Does Plenty of Fish Require a Photo?

Yes, if you want to talk to anyone. Plenty of Fish says a profile image is required in order to send a First Contact, and that you need a main profile image to send messages successfully. So the photo is what lets you write to a woman at all, and it has to meet a few rules before it counts.

The help center is specific about the main image. It must give a good, unobstructed view of your face, big enough for a woman to see you clearly. No other people can be in the photo.

A few details are worth knowing. If a photo was taken from further away and shows more of your body, Plenty of Fish makes a thumbnail of just your face, and the full-size picture still sits on your page. A photo can also have a clear face and still be too small to use as your main image.

Read that as a list of ways to fail. A shot in sunglasses can fail the unobstructed rule. A group photo fails the no-one-else rule. A tiny cropped image can fail the size rule even when it is a good picture of you.

Plenty of Fish accepts the common image formats, including jpg, jpeg, bmp, gif and PNG, and it converts everything to jpg so every browser can show it. The help center sets a minimum file size, a maximum file size and a minimum image size. A normal photo from a recent phone meets all three without any trouble.

If an upload is rejected, check the size first. A photo that has been through a messaging app and compressed along the way can be the culprit. Go back to the original on your phone and upload that.

Plenty of Fish says every photo is moderated, whether you mark it public or private. It also reserves the right to crop or reject photos.

The help center lists images that lead to a permanent ban. Those are nude or sexual images, drawings, caricatures and copyrighted pictures. Images that show identifying information, such as license plates or street numbers, are on it as well. Violence, criminal activity, drug use and racist or hate imagery are on the list too. Read that list before you upload anything, because a ban is not something you can easily undo.

An account holds a fixed number of photos, with a higher limit for upgraded members. If you are at the limit, you remove an old one to add a new one.

Selfie Verification compares a video selfie with your main profile photo, and it begins when you upload a primary photo. If the two match, your page gets a verified badge, which tells other members your photos are real.

The badge is tied to the photo. If you change your main photo later, you need to verify again. So pick your lead photo with care before you spend time on the badge.

The rule gives you the minimum. The women reading your page want more than a face that is technically visible.

Use daylight, and stand where nothing blocks your face. Make the photo recent enough that she would recognize you at a table. A relaxed expression beats a stern one. Keep other people out of it, which the rule already asks for.

Your other photos should do different work. Show a day out, something you do, a place you like. Five photos from one afternoon look like one afternoon, and five different days make a page believable. a dating coach's blunt view is that a boring, average page gets the average result, which is no replies.

A photo gets her to stop. What you write decides whether she answers.

Plenty of Fish tells members to read a person's page before writing, so assume she will read yours. Two or three plain sentences about your week, with one detail only you would write, give her something to pick up. A list of words like "travel" and "food" gives her nothing.

Most men treat the requirement as a hurdle. It is better to treat it as a filter that works in your favor.

Every man who writes to a woman on the site has passed the same check, so your photo is what separates you from the rest. A clear face and a bit of life around it beat a well-lit photo of a man looking at nothing. Put your best, most honest photo first, and spend a few minutes on the rest before you start writing to anyone.