Online dating: Safety first?
Dating websites are trying to play a more active role in weeding out the criminals, sexual predators and con artists. A recent press release announced that some efforts are being made for consumer protection: “providers eHarmony, Match.com and Spark Networks will protect their members through the use of online safety tools, including checking subscribers against national sex offender registries and by providing a rapid abuse reporting system for members.”
It has been years since I have tried online dating but I attribute it to more of my laziness then my fear of meeting people from the internet. We have all heard scary stories, yet I can not ignore the fact that many friends and relatives have met, dated, and married people they met through online dating.
At the end of the day, we have to make smart and safe choices when we invite strangers into our lives. In this modern age of technology, what are ways you protect yourself in dating?
Just because you meet someone face to face doesn’t guarantee their sanity or your safety. Do you use the same caution as you would with online dating?
By Wise Diva, Misadventures in Atlanta Dating Blog
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168 comments Add your comment
Leggs
March 21st, 2012
4:32 pm
“a friend of mine taught her daughters to choke” – Now, THAT’s deep. I’ve been teaching mine the right hook and an upper cut. I’ve instructed her thee’s nothing wrong with cold co*cking someone before the clock her.
disco ~ I found out one of the young punks liked me and didn’t want me to hold his friends against him. The one thing I knew at that young age, is “birds of a feather flock together.” Not only that, why hit my skinny, boney behind so hard with a freaking bat!
disco
March 21st, 2012
4:38 pm
leggs – and I was just telling someone the other day that we were raised to “pick up something” and bust folks in the head with it. my son got suspended in second grade for hitting a boy in the head with a vase of flowers off the teacher’s desk. he got suspended in fourth grade for hitting a boy in the head with a cafeteria tray. that one made me proud because when I was a junior in high school I hit a girl in the head with a cafeteria tray.
and wow – whatever happened to pulling ponytails or grabbing butts? never heard of hitting girls with bats. dang.
Slim's got the fever!
March 21st, 2012
4:39 pm
I can honestly say that I didn’t have that sibling rivalry thing going on with my sister, who is 6yrs younger than me by the way. There was a time when I wasn’t happy with the choices she was making and I basically let her know…but we’ve never fought. Thank God!
Slim's got the fever!
March 21st, 2012
4:42 pm
Dang a bat?!! WOOW…I heard of getting hit with eggs or paper spit balls but not a bat. One time in 4th grade, we were watching some sort of film and this bad kid threw a D size battery across the room and hit another kid in the head. He got suspended and the kid got hurt pretty bad.
Leggs
March 21st, 2012
4:43 pm
Dang disco, 2nd grade and he picked up a vase of flowers and hit someone over the head? I don’t know what to say to that one…I have two words “anger management.” No seriously, I understand that’s how you were raised so that’s what you know, but DAYUUMM GINA!
disco
March 21st, 2012
4:44 pm
I forgot about spit balls. that was so nasty but what I really hated was flying rubber bands. those bad boys could sting.
Leggs
March 21st, 2012
4:45 pm
I remember what I had on that day and how cold it was. Just now I had to look up how to spell “condolences,” but I remember what I had on that day! Long term memory working fine, short term, not so well….
Slim's got the fever!
March 21st, 2012
4:49 pm
Temptation is a mutha…I planned on going to the gym today but got an invite for seafood instead by my cousin. She know I luvs me somma dem biscuits!! I think I can get away with just doing the ab ripper video tonight instead
Robert
March 21st, 2012
4:50 pm
@ lady – Eddie Murphy is gay and he lives with his Mother and Johnny Gill. Just ask his ex-wife of many years.
disco
March 21st, 2012
4:52 pm
leggs – I think I’ve mentioned that I come from small people. we learned the art of equalizing early.
Leggs
March 21st, 2012
4:53 pm
How she’s going to be able to ask his ex-wife to get to the truf (lolol)??? How you know the ex is telling the truf and not spitting venom toward his way. Ex’s can be some bitter tools…
Leggs
March 21st, 2012
4:54 pm
I hear ya, disco. I hear ya.
Slim's got the fever!
March 21st, 2012
4:56 pm
Leggs – I saw Jaleel’s performance and he did very well but I’ve never ever been able to shake Urkel from mind whenever I see him.
disco
March 21st, 2012
4:58 pm
slim – he’ll be urkel for life. just like Thelma will always be Thelma and rerun will always be rerun.
Leggs
March 21st, 2012
5:01 pm
You said it, disco!
Leggs
March 21st, 2012
5:02 pm
And, not even his alter ego Stefan (??) helped to diminish him always looked at as Urkel.
sahu
March 21st, 2012
6:31 pm
there is a group of people (men AND women) who absolutely thrive off of drama, danger, control, etc. it’s as much of an attraction for them as a physical or emotional trait is for others.
Vicki Henry
March 21st, 2012
11:19 pm
This is irresponsible hype by the Attorney General of California. If a female goes onto Match.com, eHarmony and Sparks then goes on a date with a “non-registered sex offender” and gets molested or raped then I hope that person sues that company AS WELL AS THE ATTORNEY GENERAL and they are “convicted of “FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY in the 1st DEGREE!
Statistics from the Justice Policy Institute indicate the recidivism rate for another “sexual” offense is less than 5% and the other 95% of sexual offenses, which never get reported, come from within the child’s family, relative, organization leader, etc. Now for more about the effects of these type stories and public hysteria:
There are over 763,000 registered men, women and children across the nation required to register. The “crimes” range from urinating in public, sexting, exposure, false accusations by a soon-to-be ex-wife, angry girlfriend, or spiteful student, to looking at abusive or suggestive images of anyone up to 18 years old, solicitation, Romeo and Juliet consensual sexual dating relationships, rape and incest. The registry is a way to make parents “feel good!” Now if you multiply 763,000 by 3 or 4 family members of the registrant there are almost 3,000,000 wives, children, mothers, grandmothers, girlfriends and others suffering the collateral damage caused by the registries. Families are harassed, beaten, threatened, forced to leave their church, lose jobs, and lose friends and family. How is the family supposed to survive and become functional again under these conditions?
Vicki Henry
Women Against Registry dot com