Online dating has become a way to meet new people.
Virtual dating platforms receive high praise from the individuals that have met and married from using their site. However, what they don’t tell you is all the people that they remove daily for fraudulent accounts and catfishing.
If you have little social interaction in your life, then the online world opens a wide variety of options. When you don’t have an abundance of fish in the sea where you live, the ocean is swarming with potential guppies online. How can you be safe, yet give yourself the chance to meet someone amazing?
There are some basic rules and etiquette that you should follow when online dating. Done right, using these virtual dating apps can help you meet Mr. or Miss Right, but you need to be careful.
Here Are 15 Online Dating Rules Every Single Person Needs to Know
1. Be on Guard
While most people on these online dating sites are like you, there are always a few bad apples that spoil the whole bunch. Catfishing is a genuine problem on these sites, and the best way to avoid it is to not get swept into the web of deceit.
There are plenty of online scammers that prey on vulnerable people. If someone tells you they are in the military and are stationed in a foreign land, be careful. Also, if anyone starts off their story that they’re a widow with a child in a boarding school, just go ahead and block them.
Virtual dating is a great way for people of all ages to meet others, but it’s a great way for scammers to make some money. Don’t be the next victim, no matter how good the story.
2. Never Meet Someone Unless You’ve Talked for More Than Two Weeks
There’s a little back and forth about how long a person should “text date” before they meet. You don’t want to get into a situation where you only have a person that will text. You need to call and meet in person.
Allow at least a couple of weeks to go by before you schedule that in-person meeting. Two weeks is plenty of time to see if anything alarming comes up. You don’t want a text-only situation.
3. Always Do a Little Snooping
Before giving away your heart, you need to do a little digging. If they’re a real person, then they have a social media account. At least get their full name and then look them up in the city where they live.
Thanks to Google, you can’t hide anywhere these days. Do a bit of research before meeting them in person. Sadly, this could be someone else’s husband or wife you’re talking too.
4. Never Send Cash
Never, under any circumstances, send cash to anyone. Additionally, don’t send i-Tune gift cards or any other gifts they want. These are scammers, and your relationship is built on lies. They will lure in your heart and use you for every dime you have.
5. If They Seem Too Good to Be True, Then It’s a Lie
If it seems like you’ve met the perfect person, be leery. There is no such thing as perfection in human beings. If they look too good, their story is unbelievable, and they seem to want the same things as you, then be careful.
6. Use an Image Locator to Verify Their Pictures
Catfishing is so frequent these days that you must protect yourself at all costs. Get pictures and run them through Google’s image locator. If they took someone else’s photo from social media or anywhere else on the web, then this tool will identify them. Don’t believe everything you see or hear until you’ve met in person.
7. Video Chat Before Meeting in Person
It’s exciting to meet that special person that you’ve been talking too. However, before you make a date and schedule the place, you should video chat at least once. Video chatting takes away a little bit of the element of surprise.
You can see them face-to-face and make sure that what they say is true. If they’re using old or fake pictures, then they won’t want to have such a chat. However, if they have nothing to hide, then they will welcome it.
8. Ask Personal Identifying Questions
While you don’t want to get too personal, like asking how much money they make, don’t be afraid to ask a few identifying questions. You don’t want your whole conversation to be in generalities.
To get to know someone, you need to know about their family and if their parents are still alive. Plus, these questions will help you to establish if they’re real or a scammer.
9. Don’t Use Old Pictures
If you expect the other person to be upfront and honest, then you must do the same. Make sure that you only use current pictures on your profile. While you may want to show them pictures of days gone by later, make sure your profile is accurate in how you look today.
10. Be 100 Percent Honest
Don’t put anything on your profile that could come back to bite you later. Make sure everything you write is 100 percent honest. Don’t put that you’re a chef when you’re a grill cook at a fast-food restaurant.
Many little white lies may come back to haunt you if you develop a relationship with this person. People feel free to embellish their attributes a bit when they’re hiding behind a virtual platform.
11. Don’t Share Anything Too Personal at First
When you first meet, you don’t want to give them too many details of your life. Please don’t share the names of your kids, where they go to school, or the name of your ex. These details can be used against you or to help with a scam.
Any identifying information should be reserved for conversations at a later date. Please stick to your basics, and leave everyone else out of it.
12. Always Meet in a Public Place
The online dating world is full of people that want to hook up for one-night stands. You can identify these people quickly. However, even if you agree to such an event, make sure you first meet in a public place.
So many people get hurt physically while using virtual dating apps, and you want to make sure that safety is a priority. Let someone know where you will be and who you will be with, as it can help should there be an incident.
13. Use Proper Grammar in Your Communication
You want to use proper etiquette when dealing with the online dating world. While it may be cute to use abbreviations and emojis, try to stick to proper grammar and talk like an adult. You can loosen up a bit once you’ve been talking for a while, but you want the person or people you’re interested in to at least think you know how to have a civilized conversation.
14. Don’t Be Too Quick to Add Them as Friends To Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms are all the rage these days, and you may be eager to add people to your list. You can never be too careful. Once you add them as friends, you are letting them into your inner circle of information. Remember, they can post things to your wall and see something that you may not want them to see.
It would be best if you had been on a couple of dates before considering adding them to your social media accounts.
15. Avoid Fiery Topics
Finally, there are two topics that you want to avoid initially, which are religion and politics. These are very private and sore subjects to discuss, and you don’t want to come out of the gate with such controversial subjects. If they bring them up, then it’s giving you the green light for talking about these things, but you should never discuss them unless they seem okay with it.
Avoid virtual arguments and debates over religion and politics as it’s not worth your time. You shouldn’t care what some random person in the online dating world thinks about such things. The only time it affects you is if you decide to take the next step.
Final Thoughts on Trying These Online Dating Rules
Online dating has become the best way to meet people with American’s busy lives. While you may want to talk to that guy or gal from a foreign land, try to stick within a certain distance of your home. The chances of meetings someone real are better when you are shopping within a 100-mile radius.
Make sure you read through their entire profile before chatting. Don’t be afraid to tell them precisely what you’re looking for, and don’t leave out any details. You want this person to want the same things and like you for who you are, not what you tell them.
In the online dating world, honesty is still the best policy. Try to have fun and mingle a bit. Every person you talk to isn’t going to end up in a face-to-face encounter, but you can have fun just mingling with new people.
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