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This is a thread for discussing helpful hints on how to read for people online. Feel free to add your own advice, talk about problems you are having, or discuss your method.

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I think it's pretty hard to read for people online for various reasons. First off you don't have the person in front of you, so it's hard without that face to face interaction. Not to mention when you do the reading, you have to type up the result, which can make things better or worse depending on how much detail is in the reading and how well you type haha. If an unusual card pops up, you can't ask questions to narrow down what it could mean, and there are just a lot of limitations overall. The first being lack of information.

There's a lot of anonymity reading for people on a forum. Some people don't want to disclose their real name so they'll give you their username or just wont reveal a lot of information regarding the scenario. Or offer any information that would probably help you. If you offer layouts that don't require a question, you'll feel like you're shooting in the dark. Everyone has their own list of requirements of what they need to do a reading, some need pictures, some just need information. To me it's about finding the right information to build a mental picture in your head on who the reading is for.

My personal hints:

-Look through their post history
As creepy stalker-ish as this sounds, it actually provides a wealth of information. Seeing how a person types and how they interact with others can tell you a lot about the person. For example with my post history, you can figure out I like to help others and I have a weird quirky sense of humor. Knowing this information helps build the mental picture of the person in your head. Also, you can sometimes find details to help fill in the gaps.

-Look at their avatar
When I see people create avatars, they usually make them either close to their own appearance in real life, or they come off as a representation of the person. Either way it doesn't matter, the avatar is a good way of getting a visual of the person because they put their energy into it's appearance. Even if limited by the items and choices in making it, the avatar reflects what appeals in the person's head who created it. For example, my avatar is very monochrome showing a level of simplicity, made even more complex by all the little details on the avatar. The hair is as floppy and bed-headed as my hair in real life. Since the avatar is our representation of who we are, naturally it reflects a lot of our personality.

-Look at their profile
Just like an avatar, when someone can customize their profile, they make it into a representation of who they are. While this is harder to gauge than an avatar, profiles generally serve to tell more factual information of a person. Some people list their birth dates, put up wall of texts regarding their life, or put pictures of themselves up on their profiles. Some may be even more secretive and just hide everything they can, preventing you from trying to figure them out. Or based on how things are laid out, you may get a sense of their own creativity or how they behave. For example, with my profile I list my facebook page, so if you needed to see my picture to do a reading, you have it right there. But also with how the profile is laid out you see there is no background, the elements and structure provide the appearance.

-Ask for a horoscope
This is an easy one if you don't want to feel like you're snooping. While people don't have all the characteristics generally associated with their sign, it will give you a general idea of what the person can be like. For me it's also information for the cards, a name and horoscope provide more information as to who you're narrowing the question down for in the world. But also the traits can help examine how the person behaves and interacts with others. For example both of my parents are Capricorns, and I'm a Capricorn as well. I don't get along with my dad much because we're both stubborn in thinking how the other should be acting and behaving. With my mother though, we get along because we both share the same stubborn thoughts about my dad. And being stubborn herself, she doesn't want to share the same thoughts my dad has of me because she is my mother.

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I think the hardest part when reading online is that there will be people who will disagree with you or want to prove you wrong. For example, whenever I did a reading about me and an old friend, it kept saying we were going to get into a huge argument and ruin the friendship. However the friendship was headed for a relationship which was why I kept checking. So I refused to acknowledge the friendship breaking apart because I didn't want it to, and it didn't seem like that was the way it was headed. However in a couple months that person was treating me like s**t and I needed to get away from them and broke the friendship off. I was so closed off to what I wanted to have happen that I didn't even consider the advice.

Which is what happens, people will come to you for advice, but they don't always take it or appreciate it if it's not what they want to hear.