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Staying Safe While Chatroom Hopping and Online Dating

Online dating is all the rage these days, and the single bars or nightclubs of the net based dating world are certainly the chatrooms. These are the places you can go to dip your toes in the water and see who else is out there. You get to “meet” tons of new people, and even better, you get to do it in an environment in which you don’t have to worry about looks or any of those other first impression kind of things that make people nervous. You get to know a person for who they are, not what they look like. Even better, you don’t have to get all dressed up to attend this singles party!

However, just like in the real world, meeting strangers can be dangerous. The downside of chatrooms is that you don’t get to look anyone in the eye and get a feeling for who they really are. For that reason staying safe while dating online is critical. These common sense safety tips will help make sure your online dating life stays fun and carefree.

Are you cautious when you meet strangers? Do you edit yourself a little bit so that you don’t give too much information about yourself away? Most people definitely do, and the reason they do this makes sense. Armed with too much info about you, a dangerous person can worm their way into your life very easily. Well, the same thing holds true on the Internet. Don’t be lulled into a sense of self-confidence that internet chatrooms are completely anonymous places, and don’t be fooled by having a “deep” conversation with someone into thinking that they are your soul mate who you can trust with anything.

Even if you chat with someone every night for a month for hours on end, they are strangers. Would you tell a stranger your address, the fact that you live alone, your schedule, where you work, and your home phone number? Definitely not; you’d be worried that the stranger could use this information to harass you, or worse, harm you in some way. Don’t reveal this info to strangers in chatrooms either. They can be just dangerous to you.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to figuring out what you can and cannot say safely in a chatroom is to ask yourself what kind of picture of you a person could draw if they monitored your conversation for a few weeks. Could they figure out your hometown, where you hang out, and other personal facts by piecing together the clues? If so, don’t say it. For this reason, referencing events specific to your town or your employer are definite no-nos. They can lead people right to you.

When you’re figuring out how to act in a chatroom, remember that you should trust your instincts. If a conversation feels funny or someone is coming on a little strong, back off. One of the great things about a chatroom is you can simply log off and change your user name. To stay in an uncomfortable situation would only serve to dig you in deeper with this questionable person.

Using that user name wisely is the last safety tip for dating chatrooms. Again, make sure it doesn’t give any clues about you that give away your identity. Never sign up for chatrooms using your normal email address or work email address. You should create a web based mail account with a generic name for this purpose. Your profile should never include your name, and it should also be nonspecific. Protecting your information at all costs will keep you safe by putting you in control over who knows what about you.