Do's |
| • Do be honest about yourself. If you ever get to meet in person, it's a rude awakening if you've said something that your not, eg: relating to physical appearance. |
| • Do respect the other person's privacy, without demanding too much. |
| • Do be wary of life stories that are too fantastic, glamorous, or dramatic to be believable. |
| • Do carefully pick your email addresses and username. "Kitten girl" or "lovelonging" can lure a trickster or prowler, while "loverboy" can imply that you're a player or a womaniser. |
| • Do have realistic expectations. You really can't judge compatibility, or a person's true personality, until you get to know someone face-to-face. |
| • Do be patient. Internet dating can be frustrating and it may take time to meet someone you really like. |
| • Do understand that cyberdating is subject to the same break-ups as real-life dating. |
| • Do block a member who offends you or report them to the webmaster. |
| • Do have your antennae up for people putting you on. Trust your intuition. Notice if someone sounds too slick, stilted, inconsistent, reluctant to reveal, or unreliable in connecting again. |
| • Do use a person's screen name as you would their real name in person. |
| • Do be courteous and pleasant with other members. |
| • Do make your email response stand out. Say what you found appealing about the other person's profile and how it relates to you. |
| • Do be clear if you are not interested, instead of leading someone on. A simple "thanks, but I'm otherwise engaged" is gracious without being harmful. You'd want to be let down easy too. |
| • Do keep a positive attitude. |
Don't |
| • Don't reveal too much about yourself initially (your real name, phone number, or other identifying information) until you know you can trust the person. |
| • Don't be insensitive to how others react to you. If someone seems disinterested, back off. |
| • Don't be ambiguous or confusing in what you say. |
| • Don't jump too quickly into "talking" about sex, just as you wouldn't in a real-life encounter. |
| • Don't purge your resentment or anger from other bad experiences onto internet contacts. |
| • Don't use profanity or sexually abusive language. |
Meeting online can lead to real-life love, as long as you're honest and play it safe. Please exercise caution when meeting any stranger in person.
