Why Meet Online? New Rules for Dating in an Online World.

Why Meet online? Well, why not?

Betcha thought that was a rhetorical question! I’ve heard a few reasons why you (or anyone else) should not meet anyone who you e-meet on the ‘net (e-meet is a word I made up. I made it up to deal with the difference between “meeting” — chatting, e-mailing, etc. — online, vs. actually coming face to face with someone. It’s a new age, - it requires a new vocabulary. Bear with me.). OK, before I digress further . . . these are some of the reasons I’ve heard why you should not meet people who you have e-met.

Everyone on the ‘net lies. Uh . . . yeah. The Internet makes it easier for a person to get away with lying. A person encountered face-to-face is less likely to say they weigh 180 pounds if they really weigh 310. But, if you e-meet someone in a situation where it is understood from the start that a face-to-face meeting is in the future, they are not likely to tell you something that would cause embarrassment later. And, is there any woman or man alive who can say that they have never been lied to by a member of the opposite sex who they first met in person???

People who you meet on the ‘net are desperate losers. Uh . . . yeah. There are a good many desperate losers online. There are also a lot of really nice, attractive, successful people who’ve decided to use the Internet as a meeting place. Are you going to miss out on all of those for fear you’ll run into a loser? And, I’d be willing to lay a heavy bet that there are a lot of desperate losers hanging out in your home town, too!

I don’t want to date someone who lives 3,000 miles away! Uh . . . yeah. Me neither! That’s why I put a geographic limitation of fifty miles in the last ad I placed. There are lots of people in your home town who look in the Internet personals.

You can’t get to know someone very well if you never meet them. Uh . . . yeah. I wouldn’t want to marry someone who I had never met face to face. I’d definitely recommend throwing in a heavy dose of real-life personal contact before I committed to anything. On the other hand, you can get to know someone well enough online to decide if you want to meet them, and thereby save yourself a lot of schlepping around.

It is dangerous to meet someone in person who you have e-met! Uh . . . yeah. There are a lot of stories . . . and some of them are even true . . . about the awful things that have happened to people (particularly women) who went out on a date with someone who they had e-met. There are even more stories . . . and some of them are true, too . . . about the awful things that have happened to people (particularly women) who went out on a date with someone they met in a library, at a bus-stop, in a college class, or at a party. Unless you intend to spend the rest of your life sitting home alone, with all of the doors locked, you are going to have to take some risks (I don’t know how you will manage to get groceries in that situation, so you may starve . . . hmmm . . . I guess that’s a risk you will be taking!).

You should minimize the risks by taking some precautions before you invite someone to come within arm’s length of you. If you do your homework, you will definitely know more about the guy you e-met than you know (or want to know!) about the creep who sat down beside you at Rudy’s Pub the other week.

Does that about cover the negatives? Seriously, if you’ve got another one, write me, and I’ll see about throwing it in!