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| Thu, 06-22-2006 - 2:41pm |
Hi!
I am slowly moving back into the dating scene and it is pretty much impossible to do face to face because I have a very young daughter who absolutely is my life. So, I don't want to take time away from her while I search out potential men to meet for friendship and for dating and plus, I really enjoy building a life with her and that is my first priority. So, of course, online dating seems like a perfect choice right now!
However, I am SO PARANOID!! I keep popping on and off sites, posting my picture and then removing it, etc. I am not sure why I am so paranoid - could be because I am a mom now and so everything I do, I do with extra caution if it might affect her somehow. I really enjoy meeting the guys online, but I guess I just don't trust it. I think of all of the horror stories you hear about weirdos and predators and it scares me a bit. I know I could meet those same type of people face to face, but I guess because I am so new to this, I just am being overly cautious... (Plus, there is part of me that is concerned that my ex will somehow find me on one of the sites and use it against me somehow in our custody dispute).
So, I need some words of encouragement of why online dating is such a good thing, why it is not a weird or suspect way to meet a person and that others have met perfectly nice people without incident! Also if there are any single parents out there - has your ex found out? Has it been used against you somehow?
Like I said, I am SO PARANOID!!
TIA for any help! :)

Hi and welcome to the board!
Dont worry your not alone. I'm sure everyone who has thought about getting into online dating is first slapped in the face with a wave of paranoia. All those horror stories can, and do, scare everyone. The number one rule is to ALWAYS BE SAFE, and the last post pretty much covered all the good tips on how to be safe. My advice to you is to find a dating site that most suits your personality and what your looking for. There are so many sites out there now, and the trick is to find the one that's best for you. When I got into online dating, I didnt want to rely on pictures, so I got into webdate because they had the live video chatroom feature. I ended up meeting alot of great people who I now call friends, and am fortunate enough to say I have never been scammed. Online dating isn't the big dangerous risk everyone claims it to be. As long as you know what your doing, and your being safe, it can actually turn out to be a very gratifying experience.
Hi!
Thanks for the responses!
To the first one - my daughter's father and I actually never were married, so thankfully there is no divorce to go through! It would be done by now anyway, as we called it quits almost a year ago. We are just going through custody and my friends who have been through this say that OLD cannot be held against me (particularly in a situation where he is living with the woman he was dating unbeknownst to me while we were living together and I was pregnant with our child, so he really cannot throw stones).
You have both made me feel a bit safer about the whole thing, though. Thanks!