Tell us what you think

I can't count the number of times I've been asked, "When are y'all gonna do a follow-up on those eligibles?"

Well, it's finally here, and I hope the update satisfies your curiosity. Sorry, no marriages yet. Or even long-term relationships.

But there has been plenty of drama and lots o' laughs since we launched our Most Eligible feature in January.

One of our heartiest chuckles came the morning I got a voice mail from a woman bad-mouthing one of our bachelorettes. Here's the funny part - right before she left that message, I received a bizarre five-minute-long voice mail in which she, another woman and a guy were plotting to call the paper and leave a nasty message.

I quickly realized the threesome must have called from two different phones and forgot to hang up one of them.

Lesson: Be sure to hang up the phone after your first call reaches my voice mail, so your dastardly plot to voice-bomb an eligible isn't mistakenly recorded.

Then there's the not-so-funny drama. At least one of our eligibles received a letter from prison. Another was hunted down through her church's directory and another got a letter at her workplace.

Sketch-yyyy.

Lesson: If you ever agree to be profiled, specifying your place of work or worship is strictly optional.

But the most striking lesson I've learned is to never underestimate the power of mate-seeking. This is most likely why Most Eligible has become the most popular part of Inside Out. I field more phone calls about these profiles than anything else. I refer to myself as the "love mule" because I spend so much time relaying messages from readers to Rose (the profile writer), who then relays messages to the eligibles. (I guess that's another lesson: Find a more efficient "hooking up" system.)

When I ask folks what they like most about IO, Most Eligible is always the first thing they mention. Even my sister - who lives in Florida - makes a point of visiting our Web site every Thursday to read the latest profile.

I find this response amazing and encouraging, and I plan to continue the column as long as singles are willing to be profiled. So keep reading and nominating - and stay tuned for another follow-up at the end of the year.