Top 15 Online Dating Tips

by Peter
Posted On

Our “Top 15 online dating tips” focus on your personal privacy and personal safety when dating online. You can find articles on our online dating site that will give you good online dating advice for making a good first impression on your online dating profile, in your chat room sessions, and on the first date. But when meeting a stranger you meet at an internet dating service, I wanted to include an article specifically addressing your personal safety. Here are ten online dating tips for protecting your life and your health when meeting dates online.

Here Are The 15 Best Online Dating Tips

It’s Okay to Chat With More Than One Person at Once

Remember that with online dating you haven’t met someone yet, so you are also not having a committed relationship with them. Chatting in order to get to know people is how online dating works. You will probably get one response back for every three to five messages you send. Therefore, you don’t want to message just one person and then wait for him or her to message back. To make sure a steady stream of responses, send several emails to guys or girls who interest you.

Not Responding Back is Okay.

Here’s the thing: when someone initially contacts you, and for whatever reason you decide they aren’t quite right, ignoring their message is perfectly reasonable online etiquette. This is very different from what you’d expect with “real life” encounters, but in the online world, it’s fine. Look at it this way, do you really want someone to respond back and tell you, “I’ve looked at your profile and I’m not interested”? Of course not. Don’t take offense if you don’t get a response back from someone you’ve emailed.

Breaking Up Through Email is Fine – Depending

Here’s the caveat: If you’ve only gone out once or twice, telling someone via email that you don’t care to see them again is okay. After all, when email has been your primary source of getting to know each other, it is going to be the mode in which you are most comfortable communicating. If you’ve gone out several times, however, you still should break up face to face.

It’s Okay to Casually See Several People At The Same Time

Note the distinction: If you’re meeting people for coffee here and there, it’s perfectly fine (and even recommended) to schedule several dates over the course of the week. After all, even though you’ve corresponded with them online, you still haven’t met them yet. You aren’t dating them. A good rule of thumb is if you are going to get serious or physical with someone you should hold off emailing anyone else.

Keeping Your Profile Up When You’re Serious With Someone Is a Big No-No

Occasionally you’ll meet someone great and want to “see where the relationship is going.” This means that the two of you will be seeing only each other. If you take this step, pull your profile down. You don’t have to delete your profile entirely or cancel your online membership, but you must take your profile off the active list. You must also not correspond with anyone else during that time. If you don’t take your profile down, you will be hurting your chance to truly get involved with your new love. And isn’t that why you started Internet dating in the first place?

Never Give out Any Personal Information Over the Phone or Online

I’ll touch on this several times in this article because it’s just that important. It’s easy to network online to millions of other people, but just because that guy seems nice over the internet does not mean that they are. You know nothing about an online person other than what he or she tells you. Do not give anyone you do not personally know your personal information, such as. Personal information includes full name, date of birth, social security number, your home number, your work phone number, your addresses, or any financial information.

Most of the people you meet online will be nice people looking to find companionship or just make friends online. But you will occasionally find someone who wants to prey on lonely people, perhaps using their personal information to rob them. Occasionally, you’ll meet someone who is emotionally unbalanced, so you don’t want to give someone the information they need to stalk you. Wait until you meet this individual in person and figure out how they present themselves on your date. Even then, I would wait a while to give out sensitive information.

No Need To Rush Into Things

When you meet someone online and start talking to them, you may think that you completely click and want to rush into meeting them. This can be a big mistake. Just because a person tells you something about themselves, does not mean it’s true. This guy could be anyone with any agenda, so proceed with caution. Wait a while, take your time, and see how pushy he or she is. The more time you take, the more information you have.

Do Not Give out Your Personal Phone Number

This is the technology age, and with the new technology, the ability to find out other people’s personal information has increased. Someone you take your phone information and can search online with a phone number and find out who it is registered to and where you live. Don’t be a victim; protect your information.

Do Not Call From Your Personal Phone

If you have met someone online and they have given you their number and want you to call them, you can do that, but do NOT call them from your personal phone. When you call from your phone, your information will be on display for this person. Then, you will be in a position as if you had given them your number. So if you must call them, go to a payphone or, in the very least, block your phone number by dialing *67 before dialing the number. This will block the number from coming up on caller ID. Although a better solution to this problem is to call them with an online phone system such as Yahoo or Skype.

Never Meet Anyone by Yourself

Once you have talked to someone for a while either online or on the phone and the two of you have decided to meet, never do it alone. You should either take a friend with you when you meet your online date for the first time. If you insist on meeting them one-on-one, at least take other precautions. Meet your date in a crowded public place. At the same time, let someone close to you know where you are going and when you expect to be back.

Keep in contact with your friend by calling them once or twice during the night. You never know who you are meeting, so no matter how nice they seem online or over the phone, be careful. You don’t even have to introduce your friend to your online date, they can just keep an eye on you from a distance at the beginning of the date to make sure everything is ok.

Always go Dutch

Chivalry is dead, at least on first dates. Although many people still believe that the man should pay for the date, this is the 21st century. Things have changed quite a bit. Never go on a first date expecting the other person to pay. Although many men may offer to pick up the bill, if you pay your own way, you aren’t indebted to them in any way. You don’t feel like you owe them anything. Many times, when one party pays the bill, that date feels the other person owes them something like another date, a kiss, or more. So just to be safe, go Dutch, and you can order whatever you want with ease.

Avoid Too Much Alcohol On the First Date

As most adults know, drinking alcohol will impair your judgment on things. So if you are going on a first date with someone you have never met before, you should probably not drink. You want your senses to be fully alert when being around someone you don’t really know. You already have to be careful meeting them, so don’t add to the difficulty by drinking.

Never Trust The Person

I’m coming back to this again because it’s just that important. You can hope this date goes alright and you fall in love; just don’t expect or trust that everything goes alright and you’ll meet your soul mate. Take precautions.

Too commonly, people let their guard down when meeting someone online. When you meet someone in person, your guard is up until you get to know the person and are able to trust them. But too often, people online just automatically trust strangers. This is a big, big mistake.

You should have your double guard up because you can not look into their eyes and have the ability to see if they are lying or tell you the truth.

Never Share Too Many Details About Personal Routines

When you are meeting someone for the first time, you want to get to know them and what their likes, dislikes, and hobbies are. This is a good thing to do, but don’t get too specific. Although not all people are bad, there are bad people in the world that meet single people to scam, rob, or injure them in another way. This is why you should never let your guard down or give out specifics no matter how nice they are. Telling them that you enjoy bike riding is one thing, but telling them that you get up every morning at 6 and ride to ABC park and back gives them too much information.

Always Go With Your Gut Instinct

Don’t ignore your instincts. Your first instinct is usually the best one to go by. Don’t go against your feelings, listen to them. If your gut tells you that something is wrong, cut the date short and get out of there. It is always better to be safe than sorry.