How old are the women you’re trying to date?
Most 47-year-old women would love to date a man the same age–at least the ones I know, including me.
Yes! I’ve gotten that “too smart” thing, too, and when I pressed for more information from one guy, he told me that he knew he’d never be able to pull one over on me.
That’s what men want? A woman they can deceive?
There’s more than one reason I’m single.
I’m in a wheelchair. Not exactly a characteristic women seek out.
Heh. You sound hot even on paper. Cynical, negative, brutally honest, rude…? We’re used to that. That just makes you more approachable. None of that icky gooey emotional stuff.
And if you’re as attractive as you say you are, being hard to get/talk to just makes 'em want to try even harder.
Same here. I’ve heard tales of people who don’t mind, but I never meet them.
Other than that, I’m very sarcastic and facetious. Some people don’t seem to like that.
You’re just looking in the wrong age ranges. You’ve got the choice of under-25 gold diggers and over-40 divorcees. Just give up on the 25-39 professional woman group.
Yeah, I got that too. Also the only people who ever hit on me (I’m attached but it’s not like there’s a sign around my neck) are smelly homeless guys at the library, and they do that because I work here and can’t run away. I dunno, I’ve been told I’m attractive, and I’ve gained a bit of weight but I think it doesn’t look bad on me. I could lose, say, ten pounds ideally. Maybe guys think I’m out of their league. 
Quoth Mr. Excellent:
A fair description of myself, as well, though I do know the first thing about women (just not the second). Added to that, though, I’m also hoping to finish my PhD in the near future, at which point I would be moving on to who-knows-where, making this really not an ideal time to start a relationship, so I haven’t actually been really trying lately. And of course not trying is going to have a very strong negative impact on the number of dates I get.
Switch that around and that’s my main reason/excuse. I don’t care because life’s too short to hold yourself back for 6 dates just because you are afraid that you’ll scare someone off with your “intensity”. Yes I’m an intense person and aren’t afraid to show it/admit it! The right one won’t be scared away.
Trying to head off the usual “nice guy/girl nobody will date me” angst, I’ll posit a new theory; you don’t have any dysfunctional “hooks” to draw someone to you (note I didn’t use the word “attract”). That is, people are often (not universally) drawn to each other because their neuroses match up. If you don’t have any (big!) issues of that sort, the walking emotional wounded won’t be drawn to you. Since I no longer won’t put up with any of that crap, at all, those sorts of people don’t bother with me (at least that’s my theory 
).
because I’m not much to look at, and no fun to be with.
I’m married, so that’s why I don’t date now. But I’ll answer the question as if I were single.
I’m overweight, but I’ve always been to some degree, so I don’t think that would put many men off. I’m loud and sarcastic, but again, always have been. Hell, even when I was a total raging psycho I always had men interested.
So I guess the biggest reasons now would be that I smoke and I have two kids.
Yellow heavy smoker’s teeth and wearing the same dumb clothes as I did back in college doesn’t do me any favours. Not that I look for dates in the first place, but if I were, that’d probably be where I’d focus first.
Oh, and I’m very much an asshole and a lazy bum. So there’s that too. But really, it’s more the clothes thing
^ftw
I tend to scare guys. Combat veteran and all that. Well, I suppose I should say, the wrong kind of guys. My most recent ex was also military and he thought it was amusing that someone as small as I was was apparently so ferocious. All I do is stand up straight and look people in the…breastbone. Well, I look people in the eye and the stuff that intimidates most people simply doesn’t work on me. After a few IEDs in Iraq, you’d be the same way, too. All of this is stuff that the ex loved. He used to call me ‘killer’. I adored that he was so flip about it.
No, no angst here; I’m happily in a very healthy relationship, and honestly, I’m typically in a happy relationship. However, the OP asked “What do you do that turns people away?” and that’s the single most common issue I have had in the past. I know how to solve it (normally by dating people I’m not already in the friend zone with) and I haven’t had a major issue with it since high school.
I’m really sarcastic. Also superior.
Also married.
I never have had a relationship result from a dating situation. I’ve had a few of them end that way, however, including one that ended before it began when I jumped out of his vehicle on the freeway on ramp. He was horribly homophobic, why bother with the date after that deal breaker?
My relationships are always accidental. I’m doing something else and…I meet somebody. I’m never dressed up, and neither are they. It’s always an accident.
Have I told you that I love you?
Seriously, though…I think too much and I say what I’m thinking. It’s been that way my whole life. But hey, I’m a chess player and an intelligence analyst. I took the Yale astrophysics course on academicearth.org just for fun. It’s just what I do. So get a lot of “So you think you’re better than me?” and I unfortunately just say, flat out, “No, I’m just smarter than you, is all.”
Of course, I’m getting married next fall so perhaps I don’t have such a problem after all.
Obviously you don’t know that I’m man-hating feminazi who’s crazy. In some peoples’ opinion.
I wind up meeting guys in the oddest ways. I once dated a police officer after I had a bad day at the dirty bookstore where I worked, and got a little too enthusiastic busting a would be robber. He tried to rob the store by demanding that I open the cash register…without saying please or thank you. When the cops came in, things looked bad for me, as I was sitting on the guy, delivering an etiquette lesson the way Emily Post would if Emily Post was in the WWF.
The key is, you find a person who likes you. The reason Bridget Jones’ Diary resonated with so many women, I think, is because of the line, “I like you just the way you are.”
Er…Yeah…I also tend to try and fix things. Which I’m doing now. “You’re not undateable, you just need to find the right person. Would you like some chicken soup and a sandwich?”
Great sense of humor! Plus, youre smart.
I smoke a bit, which would be a dealbreaker for some people. No one I’ve wanted to date has had a problem with this though.
I don’t know if this is a dealbreaker, but I also tend to be rather sensitive and emotional about certain things. Not that I can’t take a bit of teasing and friendly insults as banter, but if the person I like gets seriously angry at me for something or other I crumble with guilt over having done something wrong. Probably a hangup from my childhood (my parents were very good at punishing me with my own guilt).
That being said, no one has broken up with me over this. Yet, anyway. 