REGISTRATION

To register, all you have to do is to send a text message with the keyword to the shortcode. The service will guide you through the registration process, ask you for your chosen nickname, your gender and age, the gender and age range of those whom you would like to Mobile Date with, and a short introduction about yourself.

The service will ask you for the above registration details in subsequent text messages, all you have to do is to send your reply to the shortcode for each question.

If you chose a nickname that is already in use, no problem: the system will attach a number to it. E.g., if you say you're 'John' or 'Mary' then, if those names are already taken, you'll nick will be 'John2' or 'Mary3', etc.

Important: For your own safety, your intro message must not contain any direct contact details such as your phone number, e-mail address, etc. You may, of course, freely send any such information to other users of the service in private messages. Only intro message are moderated, we do not moderate private messages between users.

 How to Use

Once you have registered yourself, you can start making contact with those other users who best match your criteria. To send another Mobile Date user a private message, just start your text message with that user's name and send it to the service's central number, the shortcode.

When someone else sends you a message, his or her nickname will be displayed in it. To reply, start your message with the nick of the user you have received the original message from, and send it to the shortcode.

If you receive a message from someone you don't know, and you would like to find out more about the sender before deciding whether to reply or not, send the word WHOIS followed by the sender's nickname to the shortcode. The service will return to you the user's details and intro message. (E.g. WHOIS Jack)

If you'd like to search for members who meet your criteria, use SEEK. Sending seek in itself to the shortcode will return the nicks of users who meet the search criteria you have specified upon registration. You may, however, add a new gender and/or age range to seek, and then you'll receive the nicks of users who meet these new criteria. (E.g. SEEK 21 25 will return the nicks of members who meet your default gender criteria and are between 21 and 25 years old, SEEK W 21 30 will return the names of females between 21 and 30.)

You can also modify your intro message: send INTRO and the new text to the shortcode. Your new intro message will go live after moderation (usually no more than a couple of hours).

 Questions and Answers

I don't want to give out my mobile number to strangers. Does that mean I shouldn't use the service?

Absolutely not! In fact, you are strictly forbidden to include your mobile number, e-mail or postal address in your intro. If and when you are certain you want to take a Mobile Dating relationship a step further with someone, you can send that person your contact info in a private message. We will never divulge your phone number to anyone.

Intro messages are limited to 125 characters. Now, I'm a really complex person, I don't think I'd be able to tell anything about myself in so few characters!

Everybody is complex. A character's complexity, however, does not necessarily correlate with the number of characters :-) that person absolutely needs for genuine self-expression. 125 characters is not so little as it seems to be at first glance. It can tell a whole story! When composing your intro, just really think about what your three most important characteristics are. Write them down, maybe with a "Hi, I'm " at the start (only 9 characters). You'll probably be surprised how much space you have left. Plan and create your intro carefully, because it is those (not more than) 125 characters that other members will initially see about you. Don't bother with writing your nick or your gender or age - those are in your public info anyway.

How 'bout abbreviations?

Sure, everyone uses abbrev's on IRC, web chat and, of course, SMS. 'LOL', IMHO, B4 have almost become universal. Still, you should give some thoughts to abbrev's, because there are some really crazy ones around. I mean, do you think most people get the meaning of 'DWIMNWIS' ? (BTW - another abbrev - this means 'Do What I Meant Not What I Said'.) So, you should always consider that it takes at least two to communicate. (On the other hand, never ever be shy or ashamed to ask what an abbrev means!)

What principles do you use for moderation?

We believe in the freedom of speech therefore we try to interfere as little as possible. However, there are some basic no-no's you must observe:

• Your intro message must not contain any information that could allow strangers to identify/locate you (e.g. phone number, address, e-mail). This is for your own safety. You may send any other Mobile Dating member whatever information you wish to send in a private message, but your intro must remain anonymous.
• No hate speech, no racism, no solicitation to illegal activities. Need we explain why?
• And yes, sex is, of course a question. The basic principle here is that anything goes that others cannot reasonably find offensive. When you compose your intro, please bear in mind that it goes to a lot of people, a public audience, so to speak. Being anonymous does not give you the right to offend a public audience, just as the fact that the members of that audience are many does not give them a right to force their own, personal moral codes on you.

There's IRC, there's Java Chat, there are all those dating pages... whatever would I want Mobile Dating for?

Your mobile is always on you and it's always on. It is probably one of the most personal items you have, more personal than your computer, even your PDA. It's always handy...