Intenet Dating Advice: protect your privacy

In my experience, one of the biggest reasons people afraid using online dating services is because they are scared their privacy will be invaded. They don't want to have to worry about people they are not interested in, having their email or real addresses. They don't want to have to worry about some stranger that they have never met in person coming to their home. Luckily, all of these problems can easily be avoided. Follow a few simple steps and these should be no issues for you.

Your Profile and Early Correspondence

Don't put in your online profile your real email address, last name, phone number, address or place of work. During your early correspondence don't give this information and stop communicating with anyone who tries to pressure you into giving this information.

Your Email Address

If there is anything all of us already receive too much of, it's email that we don't want. Whether it's an advertisement or an email from someone you met online that you really are not interested in, doesn't really matter. It is unwanted and you should not have to worry about it. Below are some suggestions on dealing with this issue.

• Get a free email address specifically for interacting with your matches. There are plenty of places that will let you sign up for a free account that you can use to send and receive email.
• Don't put your last name in your email address
• Sign up with a dating service that provides anonymous email services. Many of the reputable companies allow you to use their service to email the other members anonymously.
• If you are already receiving email from someone that you don't want to deal with anymore, setup a filter. Most email programs (and some dating services) come with a feature that allows you to filter specific messages directly into the trash.

Meeting for the first time

First of all don't allow yourself to be pressured into meeting anyone. If they threaten to terminate online correspondence if you don't meet them within a certain time frame, end your online connection. Nice people don't make threats or put pressure on people they care about.

I always recommend, if you decide to go on a date with someone you have met online, talk to them on the phone first and meet someplace public and bring your friends. I don't want to scare you away, and we certainly don't want to make it sound like you shouldn't meet these people, I just like to follow the better safe than sorry credo when meeting a someone in person for the first time.

Plan a short initial meeting. If, on meeting, you know you won't be seeing this person again, sharing coffee and a little polite chat won't be as painful as spending a long day together.