Meeting people online.

[ampthejazz]

How does everyone here feel about meeting people that they've met online? How do you feel about dating them?

I'm wondering because I've been talking to someone online for a while now, and I think he's really cool. He goes to a university near where I live, and I went to his dorm last weekend. He's a music major, so he and I have a lot to talk about. He and I also have a lot of mutual friends, and I know he's not some creepy weirdo.

I guess what I'm wondering is whether it would be weird for me to start seeing someone that I met online. I feel like some of my friends would look down on that, and it would make my parents feel really uneasy (though it wouldn't be hard for me to lie about how we met).

[Latinokid]

Well if you met him in person and you like him and think hes a good person and have friends that know ur friends then i dont see why not.Sometimes the most unsual things turn out to be the best...or work themselves out like that

[Miaplacidus]

Well, I might go to the US next year, invited by a friend I met online. And I plan to meet some people from EC - in fact, the plan is to stay with a dear friend from here for a while. But dating... well, I'll see once I'm there ;)

[Cloud Nine 5]

Last time I met someone online he was way older and I got into his car after 10 minutes we talked on MSN cause I was that lost. Now THAT would be an embarassing story to tell. The way you described it doesn't sound bad actually. You have mutual friends and he lives near you, plus you've talked for a long time.

And even if it does sound uncool or whatever, who cares about the comments.. he sounds decent and thats what matters.

[Dantir]

More and more people are meeting in real life via primarily meeting each other online. You've heard those stories about people moving thousands of miles to marry that person and they always (from what I've heard) have a happy ending.

Just like homosexuality, online relationships are having to be accepted because they are becoming a bigger part of our lives.

Those people who would look down on you: Do they have a myspace? If so, do they talk to anyone they met online? Who says that they're not interested in meeting someone in person? They may be just jealous that you have found someone you really like and they haven't. :D

Of course, I could be wrong. But unless you can't determine that the person you talking to is some paedophile, I don't see the harm nor the drop in dignity when most of the people in the world are conversing using t3h internetz right now.

(I can't be bothered reading over what I've written, so forgive me if it doesn't make sense :p)

[biisme]

If you have mutual friends, then theoretically you might have met in the future through one of them. If you want to I say go for it!

[Jim1454]

It sounds to me like you've got something pretty good going - I don't see why you wouldn't pursue it just because you met online. He's bright (going to university), close in age, has similar interests, and you're attracted to him.

As mentioned above, more and more people are meeting online now. Is it any wonder? We seem to spend most of the day in front of our computers! It allows us to be in contact with others that are most similar to us - virtually. If one of those people actually happens to be local to you, and you hit it off - great!

I met my friend online, and the more we chatted, the more we thought that we'd like to actually meet in person. We first met online 3 months ago, and now we can't get enough of each other! I don't question how we met - I'm just really thankful that we did!

[SpikySpice]

Right, if you feel like this person is really cool, and really nice, kind to you and you guys are enjoying your time together, go for it, but spend more time face to face to get to know him more. It’s technology world, people normally meet online now, since some of us dont know nobody around

Last month I met a guy MySpace who just transfered to my school, and amazingly we met each other in music class, we didnt even know that happen, me and him both like music too, so yeah we enoy being next to each other, but we just hang out with our friends, we don’t go out along,and we are good friends :)

[budhead]

Sounds like it's a safe situation to me, as you already have some real world knowledge of him from mutual friends.

Hopefully he's gay, if you plan on dating him. I got attracted to a gay acting type guy, just to find that he recently got a girlfriend. I'm sure glad that happened before I had asked him out. There's so few gay guys out there, so any way you can meet them the better. Online is just another way.

I know of your concerns about the online stigma. Some at my work raised their eyebrows when one guy mentioned that he met his girlfriend online. He's 24 and thought nothing of it, it was normal to him. I think that it's only the older generation that has this hang up, as the new generation sees the true value of the internet.

I think that meeting someone online and chatting for a number of weeks or months to get to know them is actually a safer way of meeting people than randomly meeting a total stranger at a bar or pool hall. If all goes well and the relationship blossoms, then to meet the online person in a public place, maybe bring a friend a long with you.

You didn't mention what online site you met him on. A place like EC is great as you're already meeting people with similar interests and situations. An EC member is more likely to be the real deal compared to those "Meat Market" type web sites which have a lot of creeps on them.

I hope that you meet an excellent new friend. Don't worry about people who don't understand the online world. It would be tragic if you miss out on a chance like this.

There's no shame in meeting people online. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread!

All the best.