I don’t have, or abide by, a lot of dating rules; however, there are a few courtesies that I try to stick to, one of which is that I make it a point to respond to people’s emails within 24-hours. Even though online dating is often times perceived as being more casual since you can talk with so many people at the same time, I think that if someone is taking more than a day to respond to me then the conversation is probably not worth my while continuing.

Now, I completely understand when someone takes a little longer but redeems themselves by responding with a well-written and interesting email; however, if you take two days and all I get from you is a few lousy sentences then I’m going to focus my energy on other people. Although content is obviously important I think that how long it takes someone to respond to your emails can be a pretty good indicator for how interested they are in getting to know you.

Even though I don’t respond within 24-hours 100% of the time, I always try to reply with thoughtful emails, which include information on why I have been slower to respond. By doing this I am hopefully letting the other person who, keep in mind, I haven’t met in person yet, know that I’m committed to the conversation and not just wasting their time. After all, even though the process is done more casually over the Internet no one wants to have their time wasted.