Potential romantic partners often employ specific communicative strategies in computer-mediated communication based on their anticipation of future interactions. This conversation analytic study examines the practice of assessments used in WeChat conversations between potential romantic partners. We found that people recurrently mobilize the action of assessment to maintain or terminate their relationships. Especially, people tend to provide more assessments after an initial assessment, which we term ‘continuing assessment’. We show that continuing assessments are sequentially organized in conversational context between co-participants and are essential for relational developments. When potential partners aim to maintain or advance their relationships, continuing assessments are used to prevent a structurally integrated conversation from falling into closure. In contrast, continuing assessments are applied to put an end to the dialogue and to manage face work. Our study furthers the understanding of the communicative strategies of online dating.

潜在的浪漫伴侣经常根据他们对未来互动的预期，在以计算机为媒介的交流中采用特定的交流策略。这项对话分析研究考察了潜在恋人之间的微信对话中使用的评估实践。我们发现人们经常动员评估行动来维持或终止他们的关系。特别是，人们倾向于在初步评估之后提供更多的评估，我们称之为“持续评估”。我们表明，持续评估是在共同参与者之间的对话环境中按顺序组织的，对于关系发展至关重要。当潜在的合作伙伴旨在维持或促进他们的关系时，持续评估被用来防止结构上整合的对话陷入僵局。相反，应用持续评估来结束对话并管理面子工作。我们的研究进一步加深了对网上约会交际策略的理解。