Who do you think uses Internet dating services?

Internet dating services, while becoming very popular, may present some dangers for those who use their services.


How do you have a real dating experience without meeting the person in real life? How can the dating service protect clients from potentially dangerous clients? What if anything should dating services do to protect their clients?

Who do you think uses Internet dating services?
People use dating services for a myriad of reasons I would assume. Some people may be too busy to go to bars, clubs, libraries, malls or wherever they would go to meet someone. A potentially interesting thought is that we in the younger generation tend to be ultimately skeptical and therefore hold on to finding someone not on the internet, but older people may be inclined to do so. My uncle claims it's the only way he can meet women.... trust me, he's right. He needs that buffer initially.





I think you are also miscategorizing the online dating if you presume people only have e-relationships. Again, I have to use an example of my uncle. He likens the experience to looking for a new job. You get out there and decide you're ready for a change. You set up yourself to look the best you can (I guess that means write one hell of a profile). Then you "go fishing". You send 20 e-mails in hopes of receiving one in return. If someone replies it goes from there. E-mails can turn into phone calls, phone calls can turn into dinner and dinner could turn into eternity. So I don't think ANYONE really gets into online dating presuming they'd never meet the person on the other end of the computer.





I recently read an article about eHarmony promoting a service that will verify identities. If I read it right, one has to opt for eHarmony to run their info to see if they are who they say they are. I also believe they charged something for it. So it's a way for a person to potentially increase the likelihood of matches by having outside verification of who they are.





However, there is no magic bullet. As with any transactions online, one must be careful. However, I hope that if people engage in meeting people or things like that from these websites, they would do enough talking to this person, google searching their name and soul searching before meeting someone.





Another interesting question is how much responsibility should be put on the site to make sure people are safe? If you went to a bar and met someone completely crazy it seems likely you wouldn't sue the bar. Why is there an assumed security to the internet? In many ways going to the internet to date is like going to a bar, it's just facilitated by an outside company solely for that. Not like a bar where you'll encounter 21st birthdays, bachelor/ette parties and things of the like. 3





I'm a proponent of personal responsibility, and this is just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth... probably nothing.