Lots of times white guys will ask that question of white women, and if the white women say "yes", they get called a bunch of nasty names, so I have been told!

And that sucks

See, this is the reason why the site should have more dating preferences or mail settings. Then nobody would feel compelled to ask that question, because it would say right in his/her profile who he/she prefers to date. Sure, you could type that out in the "about me" section now, but that obviously leads to a lot of problems for those who do so (nasty random emails, etc.), because so few others do it, and it also makes those who do it uncomfortable or "anti-pc" to do so. If EVERYBODY had to choose, like you have to choose "male/female" or "smoker/nonsmoker," then those who really wanted to limit interested parties wouldn't feel so self-conscious doing so. I come across maybe 1 profile out of 20 that explicitly states, "I am only interested in dating someone of this race, these ethnicities, my own race," yet all research indicates that this is much higher than any 5% (in fact, I see quite a few people in the forums say they won't date someone like this, that and the other, but then you read their profiles, and they make no mention of these "deal breakers" whatsoever). I wrote a research paper on dating preferences a few years ago and did a massive survey of all sites like Match, Mingles and Yahoo which force you to choose dating preferences such as ethnic background, and 57% of white women indicated they would only date white men (black women was 22% for only black men and Hispanic women 14% for only Hispanic men). Obama aside, I doubt the world has changed that much over the past few years, so basically what that says is if you're not white, then 1 out of every 2 emails you send to a white woman on this site is immediately wasted for that reason alone (and it's likely wasted for additional or other reasons that could be listed upfront, too). It would be much more efficient to know this ahead of time. I've never sent an email to any woman on Match who specifically singled out my race mixture as one she wasn't willing to date -- no time wasted there.

But all that said, as we're stuck with the system we have for the moment, I think you'd have to be a little crazy to send someone such a first contact email. What's that going to accomplish? I just send a regular "Hiya" email, and if they aren't interesting in dating someone like me, they won't respond (trust me, THEY WON'T RESPOND). No one's going to get into a 50 email dialogue with you if they aren't willing to date someone with your physical characteristics (unless they tell you "friends" right away or very early). I suppose it is up to each individual to decide if such an introductory email is rude or crass, but why even bother taking such a chance? Just introduce yourself like you would to anyone you thought you had a chance with and that way you won't offend anyone who would have dated you except for your foolish email asking something highly unnecessary.