If you are writing a note on an online dating site, do not begin the note with "hi", do use the word "zombie" anywhere in your communication, and do not loudly proclaim your religion.

Most of you probably do not read Wired Magazine for its dating tips. However, I recently read an article about online dating that may guide you away from Cosmo magazine tips and teach you how to effectively communicate for your forays into online dating. The article was based on a study by OKCupid, who anonymously analyzed the results of their dating participants.

A few of their tips? Webspeak like "ur" does not often do so much to woo the guy or gal you're trying for. The exception for the webspeak rule is "lol", mostly because everybody likes to think they are funny. In fact, you are encouraged in the comments section to lie politely to me by using "lol" to compliment me on the humor.

The greetings are also important. "Hey" is not so good and sadly for me, "Hola" does not rank too highly on the list either. "How's it going?"   and "What's up?"apparently both do better than "Hi" or "Hello".

The individual words are also important. As Wired also pointed out, "Zombie" is a popular word to engage your prospective mates in discussion, while I'm sorry to say "Vampire" did not even rank in the top ten. Sorry, Edward. (Not really, I can't find it in myself to appreciate Edward or Bella even if the story does take place in my state.) I'm also wondering how to effectively bring up "Zombie" into a short note. Maybe "I felt good this morning until I had to run away from a bus-stop full of Zombies..." I obviously don't have what it takes for a "Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies"-type book.

Strangely lacking from the survey was the mention of the word "bacon", which I would recommend using in some sort of combination with Zombies, but only if you are in the mood to date a somewhat strange person with unusual ideas.

I do not recommend using this strategy on Sugardaddy.com

The religious equation was also factored in the study. Richard Dawkins is probably having an orgasm somewhere on this one because atheists are the most popular among the OKCupid set. So, if you are a Christian, Muslim, or Mormon, you might want to try a specific site for those religions. This does not hold true, of course, if you are into some sort of religion involving Zombies or if you are into the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Although the latter was not specifically mentioned in the survey, it is usually popular on Internet sites and among programmers.