There is no obligation to reply to a compliment you get from a guy on a dating app.

He didn’t send you a compliment to get you to message him back telling him it was a thoughtful and sweet compliment but you aren’t interested.

A compliment was sent, owing to his interest in you.

He is hoping that in receiving a reply from you, you are interested in him too.

Replying to his compliment when you already know you aren’t interested sends the wrong message.

You leave him thinking about why you did that when you aren’t interested.

Some guys get it and let it go.

But a good number of guys won’t accept it.

In his mind, you are playing hard to get and want him to pursue you.

After all, why would you bother responding to a compliment from a guy on a dating app if there wasn’t at least a degree of interest?

These are men who then put it on themselves to keep messaging you.

Before you know it, you have an army of men sending you messages intent on getting you to engage in conversation with them, thinking that you are playing hard to get.

Let’s say you decide to put your foot down.

You tell him that you unequivocally have no interest in him and that your only intent in replying to his compliment was to be polite and tell him that his compliment was thoughtful and sweet.

There are men who don’t take this well.

He takes offense, and now, instead of thinking that you were playing hard to get, he flips to thinking that you were falsely leading him on and playing games.

Unfortunately, he is taking this personally and won’t let it go.

A desire for revenge overwhelms him.

Suddenly, you are getting messages in your inbox filled with insults and contempt.

Though you block his dating profile, he uses a different name to sign up on the dating app and is back to harassing you.

Soon, you are dreading the thought of logging into your account.

Why put yourself in such a compromising position?

Better to not reply to his compliment.

It saves you from either outcomes.

That of a guy who keeps messaging you, thinking you are interested in him but playing hard to get, and that of a guy who believes you are playing games, and is now out for revenge through sending insults.

The algorithm of a dating app is exceptionally sensitive.

When you reply to a compliment but you know you aren’t interested in a guy, you give the dating app’s algorithm the impression that you like that personification of a dating profile.

The algorithm watches everything.

It matches people based on their behavior.

When you get into the habit of replying to men who compliment you that you have no interest in, the algorithm is led to believe that you like men of this ilk.

That’s its cue to send you a plethora of dating profiles like this.

This isn’t what you want.

Being presented with a plethora of dating profiles like this has you spending too much time swiping left and very little time swiping right.

This is a waste of your precious time.