Online Dating General Tips – Page 4

Establishing Online Dating Relationships: Safety First Online dating can be fun. But don’t neglect safety and common sense when you try to hook up with a mate. At minimum, take caution in the following areas. Protect Your Computer Take care of your equipment and systems before you head out into the Internet realm. You need to have a firewall and anti-virus protection for your email and for when you search websites and interact online. At the bare minimum, you may want these two solutions for your home computer (i.e. not for commercial use): Anti-Malware Download Anti-Virus Download Protect Yourself Take care of yourself, too, by choosing appropriate dating sites. Seek and choose a reputable online dating service. How? Begin by asking around with friends, neighbors, co-workers and others you may know who have tried online dating, and see which places they recommend. In addition, search “online dating services” and keep a notebook of their URLs or website links, the fees, rules and regulations, complete contact information of each and any other useful information that spikes your interest. Then compare each place. Try only those places where you feel safe. Avoid the others. So take care. Arm your computer – and yourself- with the correct tools and knowledge! Growing Online Dating Relationships Just like regular real-world relationships, online relationships need tending, to grow over time. Here are some quick growing tips. 1. Take time and make time. Does your online date get in touch with you regularly? Do you do the same? Neglecting virtual meetings can be considered abuse or neglect, so treat each other’s time with respect. If it’s lacking, might mean time to move on. 2. Communication needs to “feel” right for both of you. If one of you is too pushy about meeting, for instance, that can give off bad vibes. So don’t rush. Take time to learn more about each other and develop trust. 3. Respect each others privacy. Don’t share personal email addresses or digital photos online, for example, if your online date sent you the information in confidence. 4. Share special online and offline fun times. Online – send greeting cards, links to favorite places to upload digital photos of your favorite pet, download music and video clips, post on favorite forums of interest. Offline- if you’re exchanging addresses or post office boxes, send print greeting cards and postcards, small items from your area (like a key chain with your state bird). Tend your online relationship. Water it with care and over time it can sprout and grow. More Popular Online Dating Activities A couple of popular online activities are sharing recipes and bidding at auctions. And both of these easily fit well into online dating opportunities, one of the most popular online activities for singles today. To help many dates get better acquainted online, here’s what potential cyber-dates do. Sharing Recipes – People get tired talking about the weather. So a popular subject to turn to is food. Sharing favorite foods and recipes helps break the ice and even forms friendships over culinary skills – or lack of – and tastes. Search your favorite search engine for “free recipes” to share. Take photos of your culinary creations and share them with your date, too. Bidding at Auctions – Ebay auctions sell nearly anything and everything! So surf around and enter searches like the dates you were in middle school. Share cool memorabilia photos of old games and toys from when you were a child or when your parents or grandparents were little; The Dating Game, Oscar Mayer wiener whistles, The Partridge Family Album, Bobby Sherman’s Album, 45’s and more. Online dating can be an educational and fun experience. So learn more about each other and have fun while you’re at it. Take a cyber-stroll down memory lane together and see what’s cookin’. Popular Online Dating Activities All types of everyday activities are growing in popularity online these days like sharing photos and greeting cards. In fact, both of these even go hand in hand with online dating opportunities, one of the most popular online activities for singles today. Before actually meeting in person, many dates get acquainted online first. Here’s how. Photos - As a wonderful keepsake of your budding romance, create an online photo album for your new cyber-mate. Include digital photos of favorite outdoor scenes, pets, flowers, cars, silly moments, your computer corner or laptop, etc. Then you’ll even have more to discuss during online dates via emails and chat rooms. Search for “photo albums” to find places that store your photos. Greeting Cards- Regardless of where the person lives, you can mail a greeting card. If privacy and security is an issue, check into renting an inexpensive P.O. Box (check the Yellow Pages). You do not have to be an artist to make something homemade and special for the new friend in your life. Even making a special, personalized greeting card would be appreciated and show your date that you care enough to take the time needed to make something by hand. Search your favorite search engine for online greeting cards to send, too. They range from free to low cost and can be sent in a click. So get online and get active! No need to risk meeting in person until you get more familiar with each other online first. So take the online plunge! Popular Online Dating Activities For Men Heads up, gents. Online dating can open up new doors of opportunities with a little help from real world dating tips that work. Spice up your matchmaking with some of these ideas. Looks Count Comment on how attractive she is. Yes, women do want to know they are pretty, even if they’re online and you can’t see them and have no idea. So in your communications, ask questions that would help you know, but in an unobtrusive way like – how do you wear your hair? And then say how attractive that must look. Kindness Counts Point out nice things or the lemonade in life – nice things the other person has mentioned, nice acts the person has done, good things on the news latterly, etc. Be upbeat, and forget those lemons in life. Even in email a person can shout, by using all capital letters. So show manners and kindness. Keep swearing, unkind remarks, prejudice, etc. out of your communications. And “do unto others….” So add some helpful real-world tips that do work (a lot of the time anyway) into your online dating equations. And come up on the positive side of romance – and enjoy more lemonade! Why We Date As human beings we have what can be considered some of the strangest mating rituals in the animal kingdom. Most species hook up with members of the opposite sex to procreate and nothing else. There is no emotional bond that ties them together for the rest of their lives other than the need to continue the species. Now that's not to say that all animals are like this, there are some species out there that do mate for life, but the overall percentage of those types are small. Sure, you can say that many animals have mating rituals that rival ours. There are male birds that flaunt their colorful plumage trying to attract a female, but is that really dating or just a type of seduction? And in the end isn't that what going on dates is all about, seducing that someone we've had our eye on. Dating is a form of seduction, only for us humans it can sometimes take a much longer time for the desired results to be had. In the animal world there is a specific time of the year when seduction and mating can take place, and with the exception of humans, dolphins and some primates, animals mate to continue their species and not for the pure pleasure of it. For most animals it is the drive to survive as a species. We humans have taken the whole dating/seduction ritual to unforseen heights. Just think of all the things we do to try and impress that special someone. And why do we want to impress them? Because we think we like them and if we don't do our best to seduce them using all sorts of dating tricks and techniques then someone else will and that's just not acceptable. So why do we date? To impress someone we are interested in? I would say yes on that one. I can't think of any other reason to spend that kind of time and money other then to do just that. To continue the human species? This is a far more subjective question. Do we really need more humans on the world? That's debatable. I think for the majority of humans it's for a little more selfish reasons and that's to have somone come after us who carries the family name onward into the future. Just for the fun of it? Now here's whole another way to look at it. Meeting new people is fun. Particularly if you are attracted to them. Dating is fun and it introduces us to whole new ways of thinking and approaching people. The why do we date question is a hard one to answer, but whatever your reasons may be it's a part of what makes us human. Words of Advice on Dating Online Dating online has made the world a smaller place since meeting that special someone no matter how near or far is just a click away. If one decides to try online dating, here are few advices one must remember along the way; 1. Take it slow There are a lot of nice people online but there are also some bad people who just take advantage of others. To be sure whether the person one is corresponding with is for real or just playing games, it is best to look out for inconsistencies. If at any instance, there is a feeling of doubt or something wrong, then its best to stop and move on. 2. Don’t give out personals Since one does not have any idea who this person can be, it is best not to give out any personal information such as last name, real email address and contact numbers. If the person one is corresponding with keeps on pressuring on this issue, it is best to also stop making contact with that person. 3. Ask for a photo Some people say it does not matter what is in the outside but what is inside the person. Physical appearance believe it or not matters. To authenticate the person one is talking with online, it is best to ask for a photo. For security reasons, it will be best not just one picture but in various settings. If this person is not able to do this, then one should also stop making contact with this person. 4. Proceed with caution Earning the trust of people does not happen overnight. By taking some time to know more about this person, one will be able to see if this can on any further or be better off meeting someone else. 5. Meet only when ready Even if a certain level of trust has been established, it is best to only decide to meet when one is ready. Just like meeting someone for the first time, one should take it slow. 6. Choose a public area Before meeting this person, it is best to tell people like friends and family where one is going. In the interest of safety and security, it is also best to meet in a public place. If there are many people that are around, the safer it will be in case the date does not workout. Meeting people online may be a little different from meeting someone new through friends. The similarities in both situations are; it takes time to know a person and there is nothing wrong being too careful especially with matters of the heart. Writing A Online Dating Profile – Does Your Dating Profile Suck? “I might not be Fred Flintstone, but I can still make your bed rock!” Come on. You can do better than that. When putting together your dating profile, avoid pick up lines like the above. I have seen dating profiles with these kinds of subject lines. You have to be a lot more romantic than the above line. The above subject line is too raw. You have to bring it down a notch. Here are some tips to help you when putting together your dating profile. 1. Do not use negativity in your profile. This is a big turn off. “You don’t need to have car keys to drive me crazy.” Or, “I may not look like much, but I am drinking milk.” “If you want me, come and get me.” Ridiculous lines in a dating profile do not work. You have to be positive in your profile because you want to make a great first lasting impression. You do not want to come across as a jerk. If you use the above lines, you will come across as a jerk. 2. Build curiosity in your profile. A terrific subject line could be, “Have you ever been to Fogo De Chao?” This is curiosity. You want that man or women to click on to read more. A dater would be curious to know what is Fogo De Chao? (Between you and I, this is a fabulous Brazilian steak house.) You can go on from there and add more. Here’s another. “Have you ever been to Utopia? Let’s experience our two minds together as one.” 3. People like to hear a short story about you in your profile. Give one just a little taste of who you are. “I am a fire fighter and I am also working on pursuing my passion to open a sports bar while still working as a fire fighter.” Daters want to read details about you. Give it to them. This will let a dater know that you are going places and you have goals. 4. Always be honest in your dating profile and display real photos of you. If you lost some weight or even gained some, have an up to date photo showing how you look today. 5. Never say your name is Wayne. Do not use your real name. Come up with a screen name that stands out and shows a little bit of your character. Also make sure you capitalize each letter in your screen name and never put numbers behind your name.”IAmForReal”,“GorgeousBrownEyes”, etc.You should get the point. 6. People like to be with winners. Bring out the self confidence in you. Walk the walk. If you are self confident in who you are, then you should not have a problem here at all. 7. Make sure you put in your profile what you can offer and the kind of person you are looking for. These tips should help in getting many responses to your dating profile. Get noticed