Online dating - helpful advice????

hi, I have tried online dating and met a couple of ppl off there, one guy i have been with a couple of years, but obviously seom r a waste of time!! I found that the ones who want your number straight away are usually only after one thing, so i didnt bother with them. I dunno, I guess it depends what you are looking for and how much free time you have to go on dates. I didnt have much because of my daughter so i only met ppl i was interested in. But i'd say half of the ppl on there are married, some are only after one thing and the the rest are decent guys. I would only give out your number if you really like someone and feel cmfortable with it. Remember how easy it is to take a random persons picture off the net and create a false profile too, not trying ot scare you but it is so so easy to pretend to be someone you are not! Also abviously just be safe and let someone know where you are going etc. Just use common sense really and you'll be ok, just keep your eyes open and dont believ everything you are told and you'll be fine!! happy man hunting!! lol x

I'm not one for online dating, but all I can say is, you know when you're ready. You will know when you're okay with giving out your number and when not to. If you get that 'uh oh' feeling, don't do it. You're an adult and you're capable of taking care of yourself. My only advice is, just remember that there will be creeps on and offline. When you meet someone, meet them in public.

I think it's all personal preference. I met my husband online five years ago and I didn't agree to meet him until we'd been talking through the whole summer. I also am not a big phone person, so we just did IMing back and forth, primarily. Some things I would suggest thinking about are:

1) What part of your profile drew them to you? For instance, I'd put up cute photos and have guys messaging me ONLY because they saw my photo, and that was not the kind of guy I was looking for. My profile had substance. If a guy messaged me and said A/S/L, I'd be like, "Dude, it's on my profile -- how about you trying reading, first?"

2) Anything that seems slightly creepy or like a red flag, listen to your intuition. It doesn't hurt to block someone. They won't have a broken heart and you'll feel some relief.

3) You can tell a lot about a person by how the conversation goes. If you're having an interesting, fluid conversation, odds are that sharing a cell phone number is a good next step. But if it's just shallow back-and-forth with no substance, I'd avoid giving a number. Why waste your time?

Just my two (or three!) cents. Happy dating!

Good luck to you. Don't share anything you are not comfortable with. I did the online dating thing for years, paid sites, free sites (finally met my husband on, of all places, craigslist ha!). If someone acts like they want to talk to you and you want to talk to them, get THEIR number, and do a google phonechat (you can sign up to do free phone calls if you are in the US right now). Yes, women get much more attention on these sites than men! It's an ego boost, but there's alot of frogs to kiss before you meet your prince. I wouldn't spend too much time just IM'ing and emailing, because you can think there's a connection and there's not. I had alot of coffee dates, lol! But you can't really know until you meet someone. Besides, they could be someone totally different than their pic-- like those crazy scammers who are overseas and trick women into sending them $. That being said. Have fun! Drink lots of coffee (just watch the cream and sugar!)

I found that certain sites are geared more to certain relationships:. Match.com, plentyoffish.com and eharmony.com I felt were geared towards people intent on finding someone to marry. OKCupid I got nothing but people looking for quick relationships.

If you are looking for particular fetish sites, troll for a bit before signing up if possible. I have a BDSM friend that had a few , um, *interesting* experiences before she got to know her site better.

I met my husband online almost 12 years ago.

I turned my experiences into a humor site, which then turned into running a dating advice site for over 11 years now. So even though I'm personally out of the dating loop, I'm peripherally invloved.

It's changed a LOT over the last dozen years. It's much more mainstream now. While I agree completely that you should never do anything you're not comfortable with, and any guy should respect your apprehension, you should also keep in mind, "What would I do if I met him at the grocery store or a nightclub?"

I gave up my phobias of guys online when I put it in that perspective. I had no qualms about giving a guy I talked to for five minutes at a bar my number, and would meet him for a date soon after. Why should it be any different with someone you meet online? It's just a way to meet people you might not bump into in everyday life.

Granted, there's freaks and weirdos out there. Lord knows I encountered plenty of them. But they tend make their weirdness known right off the bat. The majority of folks out there are just normal everyday people like you and me. Like I told my Mom years ago, if someone wants to murder me and bury my body parts across three states, it'd be just as easy for someone to follow me home from WalMart than meet me online, get to know me, and plan a date. (But it should also be noted I don't shop at WalMart anymore! :laugh: )

Relax, enjoy, trust your instincts.

Well I dont have any experience with the online dating services but I did meet my fiance online. He had sent me a friend request on FB, he was mutal friends with another one of my friends so I asked her about him. She said he was a nice guy, never posted anything bad, etc. We were friends for almost a year without saying anything to one another. One day I commented on one of his statuses and it went from there. Little did I know at the time, he had a bet with a friend that he could "get with me". They made this bet because from my profile pic, I looked high mantenance. LOL! not only did he "get with me" and win the bet, now he gets to marry me.

Anyway, I would say dont do anything you arent comfortable with. If guys are immediately asking for your #, they are probably after one thing.