The person depicted in this card is a model who is, to the best of our knowledge,
not looking to meet anyone. The blueeyes handle is used as an example only.

How many times has this happened to you? You're out in public and see someone that you would love to meet. You might walk over and strike up a conversation, but you're too shy to do that. Or perhaps she is with someone. Or perhaps she seems busy or preoccupied. Or perhaps there is another impediment of some sort — there are thousands of reasons why it can be difficult to begin a conversation with a stranger.

MySpamSponge intro cards are a great way to eliminate the awkwardness of introducing yourself to people. Just smile, say "Hi," and hand the card to the person. Then continue shopping or doing whatever it was that you were doing. The recipient will read the card and, if interested, contact you via our service.

Q: Are there any advantages to using MySpamSponge intro cards instead of the cards offered by various web sites that also use cards as a means of introduction?

A: Yes! First, ours is a free service. We don't charge you for using it, nor do we charge the people who respond to you. Every similar service that we know of charges membership fees before its users can begin handing out cards, and one won't let people respond unless they also pay. We think the latter is bound to decrease the response rate dramatically. If the people who receive your cards are available and potentially interested in you, they would likely be flattered that you gave them a card indicating that you want to get to know them. However, if they must pay to contact you, more than a few will think it's a scam or otherwise decide not to respond. The site that charges respondents is not a scam, but put yourself in the shoes of someone who knows nothing about that site and is suddenly handed a card directing that person to visit the site and pay to respond. "Give my credit card info to a site I've never heard of before just because a stranger wants to meet me? I don't think so! If he is so eager to meet me, why doesn't he pay for the privilege? Or why doesn't he use a site (like MySpamSponge) that is free to use?"

Second, there are many other advantages to using MySpamSponge. We are, first and foremost, a great way to block spam. The person you handed the card to will, if nothing else, probably be glad they found out about us. MySpamSponge gives you and others freedom to divulge your handle (contact code) anywhere on the Internet or even in the "real world" without revealing your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal information. The MySpamSponge intro cards are just one of the ways that you can give people an easy way to contact you without you having to reveal such information. We'll soon tell you about 1001 other ways in which your handle is useful.

Q: What can I do if I want to give more information to the people I hand my cards to?

A: Hand out ContactMeFree intro cards instead. The free www.ContactMeFree.com service allows you to post pictures and a personal profile that can be used for dating and many other applications. ContactMeFree intro cards use your permalink (permanent link) or permalink suffix (the number at the end of your permalink) instead of your handle. See the ContactMeFree FAQ page topic about permalinks for more information.

Q: Do I have to put my picture on my intro card?

A: No, but including a picture is advantageous because:

• It helps personalize the card, making it seem more friendly and inviting.
• It helps the person remember what you look like. I gave a card to someone who responded a few years afterward because, as she later told me, she was in a relationship at the time I gave her the card. That brings up another point: most relationships end, so if you give a card to someone who is currently in a relationship, that person may contact you if the relationship ends — as happened to me. (Please note that we are not trying to encourage relationship instability; that is just a fact of life.)

Q: Can I put my name on my card?

A: Yes, but if you do, we recommend that you include your first name only. A good spot for it is just below your picture.

Q: How can I have intro cards made for me?

A: If you plan on handing out many cards, we recommend that you have them printed by one of the countless printers who produce business cards. Since intro cards are the same size as a business card, printing intro cards is just as quick and inexpensive as printing business cards. You can choose from thousands of Internet-based business card printers, or have them printed locally. Most towns have at least one shop that prints cards, and many have several. Here is the text to give to your printer for the card front and back:

Front:

I’d like to get to know you!

You can contact me on www.MySpamSponge.com by entering my blueeyes handle (contact code).

The free MySpamSponge service allows us to communicate without revealing our e-mail addresses or other personal information to each other.

(Replace the word blueeyes with your handle.)

Back:

Please pardon me for introducing myself in this manner, but it can be very awkward to strike up a conversation with a stranger in public. If you are interested, I would like to have a chance to get to know you.

MySpamSponge:
• "soaks up" your spam so spammers can't bug you
• helps protect your privacy
• gives you a new way to communicate via the Net
• makes Internet dating free & gives you new ways to meet offline, such as this MySpamSponge intro card!

Here's a representative image of the back of the card:

Q: How can I make my own intro cards?

A: It is surprisingly easy to make your own cards with an inkjet printer. Here is the easiest way to do it, and here's the best way:

1. Purchase a pack of Avery^® Matte White Business Cards stock (item # 27881).

2. Go to www.avery.com to download their free DesignPro software. The following link will take you directly to the correct page:

www.avery.com/us/Main?action=software.AverySoftwareDetail&catalogcode=WEB01&softwarecode=3200

Under Free Software Downloads, click Design Pro 5 Limited to download the file. You can also download the User Guide, but we found their software so easy and intuitive to use that we didn't need to refer to the manual.

3. After downloading DesignPro, click that file to install the program on your computer.

4. Download these MySpamSponge intro card templates:

www.myspamsponge.com/templates/mss_intro_card_sample.zdl

www.myspamsponge.com/templates/mss_intro_card_sample_back.zdl

Once you click one of those links, a box similar to the following one will appear (it may look somewhat different, depending on your operating system and browser, and the name of the file being downloaded):

Click Save. A "Save As" window will then pop up. Select the folder where you wish to save the file to, and then click Save again.

5. Start the DesignPro program. If this is your first time using it, calibrate your printer so the cards are printed in the correct areas on the card stock. Next, select File, then Open, and select the template file for the card front.

6. Choose the Select tool (the red arrow in the above image points to it), and place your mouse cursor just after the blueeyes handle. Backspace through it, and enter your MySpamSponge handle.

7. Select the man's image and delete it. If you wish to include your picture on your intro cards, click the Insert Image from File button (the green arrow in the above image points to it) to select the desired image from your hard drive. Resize it if necessary. To do that without distorting the aspect ratio of the picture, select the picture once it appears in the screen card area. To select it, place your mouse cursor anywhere over the image, and left click once. Eight small boxes will appear along the periphery of the image. Now hold down the Shift button as you click and drag the image to the desired size using one of the resizing boxes at the image corners. ("Click and drag" means this: click the left mouse button and hold it down as you drag the image to change its size.) If you don't include your image on the card, move the upper text box so that it is horizontally centered in the card.

8. Now select File, then Print. If you have more than one printer installed, make sure that you choose the correct one. If you want to print in all of the 10 available card areas, type 10 into the Copies box. Then click OK to begin printing.

9. Once the front of the intro cards is printed, open the template file for the back of the cards. Insert the card stock into your printer again so that it will now print on the back of the cards. Print the back, and then separate your cards.

The process of making the cards is much quicker and easier than it may seem here. After downloading and installing the DesignPro program, it takes only a few minutes to make ten cards.

Want more ways to meet offline?

A note about dating safety . . . and not the usual canned warning, either!

I take dating safety very seriously because my father was killed because he participated in online dating. Briefly, here is the story. He thought that he was going to meet an attractive woman. Instead, he was set up by two men, one of whom apparently distracted him while the other clubbed him from behind, crushing his skull. The thugs dumped his body in a swamp, where it was discovered ten days later. The police said the motive for the murder was to steal his truck, which they sold—obviously, these two Neanderthals were so stupid they did not realize that automobiles are easily traceable via their vehicle identification numbers (VIN). My Dad was smart, a US Army veteran skilled with firearms, and two of his many jobs were being a private investigator and later a soldier of fortune when he was a colonel in the Honduran Army. So if he can be killed during a date gone awry, it isn't surprising that naive, gullible, and overly trusting young women can fall victim to predators. I realize that one cannot live a full life without taking some risks, but please be careful.

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