You’ve taken the plunge and signed up for an internet dating site. You’ve spent considerable time creating an amusing profile complete with photos. You’ve done your best to showcase yourself in a positive light.

So now that your profile is posted it’s time to start browsing. You plug your “my dream date must haves” into the dating site’s search engine and sit back while it does all the work. Within seconds you’ll have a list of profiles to look at.

As you read through the profiles looking for clues of his or her personality, there are a few things you need to keep an eye out for. These are character traits that are not particularly flattering. More importantly, they could be relationship deal breakers.

Badmouthing. Sarcasm is amusing, for a while and even more so when it’s disguised as humor in the form of a joke about the waitress or a friend. But if all your date’s comments about people are sarcastic and unflattering, it says more about your date than the people he or she is commenting on. Think this through. If your date has nothing positive to say about others what makes you think he or she will talk any differently about you?

Prior relationships. Most of us have a serious relationship (or two or three) in our past. If they ended badly, we likely learned something about ourselves in the process. But people who have only horror stories to share about their previous relationships may not have learned a thing about themselves or their past mistakes. Beware of perennial victims before you become one of the “bad guys”.

Anger that’s out of place. Sure, we all become incredibly angry at times. And if we handle it appropriately it’s usually not a big deal. But be careful of someone who appears to be angry at the world. They likely blame everyone but themselves for their problems and sooner rather than later, you are going to get blamed for something.

Big Differences. Yes, opposites attract and variety is the spice of life. But if your differences are just too great, that spiciness is going to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Religion, drug use and the desire to have children are all examples of differences that, while they may not affect the short term, can be too difficult to overcome in the long run.

Getting to know someone is one the reasons you date someone. It helps you figure out whether or not that person would make a good lifetime mate or not. If you run across someone with one or more of these red flags, take care in making a decision about dating this person in the future.

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