Online Dating -- Five Things to Avoid
So the Internet must be a great place to find true love, right? Not so fast. While online dating can be a great way to find someone new, dating sites are littered with scam artists, cheaters, and straight-up liars.
Now, this doesn't mean you should avoid online dating altogether -- just don't believe everything you see out there. In order to help sort out the winners from the losers, we've compiled a list of the top five types of online daters you should definitely avoid, along with some tips to help you save some heartache. Be careful out there, and good luck!
1. Liars
In a recent survey, it was found that most online profiles contain some sort of lie, whether it's the person's age or -- in some cases -- relationship status. White lies -- adding an inch to height or dropping a couple pounds -- are the most common and not a big deal to most people.Consider these facts according to the April 2007 issue of Proceedings of Computer/Human Interaction:
- About 52.6 percent of men lie about their height, as do 39 percent of women.
- Slightly more women lie about their weight (64.1 percent) than men (60.5 percent).
- When it comes to age, 24.3 percent men lie compared with 13.1 percent of women.
How to Avoid Them:
Ask questions. Though it may be listed on someone's profile, someone's age is fair game in the questions department, so feel free to ask your potential date how old (or young!) they are. You may find that 35 suddenly becomes 42. While you don't want to ask too many questions and scare the person away, it's perfectly fair to verify the big things: age, weight, height, and -- most of all -- whether or not that person is, in fact, single. Half the time, people lie on their profiles to get people interested -- nine times out of ten, someone will level with you about their stats once you show some real interest, since they know they might have a chance of meeting you in person.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
pumasboy said 1:55PM on 2-17-2008
WE:; nice site
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Di said 12:10AM on 3-04-2008
The men from Africa copy pictures of models and upload them as a personal photo. You can tell they are fake if you look close (hilarious really). If you are observant you will notice their language is not good English and they use uncommon salutations and phrases. Usually these scam artist say they are Engineers working on building bridges and originally come from Nigera. They hang out at the dating web sites trying to snare unsuspecting women. I am amazed at how dumb they think we must be.
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Ed pperman said 10:16PM on 7-11-2008
Hi
I'm the author of the article.
We're expanding the basic Dating Service Search to include porn sites and online escort services.
We also added a Personal Ad Investigation. We make contact with the person in the ad and try to get incriminarting evidence.
http://www.EmailRevealer.com
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lena said 2:43PM on 10-10-2007
well I think was her fault because first of all we can't jump to a ralationship so fast like that, she must been desesperate to do that without investigate about his past life.and yet if we believe in averything they say, we are stupid anybody now that.
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Lorena chavez said 3:16PM on 10-10-2007
Thats is so true theres alot of people who lie about being single i just think that people should be more carefull and dont trust people specially online
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hotqueenfrja21 said 2:43PM on 10-10-2007
Well you have to be careful not everything someone tells you online is completely true.
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Timmy said 9:02PM on 10-10-2007
Shes stupid for going down there. Why would you even move until you are ready to get married to that person. Thats why I created a site named hookupjoint. Its to the point and no one has to move anywhere.
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joseph lopez said 2:49PM on 10-10-2007
You have to be pretty stupid and or desperate to
not meet/date someone for at least a year before
you decide that he/she is the one.....common
sense being the keyword/bottomline here......
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Zendai said 2:51PM on 10-10-2007
I just think this is funny. A woman leaves the US to go somewhere in who-knows-where to be with a guy she met over the internet, purely. I mean, I met my man of 5 years over the internet, but I knew just about everything about him...his PARENTS and brother and a few others I was aquainted with, of which is how I knew he was who he said he was...that's just to funny. And what a waste of money!!
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medic4u2 said 2:51PM on 10-10-2007
I cant believe that anyone would just take someone word for anything thye say or read on dtae sites.Ive been on them for a couple of years and out of about 40 or so men Ive met, only one has turned out to be on the up and up. You have to b careful and u have to check people out. Dont b desperate, it never works.In defense of online dating, u can come across the same losers meeting someone face to face. ITS ALL ABOUT BEING CAREFUL AND TAKING YOUR TIME!!!!!
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MFOSTER1972 said 2:56PM on 10-10-2007
I DONT KNOW WHAT PEOPLE EXPECTATIONS WERE OF ONLINE DATING BEFORE HAND, BUT IN MY EXPERIENCE, THE LIES THAT PEOPLE (MEN) TELL ONLINE ARE NO DIFFERENT THEN THE ONES THEY WILL TELL U WHEN U MEET THEM OFFLINE. THE COMPUTER IS NOT MAGICAL. IT DOESNT TURN A FROG INTO A PRINCE OR VICE VERSA. IF SOMEONE IS DECEITFUL AND UNTRUSTWORTHY IN REAL LIFE THEN THEY WILL BE THE SAME ONLINE. U HAVE TO STILL USE COMMON SENSE AND ASK THE PERTINENT QUESTIONS BEFORE COMMITTING YOURSELF...TO ANYONE!
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David said 10:10PM on 10-10-2007
There are some good free sites out there... I mean ones that are totally free, not those that lure you in, and then want 50 bucks a month. Try out plentyoffish. google it!
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Michelle G said 2:57PM on 10-10-2007
Well first of all , anyone can lie , someone you meet in a bar could lie about being married.It just so happens to be a little easier to lie online.I think that its a crazy world out there and you need to becareful regardless!!! Th
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Fay Porter said 3:40PM on 10-10-2007
You have to be pretty desperate. I have emailed several women to let them know my husband is only messing with them and is not serious and they are so desperate they still want to continue with the lies.
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Laura said 3:08PM on 10-10-2007
I know a woman who has been looking for a mate for quite some years only to find out that when they get to know the "real" her they quickly move on. She lies about her fitness and how healthy she says she is and her pictures aren't totally the person she protrays either; she has some pictures that she is dressed very sudectively and that isn't anywhere near her demeanor; and then to get more interest she then advertises her 2 young daughters that are at home with her. She always says in her profile as to what she wants you to do for her but she never says what she'll do for you if the relationship goes to any lengths and I'm not mentioning sex. So you just can't believe what you read online.
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Kathleen said 3:06PM on 10-10-2007
On line dating is just like any other kind of dating. Use your head. When I was a teenager you met guys at school. When I got older you met them at bars, that isn't so safe anymore. The best arena is now on line. I resisted online dating for many years thinking only loosers had to find a date on a computer. But its just another evolution in the boy-meets-girl circus. With pros and cons. I met many nice men on line and twice as many weirdos. The only difference is volume, the ratio of nice guys to jerks is a constant in the cosmos. I did ulmately meet a wonderful man who I fell madly in love with. He was not Tom Cruise but then I'm not Katie Holmes. We met, fell in love, moved in together and got married; At Age 55.!!! We are going to live happily everafter. I'm sure of it. Of course I tell him not to worry about getting divorced, (he's been there before, I haven't) because I look good in black! My advise to you men and women who are sitting at home in your bunny slippers drinking wine and wondering why you're alone, go on line, use your head, be smart and you just might get lucky. What are you afraid of? Being deliriously happy the rest of your life? yeah that's scarry.
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mtrronan said 3:44PM on 10-10-2007
as a male that has used online dating the same can be said about females there are alot of scams out there to trap males that are lonly like 2 that i have been contacked by both in russia hmmm red flags plus alot of women here in the usa that have lied to me and before any " jumps" on me no i dont lie about my self lies have a bad hapit of slapping one self across the face when you leat expect it too so men DONT lie its not worth it in the longrun
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Samantha said 3:11PM on 10-10-2007
Been there, done that. I've been through the whole online dating sh*t. All I've met were liars and looking just for quick booty. Oh and did I mention that I almost agreed to meet a pedophile? Yes, a pedophile! He started to express his "love" of children to me when we were thinking about meeting. He wanted to get me pregnant so we could have children of our own. I said no way jose!
Yeah, the Internet is the worst place to meet singles. It's a rare thing if you meet someone worth meeting and they are actually honest with you and aren't creepy. My advice: THINK TWICE!
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Dave said 3:15PM on 10-10-2007
dating sites aren't free to start with so the lying is already there in front of you. People are not there for love but both male and female are there to inflict pain either in money or lust. God will someday again take care of his flock and make people care for one another
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Sheryl said 3:14PM on 10-10-2007
Online .. Offline .. I don't think it makes a lot of difference. If a guy is a liar he's going to lie to you either way.
I met a guy who was a builder. He supervised a project for me on a home I was remodeling for resale.
We started dating .. he told me he was divorced with 2 sons. We had lunches, dinners, he stayed over .. absolutely nothing suspicious to indicate he may have a wife .. but, then I found out he did in fact have a wife who was conveniently gone a lot with her interior design business.
Once I found out I dumped him immediately. Too bad .. I would have used him for more of my projects .. but have no time for liars and cheaters.
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