before. What's wrong with online dating? Why so defensive then?