Online dating web site requires its members to enter information about themselves in their profiles for the sake of hooking up.  However, you must still be careful about what you post online.  There are plenty of sexual predators and scammers out there, and the last thing you would want to happen is fall prey to them when all you wanted was to meet potential dates.

The first and most important step is to find the perfect dating site for you. What online dating site is best?There are some dating sites that offer free registration and membership, but that only increases the chances of encountering undesirable characters online.  In addition, paid sites have a privacy clause to protect its members.  When signing up, make sure the online form you’re filling out is secure.  After you have completed your registration, take note of these five tips to staying safe when dating online.

Listen to your instincts.

Always keep your gut instincts sharp even without being graced by the physical presence of others.  You can ascertain a lot of things just by going through a person’s online dating profile.  You can check their photo, look at how they write, and they way they try to connect with you.  Any sign that alerts you something may be fishy should make you proceed with caution.  This is also applicable to profiles that may be too good to be true.

If you can’t trust your instincts, you can try to get feedback from other members of the online dating site who may have interacted with that particular person.  If what they say jives with your instincts, better stay clear of that person.

Don’t get too personal, too soon.

In exchanging personal messages, refrain from giving personal information straight away like your full name, address and phone number.  These pieces of information can be used to find out everything about you—where you live, where you work, your daily routine, etc. You must also be careful on what you share regarding your family and friends as you put them at risk too.

Be on the lookout for shady characters.

As mentioned, it is a good thing to rely on your instincts when browsing through different profiles when looking for potential dates.  Be careful of those profiles that are quite unclear, those who refuse to give out their last name, and those who ask too many questions but don’t reveal too much about themselves.  They might be hiding something big, like being married or having a troubled past.

I f you are already having an exchange with someone, learn to uncover peculiar behavior that makes you uncomfortable.  Signs of uncontrollable temper, bigotry, racism, perversion, or any other negative characteristics can be reported to the site’s admin or you can always block them from interacting with you online.

Don’t use a traceable email address like a personalized or work domain email account.

This is another essential factor in staying safe when online dating. Avoid using personalized email (one that bears your real name) or one you use for work (one that has your company name). Again, it’s not difficult to gather your personal information using search engines.

What you should do is register an email address and a username using a pseudonym.  You should keep your personal email and work email separate from your online dating activities.

Arrange meet ups only in a public place.

This is probably the most important tip in guarding your privacy when dating online. Agreeing to meet up in person doesn’t mean you can let your guard down at last.  On the contrary, this is when you should exercise the most caution.

You may be very attracted to this person, but insist on meeting in a public venue where you can’t be taken advantage of.  This first encounter should also be treated as a gauge of your date’s trustworthiness.  To be more on the safe side, tell somebody else of this meeting.  Better yet, let a friend tag along and have them stay where they can watch over you.  If all goes well, your friend can even provide you with feedback from a different perspective.

The gift of the internet seems to have no end, from researching and getting what you are looking for in seconds, to having your refrigerator order the lacking supplies like milk online automatically to shopping for clothes and other items.

Today, it has become common for people to meet single people online, set a date to have coffee that would eventually lead to dinner and countless trips to other places and if they’re lucky and the constellations have aligned for them, they would commence on moving in together and maybe even think about marriage and kids. All these wonderful things from a click of a mouse button.

Online dating today is what a lot of people are looking at and true enough, there are a lot of people who resort to looking for their soul mates online. There are a lot of people who have met online and now lead a wonderful life together and even have kids.

People are always on the go lately and sometimes, you can’t just hang around a coffee shop waiting for a miracle to come your way and gift you with your soul mate. The great thing about online dating is that there are a lot of websites that would network these people together and the users or lookers will have their own profile to show what they’re like.

Photos and information are laid out of that potential true love.

The filtering of information can be made by the user. He or she can say a bit about what they are like, their hobbies, their job or business or the lack of it and their favorite things and favorite places to so much more. Zodiac signs and other astrological figures are also included in the user profile and whether they are single, in a relationship, married, divorced or it’s complicated.

Not only can you find your soul mate online but you can also meet a lot of friends whom you can do things you like or something you have common.

Online singles sites are everywhere and it does help a lot of people to meet their potential significant other. You can just check someone’s profile if you find them interesting and check out what they’re about. Here you can see if you two are going to get along, does it say that the person is a cat person or a dog person or just plain allergic to animals?

If you like the person and would like to know more then you can go ahead and send the person a message and see if the person responds.

You most likely encounter dating clichés on a daily basis.  Those easy one-liners you manage to put on your singles online dating profile or tell a friend who is going through a break-up.  Just because they have been around for some time doesn’t mean they’re true, right?  Let’s break down a few of these online dating clichés.

“I don’t play games.”

Of course, you don’t! Now, who in their right mind would actually say they love playing games in a relationship? A smart person wouldn’t want to let people know they want to mess with people’s fragile hearts. Saying this is quite unnecessary because it doesn’t hold any meaning.

“I’m not looking for anything.”

Sure, so what are you doing on this dating site anyway? You spend time and money on signing up for an online dating site and you say you’re not looking for anything? This cliché is a problem for a few reasons. One, it drives away potential dates because by putting this on your profile, you’re cutting out the rest of the people who are looking for “something.” This cliché implies that you are just there to have a good time or maybe because you’re just bored. Whatever it is you are looking for, don’t keep it to yourself.  Let the world know—someone else might be looking for it too.

“I just want to be friends first.”

This is quite absurd in so many ways. You are on an online dating web site, not on a “new friends” site.  You might start communicating with someone and realize the spark is just not there, but have loads of common interests. It’s only then that you might end up as friends. However, this is not the main reason why you signed up to go online dating, right? Having this on your profile might make you think you are protecting yourself from the romantic pressures brought about by online dating. But what this sounds like to a person reading your profile is you are not serious in finding a partner and don’t want to get attached.

None of these three statements are attractive, so skip these clichés when dating online. You may even skip online dating entirely if all you really want is to have new friends.

Just when you think you’ve heard it all…along comes a genius who actually has the audacity to spit out the following hook up line: “Are you in pain?” To which the wondering victim replies “No, why?” And oh yes, the punchline: “Because it must have hurt to fall from the sky, you’re an absolute angel”

Having said this, let us talk hook up lines. The 10-15 words you first say are often the most important. Seriously guys, if you want to find hook up lines then stop! If you ever want to get laid again, you need to improve your approach tactics and today’s example is a definite no in our book, or any prospect’s book. So definitely scratch it out from yours! But apart from that, other things speak volumes about you that you may have no control over. If you are trying to pick up chicks in a mustard stained hoodie outside of the mall, you aren’t going to get very far.

To pick up women, you don’t need to be James Bond either, but you can adapt some of his techniques. You need to be observant, not to the point that you are freaking the girls out, but notice the little things. Women go to great lengths to feel good about them, and you should pick up on that. If you are hitting on a co-worker, which is a great idea, you need to buck up and pay attention. Often a new haircut will go unnoticed, or if she wears a new outfit to work, comment on that, but keep it respectful. Comment on jewelry, and if your relationship is good enough, even go so far as to comment on her perfume. These hints will let her know that she matters to someone, and she may start dressing up better for your enjoyment.

Whenever you can, keep things polite, and only take things further after she has let you know that she is interested. You don’t want to fall into the friend category, as this is like chaining your manhood up to the wall in regards to sexual possibilities with your prospective girl.

Our style of choice remains that of plain sincerity. If you are out there and you happen to scope out somebody worth getting your ass out of the chair for, then a simple smile and hello should do the trick. If your mere presence doesn’t spark the other party’s interest then chances are, nothing that comes out of your mouth will be able to change that first impression you’ve made. So tip of the day is, your first line of offense is composed by your looks. So focus on keeping your fly up and your lunch out of your teeth for starters! Whatever you do, just remember to have fun, stay true to yourself, and stay positive. These will surely turn your hookup date into a success.

We can call our era one of sexual liberation. Our generation has pretty much inherited all this freedom and openness, without putting forth any sort of effort. Maybe because of that, we take sex with partners for granted and treat it like just any other pleasure we need to have, like watching a new movie or shopping for new clothes. We see it as the logical option to make our partner stay in our relationship. But there are still many people who choose abstinence and wait until the day of their wedding. Now, there are those who will flat out not get involved in any sort of sexual practice - those are the radicals. Zero sex. But since we live in the era of light versions of everything. How about light abstinence?

Such a concept has many levels we can think of or that we’ve witnessed. On one hand there are those people who will not engage in any sort of penetration - anal or vaginal; but will give other practices such as masturbation and oral sex a go. Then there are those who will only have anal penetration so that technically, they’ll still be virgins on their wedding night. Obviously they equate virginity with possessing an intact hymen, which is a pretty narrow-minded vision of it.

The reasoning behind adopting these versions of abstinence varies greatly. On one hand there are religions that condemn fornication, and so some give it up in order to save their soul. Then there are many who have had negative experiences in the past, or who have great insecurities so they decide to not engage in sex to avoid getting hurt somehow.

Finally there are a great number of people who practice abstinence for health reasons, mainly to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. The huge problem here is that people ignore that many practices which are alternative to penetration, can result in contracting an STD. From oral sex to anal penetration, nothing is 100% sure and so it’s important to always use effective protection from the beginning… or to flat out practice old fashioned abstinence, which means nothing.

You might be pissed off if ever your partner in sex decides to do abstinence. The solution is to offer his/her mild abstinence. But remember, whatever you and your partner in sex decide, you should respect his/her belief and opinion regarding sex if you truly love him/her. If they want to wait until the wedding day, then wait. Great things come for those who wait.