Two words: Red Flags.
I hound about these two words in my other posts, but pay attention!
When two people are online, they can look like, seem like, and be like anyone. How will you truly know who they are? I have had guys tell me they are from Oregon, yet suddenly I am sending them stuff in Ghana. How many stories have I heard from men who say the woman looked totally different in real life than her picture posted. Or for that matter, I have heard women say the same thing of men. How do you know if he/she is “dating” only you? The other person could be a drug addict or alcoholic. Would you know? The issue is this: until two people physically meet, look into each other’s eyes, and watch their body language (whether you realize you are doing this or not), they will never know if they can truly trust the other. If you think you can without this meeting, you are sadly living in a rose colored world.
I will add this anecdotal story: When I was going through a divorce, I was writing a man in England. Oh, we got along so well. He was having the same problems with his wife as I was with my husband. We talked for a long time. He would send wonderful thoughtful e-cards when I needed them. We never made plans of being together, but he had mentioned another area of England he wanted to live in once he left his wife. It was so nice, to have a man talk to me, to show thought for me, and to say those little things I was not getting. As soon as I informed him I was actually going to go for the divorce, he disappeared. I never heard from him again. I think he feared with my real life divorce impending now, I would try to come over to England and find him. Just to set the record straight, this was never my intention at all. I never had thoughts of living there or finding him.
So, I guess one could classify what I had with this English fellow as dating online, but since we never met, I don’t feel we were dating, but rather sharing our hearts online, in support of each other.
Dating online is not real dating. The whole purpose and plan of dating is for two people to formalize a relationship by getting to know the other person. Dating is supposed to be dinners, for the purpose conversation; for walks together, to share small physical touches; for meeting family and friends, to assess if you two can socially interact together.
