HELPFUL HINTS FOR ONLINE DATING
Each year thousands of people meet their partners on online-dating web sites and have a trouble-free dating experience. But that is not always the case. Follow these tips to ensure that your experience is safe and rewarding.
1. Getting Started
Use sites that allow you to remain anonymous to other users until you feel ready to provide contact information to other users.
Never include your personal contact information in your profile, especially telephone numbers, email, home address or your last name.
Only provide your contact information to another user when your instincts tell you this is someone you can trust.
Set up an email account just for online dating. This makes it easy to quarantine any unwanted mail.
Keep your passwords confidential and make sure they are not easy to guess. Choose a unique password for online dating that you use nowhere else.
2. Avoiding Problems
Ask a lot of questions when communicating and be alert for inconsistencies or requests for money. Make notes if you are suspicious of anything.
If you are suspicious of a person or if someone asks you for money, use common sense and then report the situation to the dating web site by using the “Report Abuse” options on most web sites.
Most sites do not validate the identity of their members or the information that they submit on their profiles. Although some take steps to eliminate any suspect members, it is not possible to be 100% sure that all members will be honest and truthful in their dealings with other members. Be alert and use common sense when communicating with other members.
NEVER send money to anyone who you met online, but have not yet met in person.
3. Before You Meet
One theory is that you can only email so long. What really needs to happen is to meet in person and get past the deceptions early on, especially if you have good feelings about the person and it may be going somewhere.
Find out as much as possible about the person you are communicating with before you meet them in person. Communicate extensively using email, instant messaging or chat prior to calling the other person. Do not disclose your phone number or personal contact information until you feel comfortable to do so.
Try to request multiple photos of the person you are communicating with. Ask to see photos of the person in a variety of situations at different times in their life. This helps to ‘paint a picture’ of the person and can be useful to understand more about that person.
When you do decide to meet face to face, pick a public place and tell a friend where you’re going.
Let them know when you return from the date.
4. While Dating
Take your time to get to know the person. Proceed one step at a time and at your own pace.
If dating a person located in a foreign country be aware of cultural differences and take the time to learn the culture and understand the other persons expectations about the relationship. Spend as much time together as is possible getting to know the person, don’t just rely on email and instant messaging.
Investing additional time to get to know the person before things get serious will help you to avoid costly mistakes.
5. Before You Become Engaged
Each year hundreds of people on online-dating web sites meet their spouse and live a happy, loving life together. Before you get engaged, take the time to consider what could go wrong and know your rights.
Getting married is one of the most important decisions in your life and not something that should be rushed.
Make sure that you know as much as possible about your partner before getting engaged.
Get to know your partner’s friends and family: in some countries when you marry someone you also “marry” their family.
If you are getting engaged to someone from another country then you should take additional steps to familiarize yourself with your rights regarding domestic violence, abuse and divorce in your partner’s country. Many countries including the USA, Australia etc. have laws that protect the visa status of foreign women who are unfortunate enough to marry or become engaged to an abusive or violent partner. This means that you can usually seek help for problems related to domestic violence while maintaining your legal right to remain in the country.
In the event of divorce, courts in many countries such as the USA, UK, Australia etc. will consider the equitable distribution of all marital assets based on a variety of factors. You should therefore consider how you may be affected in the event of divorce.