Active Relationship

Posts Tagged ‘Dating Sites’

A couple of years ago I remember the looks of pity my friend Jennifer would get when she mentioned she'd been trying an online dating site. I must admit, at the time, I too thought she must be desperate; couldn't she meet anyone in 'real' life? Didn't she meet people at work, or at parties? Read the rest of this entry »

There are huge benefits from using a dating site rather than meeting someone in a face to face in a bar. Here is a list that we complied to show you what you can be benefiting from.

Number 1 : When you use a dating site you decide who and when you want to speak to someone. When you go to a bar or club you are unprotected and anyone can come up and start talking to you. By using a dating site, you take control and you decide who it is you want to talk to.

Number 2 : Another benefit is that you can see who you are attracted to when you read the online profiles. You can see their pictures and what they like and dislike and if you have something in common then you can email them and if you have nothing in common then you can move onto to the next profile.

Number 3 : You will use the dating sites email that they will set up for you rather than use your own. This is done for privacy. If you end up not liking the person you are corresponding with then you can simply not answer the email or you can let them know you really have nothing in common and you don't think you should talk anymore. At least they won't bombard your home email.

Number 4 : The dating site will have you fill out a profile and then when you submit that they will match them up in their databases and they will only match you up with people whose profiles somewhat match yours.

Number 5: The beauty of online dating is that you can give out your personal information when you are ready. You don't have to give anyone your real name or any personal information about yourself until you feel comfortable.

Number 6: There are going to be people who don't give their own pictures and the benefit of that is that when people don't use their own information that you can back off or you can see why they don't use their picture. Some people are embarrassed and they use another picture because they want people to like them for themselves not what they look like.

There are so many online dating sites that make sure that you sign with a well know site like Match.Com or eHarmony. Use secure sites and never give any personal information out to anyone unless you have been talking to them for quite a while. You want to meet someone which is great but your main objective is to stay safe. With the rise of missing people as of late you want to be safe and online you can be protected as much as you can. You control the situation, no one has to know anything about you that you don't want them to know. That is the main benefit from a dating site.

In this Internet age, online romance is as common as cyber cafes and reality shows, but for those who are looking for real love amongst the emails and jpgs, there's a little more needed than just knowledge of how the technology works.  In order to find the love of your life online, you need not only to be able to read the words of your chosen cyber mate, but also read between, under, over and around them!

Everyone is becoming increasingly conscious about identity theft, but it doesn't even have to be as complicated as that to convince someone that you're someone you're not in a online dating situation.  This means that once you've made a connection with someone online, you need to verify that they are the person they say they are.  The road to real love found online is littered with shattered dreams when people have discovered they have been chatting to a married person, a person of the wrong sex, or even an underage computer geek looking for thrills!  You need to protect your emotions as much as you would protect your person if you were meeting someone in real life - and that means digging around to make sure of whom you are chatting with.

What does the person tell you about themselves.  Where do they work for instance - does their workplace have a website and if so, if you were to quietly check out that website would you find their name, and maybe even a photo?  If there is a photo, does it match the description that they have given you about themselves?

What does your cyber mate tell you they are interested in?  What evidence do you find that this is the case?  For example, if they tell you they are interested in children or animals, do they have any children from a previous relationship (how much contact do they have - have you seen photos, a doting father/mother will want to show off pictures of their beloved offspring, even if they don't have much contact?), do they have pets?

If you ask personal questions are you given full answers or glib vague ones?  If you make a search on the email address, or real name/address, of your friend, what do you find - email groups can be particularly revealing?  Do they have other email identities?  Have them send you something through real mail - such as a card, and do the same in return.  Be wary of PO Box or work address only contacts - it could be very innocent, or it could be a flag of someone keeping you out of their real life for some reason or other!

Once you agree to meet your online partner in real life, make sure that this is in a public place.  Ask someone to go with you until you make the first contact and are comfortable enough to be alone with them.  If this isn't possible, ask someone to ring you about 20-30 minutes into the 'date' so that if you aren't comfortable or feel that something doesn't feel right, you can use this as an excuse to leave.  Never meet an online contact without leaving enough information of where you are going, and who with.

Although many cyber romances end in disappointment, and some of them end with disillusionment about the possibility of find real love through the Internet, there are also a number of success stories that show that if you are careful enough, and do your background research, then you should be able to uncover the 'players' and move on to find another sincere person looking to find the love of their life online.

Internet dating sites are a great way to meet new people, whether you're looking for a fast fling, or your soul mate, but before you even sign up to the site you need to be aware that not everyone on the Internet is who they say they are.  Unfortunately separating the legitimate date seekers from the thrill seekers can be difficult, and it's also possible that you can allow too much information about yourself to be given out to people who are less than honest about their intentions!

One of the first things you need to do is learn to listen to your instincts.  Click around a few different Internet dating sites.  What do you feel about them?  Do any of them make you feel safe?  What about any that make you feel a little vulnerable?  Look at the tone of messages in the public areas that people who aren't subscribers have access to.  Are these friendly, or do you feel they are a little intrusive?

Once you have selected a few sites that you feel comfortable enough with to try out, take a look at what information you are required to give in order to subscribe to the site.  How much of this information is available for other subscribers to read?  Is any of this more than you are prepared to make public?  If so, then skip the site and choose another - if there's one thing in abundance online, it's Internet dating sites!

Once you've signed up with an Internet dating site or two that you think offers a safe place to find friends and potential partners online, play it cool!  The less information you have published at the site about yourself, the better.  If you want to say which gender you're seeking, that's fine.  What's not so fine is giving enough information about yourself that someone with a purpose to be able to track you down if they had a mind to do so!  You should also consider creating a free generic email address specifically for your dating site email so that you aren't traceable through the email you send!  Yes, it may sound a little paranoid, but when you are dealing with the Internet, remember that you are giving personal information to many people who you know nothing about and that raises a number of personal safety issues.

The safest way to find a partner online is to hunt rather than be hunted!  Keep your profile to a bear minimum, but use the profiles that others have created to find people that you're interested in and contact them.  Once you have made contact with someone, and you are reasonably sure that they are as their profile says (more or less - be a little flexible as many people tend to emphasis the positive and ignore the negative!) and you've had a few exchanges of email, then you can start and let down some of your security guards.  You might consider giving them your 'normal' email address for example, and discussing personal things about your life such as your work and background.  Never give out your telephone number and address to anyone you haven't checked out as much as possible, without them if you choose to walk away from the correspondence you can usually do so without any thought of them pursuing you!

Having emailed back and forth, and possibly chatted online, the next step is a phone call to your online friend, (you call them - this is also a good way of verifying some of their personal information) and after that, arrange a face-to-face meeting.  Make arrangements to meet in a public place and don't leave that area on the first date.  If your instincts say that this isn't such a good idea, cancel it!  If you're just feeling a little nervous, take someone with you until you're happy to be left on your own with your date.  If you can't get someone to physically accompany you, have someone call you about 15 minutes into the date - and then about an hour or so later - so that if you're looking for an escape you can make an excuse to leave based on the phone call, but if all's going well you can just say where you are and that you'll call them later.

There are many honest people seeking romance on these Internet dating sites.  It's a wonderful way to meet interesting people from all over the world.  Unfortunately, it's also a place to meet some unscrupulous people who are out to scam the honest ones - and it's those people that you are using caution to protect against.  When you first make contact with someone you have no way of knowing if they are out for your heart, or your identity.  By using a little common sense, being a little mysterious, and keeping your personal information to a minimum you can usually weed out the pretenders and find genuine people who, like you, are looking for some online romance.