Online dating, is extremely dangerous and sometimes deadly. Because of this fact the police in all parts of the country, posing as twelve year olds, to crack down on would-be pedophiles...

Dating online is much more than a casual relationship because you are putting your information on the web. Name, address, phone number and mother's maiden name are just a few things you should be careful about putting on the web. After these precautions have been met you can call it dating.

As with any dating you want to get a feel for the person. I prefer shock value as an effective tool. The more off the way and extreme that I type, the more of a reaction I can stir up. Possibly, this method will in turn give me a feel for the other person.

Once you type something and send, that's it! Punctuation is always important. Proper punctuation can tell a person that the other is well educated. Unless you stipulation that lower case letters are a whisper, make sure to spell correctly.

In my psychology class I learned that Neanderthals who sang had a better chance to mate, so try and be different if you want your relationship to evolve. Be spontaneous and adventuresome. As an online dater myself, I went on a virtual date with my Kate and we had a great time. Be inventive and more important be honest about your feelings.

Some of the safest ways to date people online are:
1) Start by googling their email address or name. Most individuals joining dating sites use the same screen name at one place that they do at others. You might be surprised at what pops up and it will weed out over 1/2 of the people you are interested in. If they deny it's them, they're lying. An email or screen name is like a fingerprint. That person has to make it up and the odds of someone else coming up with the exact same thing, with the same spelling are about a gazillion to one.
2) Look them up on myspace or facebook. You can tell a lot about a person if they have one of those. For starters, if they're already in a relationship, chances are, it will say that on their profile. If they still have pictures up of their "ex" and it says they're in a relationship, they're lying if they say they aren't together anymore. Anyone just out of a relationship usually wants to forget that person ever existed and would delete those pictures and change their status.
3) If the person gets defensive when you ask questions, they're hiding something. If they're unwilling to answer simple questions, stop seeing the person. They're hiding something.
4) If the person is unwilling to answer more than the bare minimum, they're hiding something too. You could stick it out and say it's a shyness issue, but chances are, it isn't. Save yourself time and move on.
5) If you confront the person on something you found and he/she tries to make it out that you're paranoid and crazy, he/she is trying to deflect the attention to you and avoid coming clean. If they're lying to you now, they're going to keep lying to you.
Remember, when dating anyone, if you think something is "fishy", it probably is. Trust your instinct above all else and value yourself enough to know that there is someone out there who won't have to lie to you or make you seem like the bad "guy" for asking questions.

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Learn more about this author, Cory J. Hollcraft.
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