How to Answer the "Let's Debate This Topic" Prompt on Hinge

Name one specific thing you would happily argue about, and write it so she can take the other side in a single line. On our live profile reviews, the Hinge prompt answers that get praised name a philosopher, a question or an actual argument. The ones that get marked up say something vague about deep conversation and hope that counts.

Our coaches teach that a prompt is not good or bad by itself. It is a vehicle for a trait you want her to see. A stem that invites an argument is attention-grabbing by design, and getting attention is the first job of any profile.

There is a second reason. Bragging with no prompt looks needy. Showing the same trait in answer to a prompt looks natural, as if she asked. "Let's debate this topic" lets you show that you have opinions and enjoy a friendly fight, and nobody reads it as an announcement.

On one live call a student wrote that the woman he wanted was someone to spend hours introspecting with at night. The coach called the line vague. The fix was to name what the two of them would actually be doing: a specific philosopher, the meaning of life, or some head-butting argument the student likes.

The coach's reasoning was simple. Specifics grab attention and vague lines do not. The same point had come up on the previous call: specifics are more interesting than generalities.

For this stem the rule is easy to follow. "Philosophy" is a category. A particular question inside it is a topic. She can only take a side on a topic.

The same review flagged a smaller habit. "Take her to the gym" is a passive construction, and it sits on the page without doing anything. The coach contrasted verbs like run, sprint and dive, which catch the eye.

You are writing one line, so each verb has to earn its place. Tell her what you would do in the debate, not what you would take her to.

A student on another call put a long answer in a profile. It asked for a woman who was beautiful, creative and brilliant, who could debate the stoics at dinner, bake croissants at midnight and beat the student in a workout at 8 a.m.

Our coach called it pretty good, then cut it down. The opening was redundant, because the second half already showed those traits. The fix was to start straight with the muse who can debate the stoics at dinner, which removes about three lines. The coach liked the dinner, midnight, 8 a.m. sequence and said the choices were decent.

The general rule from that review is one or two ideas per prompt, in words that are easy to read and say.

Our coaches draw a line between teasing and judging. Playfully kidding about something light is teasing. Taking a negative stance on a fact about her, or on whether the two of you would work, is not.

Apply that to your topic. Pick something where either side is fun to defend and nobody's life is on the line. If your debate topic is really a judgment on a kind of woman, she will read it that way.

A good test is to ask who loses if she picks the other side. If the honest answer is her, because the topic carries a verdict on women like her, choose another topic. If the answer is nobody, you have a debate.

Our coaches usually build a profile around three prompts doing three different jobs. If two answers do the same job, the weaker one goes, even if it is good.

On a call about order, the advice was to lead with the sharper line and put the softer ones after it. A reader may never get far enough down to find the polarizing part. A debate prompt is already the sharper kind, so it belongs near the top.

Do not write the one answer you think of first. Write several answers for the prompts that fit you, and keep the best. The coaches' instruction is to write more than you need and then cut. If two versions seem equal, put one up for a while, swap in the other, and see which gets a better response.

When you finish, read the line as if you were her. Do you know which side she would take? If she cannot picture the argument, the topic is still too broad.