Select a Dating Service
Select your online dating service carefully.➟ Look for an established, popular site with plenty of
members and a philosophy that matches your own.➟ Review the site’s policy regarding your privacy and its
procedures for screening members. Make sure you’re
comfortable with them.➟ Use a service that provides an e-mail system that you
use for contacting other members only (sometimes
called private messaging). By using the site’s e-mail
rather than your own e-mail address, you can main-
tain your privacy.➟ Some sites, such as http://saferdates.com,
shown in Figure 9-3,offer stronger levels of authenti-
cating members. Safer Dates, for example, uses finger-
print identification and screening to make you more
confident that you know who you’re interacting with.➟ Visit a site such as http://www.onlinedatingtips.org
for comparisons of sites. Whether you choose a sen-
ior-specific dating site such as DatingForSeniors.com
or a general population site such as PerfectMatch.
com, reading reviews about them ahead of time will
help you make the best choice.If you try a site and experience an unpleasant incident
involving another member, report it and make sure
the service follows through to enforce its policies. If it
doesn’t, find another service.186
Part II: Using the Internet While Dodging the Risk