And since we're so thoroughly modern, this time around, the jury is made up of both men and women.

I'm setting up the next Profile Critique panel. But, we're going to change a few things this time around. As I discussed before, there have been requests to have same-sex critiquing for those who are looking for same-sex relationships and some also wanted the opportunity to have their profile to be judged based on their...friend-ability. I racked my brain trying to figure out the best way to do this and here's what we're going to do:

*The Panel of 12 will consist of 6 women and 6 men of various ages, locations, and relationship-status.

*The offer is open to all men and women--regardless of your relationship-status (if you're taken and just looking for friends, or single, or whathaveyou--all is welcome) or sexual orientation.

*You can decide who looks at your profile--you can ask that one gender looks at you for friends and one for dating, or you can ask that both look at you for dating or for friends. You probably shouldn't request that neither look at you. That would be silly.

This session will be starting mid to end of next week. You can use this post to express your interest or to ask questions about how these things usually go (I also suggest you read the old posts--the "Gentlemen Start Your Engines", "The Ladies Are Up to Bat" series and um...the other one whose name escapes me), but I will not take official requests until the real post goes up.

The real purpose of this post, other than to let you all know it is coming, is to say:

I Need My Panel!

I am very happy to have Old Panelists back (you guys have pretty much rocked across the board) and I always love getting New Panelists, if you think you're up for the challenge. However, this panel is a little different, so make sure that you fit the following criteria:

You must be capable of sexually assessing both your gender and the opposite gender. You do not have to be bisexual--but you have to be able to reasonably look at both genders and consider them on how they present themselves if they were your gender of choice. This is the most important issue--I will not be happy to be getting critiques back next week that include lines like "Dude, I don't know--I like chicks, not dicks!"

You must be able to give a couple of hours time to this project. This is not a commitment of epic proportions and I do try to shift the work around so no one is inundated--and I always understand that things come up--but this panel will not have 12 of each gender, so if one or two women gaff off, for instance, we're not going to be able to critique from the women's side. I will have backups as usual, though, and we will be limiting how many we do so please do discuss with me if you are interested, but concerned about how much work is involved.

You must be able to read and follow what seem like needlessly fiddly directions. This go round, I'm going to be having a lot of different feedback coming in--from men and women, for friends and for dating. I need to be able to control the flow of reviews coming in or I'll be hopelessly snarled up--so if I say, "All women hold your reviews, all men send on", I need you to be able to do that. I know, I know. I just sounded charmingly like a prissy school teacher. I'm just warning you now...if you hate being told what to do, you'll want to avoid my panel. I'm bossy. :)

If you want more information on what sitting on the Panel entails, feel free to email me or to post your questions here--Old Panelists, you can discuss your experiences. Unless it is going to scare people away. Save that til after they've committed. :) If you want on the panel, please comment here or email me. I will let you know if you are on the Panel via email.

And just one final note on this ridiculously long post--people have volunteered before and not gotten a spot on the Panel. Please understand that this was (usually) no reflection on anyone--I only need so many, and from the requests I get, I try to spread around the ages, the temperments, and how wordy you are. I'm not kidding--I need a a couple of panelists who are yakky and some who are succinct. So if you are very similar to someone who is already sat on the panel, I may ask you to work as a backup, or ask you to work on the next panel. There is no insult implied in this!