This paper serves as an exploration into the concept of the abstract other and the ways in which language users construct the identity of an individual who does not necessarily exist in their online dating profiles. While most interaction includes a negotiation of the identity of concrete others (other speakers or a person who is jointly known by speakers), a few specific interaction types include the prescription of identity onto an imagined other. Online dating profiles are an example of this, as users describe their ideal partner, an imagined figure, thus attributing characteristics to a person that does not exist. Through qualitative and distributional analysis, this paper finds that in addition to listing traits of their ideal partners, users are able to obscure the individualism of the abstract other by using the first-person plural, simultaneously constructing the abstract other and the self in imagined joint activities. Users can also create the abstract other by constructing a different, but related characteristic, leveraging the relatedness between the stated trait and the desired trait. Furthermore, the sets of tools that a dating platform provides to users in order to construct identities have an impact on user identity construction techniques, offering varying affordances and contingencies. Finally, the existence of a profile on a specific platform is itself a part of the identity building process as it is a tool leveraged by users to communicate alignment with the norms of that site.