(The following material is not gospel, but is simply based upon some research, some personal experience and some common sense – ChinaLoveMatch.net eMagazine welcomes you, our member and reader, to provide your own insights and experiences on this subject by a submission to us at emagazine@chinalovematch.net.)
Take your time and read this carefully. It might save you a lot of grief, and enhance your online dating experience.
Keep Your Mind Open and Your Insecurities At Bay
Meeting people on the internet should be enjoyable and fun. You should be able to meet lots of people, spend a little time getting to know each one, narrow them down to the few or the one you think you would like to at least be friends with, and then get to know him, her or them better. Finally you should be at a comfortable point where it is time to move on to personal contact.
The ones you wish to eliminate early should recognize that it is not personal, it is not animosity, it is not rudeness, it is simply a matter of having too many options to follow up on every person in detail, and therefore having to exercise your discretion based on limited information together with gut instinct and/or intuition. You can't spend too much time on every person you encounter so you have to devote that time to those who spark some real interest in you. The people you must quickly reject, assuming you do so in a polite and fair manner, should recognize that it just wasn't their moment in time for meeting you.
And if you want to keep it enjoyable and fun, when you are the one being rejected you must recognize the same thing – it wasn't your moment in time for meeting them. In the simplest terms, keep an open mind and remember that on the internet the options are so endless that the next great potential friend or partner is just around the cyber corner.
But there are other things to keep always in mind in order to enjoy your web dating experience instead of allowing it to become a disaster.
Dating Safety
As we have said, web dating can be and probably 99% of the time is a lot of fun. This section is not designed to scare you away from web dating or any other use of the internet. Rather it is intended to help you ensure that you never have to fall into that 1% of people who do not end up having a good experience dating on the internet.
There are three general categories of individuals you can encounter on the web who represent decreasing degrees of danger or threat to your web safety, and to some extent to your psychological and even physical well being. These people are the basic scum of the earth and require your ongoing vigilance. We have divided them into three categories based not on the type of activity they engage in, which is similarly fraudulent activity based upon lies and deceit, but is rather divided according to the degree of harm they are prepared to or intending to inflict upon you. They are, from the most harmful to least harmful, the following:
1. Predators
Let's get this straight; there is scant evidence that any of the serious predator crimes discussed under this heading have ever taken place in connection with a web dating site. But there is legitimate concern that it may happen someday. It is of course a major concern with similarly styled predators (pedophiles) preying on children on the internet. So don't panic please, we just feel it our duty to advise you, our member, of any risks to be on the lookout for.
These people have no conscience and are prepared, indeed planning, to do you grievous harm. They include men who have intentions of sexual assaults on unsuspecting women, and individuals, couples or groups who may wish to lure you, be you male or female, halfway around the world in order rob you, kidnap you, enslave you or worse. Of course they are a few individuals out of millions, and your chances of encountering one of them are extremely low, perhaps lower than being struck by lightning, but if you do you should know the signs to look for and the precautions to take.
Of course their plans are detailed and well thought out, so they will always have a good story to tell. Watch out for too good a story.They have an agenda, so watch out for someone who doesn't want to adapt to your needs. They need to be in control and want to get you on their turf, so don't let them set all the guidelines as to where your first meeting will take place, or when. If you aren't easily controlled you make a difficult victim – it becomes easier to just pass on you and look for someone who does what they're told.However, we are not experts on this subject. If you wish to know more one place you might start is a book called "Web Stalkers – Protect Yourself from Internet Criminals and Psychopaths", written by Donald Andert & Donald K. Burleson.
Some of the tips set out below under "Scammers" and "Game Players" apply here as well, even more so.
2. Scammers
Scammers are individuals who do not have intentions of inflicting any physical damage upon you; they just want your money.Unfortunately these people abound on web dating sites.At ChinaLoveMatch.net we are taking as many steps as possible to weed this type of member out.Unfortunately, it isn't possible to catch them all in advance and we require some evidence that a member is scamming before we can refuse them or terminate their memberships, so no doubt there are a few even on this website.But we are confident that the percentages are much, much lower than on other such sites.If you find someone clearly trying to scam you on ChinaLoveMatch.net, please report their activities to us at service@ChinaLoveMatch.net. If we discover a scammer and terminate their membership, we will notify all members immediately if we perceive a serious threat, or in our next newsletters otherwise, so they can discontinue contact.
Scammers are usually registered on a dating site as a female member. That doesn't mean they are female, frequently the person behind the profile is a man, and just as frequently a couple, one man and one woman.The scammer will develop your interest in her, and then start to need your assistance, financial assistance specifically.At first, usually the amount she needs seems so small to you, coming from a wealthy first world economy, that you can't believe it is a scam. In your mind it just isn't enough to bother with.Maybe she developed a computer problem, and if she can't get it fixed how can she continue to communicate with you? Maybe her Mom is ill and needs some medicine?She hates to place her problems in your lap, but she feels so close to you already, and she has nowhere else to turn. Of course you'll send her the $50 needed to solve this problem. You love that she would ask you to help.
The tricky part is that it could easily be true, maybe her computer really did break down, maybe her Mom really is sick.You can't be sure and to turn her down may just cost you the most wonderful chance at happiness you've had in years. It could all be true, and the scammer knows that, that's why her/his story is so good.But it may not be true, and there may be 19 other guys falling for the same story at the same time.Suddenly that $50 is actually $1,000 and that's a nice monthly income in China , and a small fortune in a place like Russia , Vietnam and most other Asian countries.
And it could just be stage one of a plan to eventually invade your bank account or turn you into a monthly supporter.We have heard form good sources of female members on some Russian sites who have 4 or more "fiancés", each of whom is supporting her with a good monthly income.
Another frequent scam comes out of Africa, and usually involves someone registering as a wealthy North American or European male and trying to convince a female member that for reasons of emergency she should send him a short-term loan due to some emergency he's suffering while in Africa conducting business. Alternately it may be someone registering as a beautiful Asian or Caucasian woman who is in Africa working or on a charitable mission, and she'd love to come and visit a male member if only he would send her the money for her flights.
Also generated from Africa is the ongoing attempt by Scammers to persuade other members to take part in some fictional scheme to help move huge stolen, embezzled or otherwise acquired wealth out of some African country in return for a large share of the wealth. Inevitably the scam ultimately involves the victim providing some initial funding in order to bribe some official, or open a necessary bank account or some other necessary step in order to move the process forward. Once the victim has provided the initial funds the scammers are never heard from again.
Other scams involve simply getting you to provide your email address, which batched in with hundreds of others is a saleable commodity. Or to have you click on a link that will ultimately allow her/him full access to your computer, your identity, your personal information and ultimately, your bank account.
A subset of Scammers are what we call "Agents". These individuals will register on a website as a beautiful female member, initiate contact and ongoing communications, and then once they have a member "hooked" advise him that they actually "represent" the female member as her agent and they require substantial fees to carry the budding relationship to the next step.Alternately, a false member will lure the unsuspecting male member to an alternate website to obtain translations and other services at outrageous prices. Often the new site will charge unapproved items to the victim's credit card, refuse to provide support, and then suddenly discontinue contact altogether.
Watch out for a member who too quickly wants you to go directly to personal email contact.If in that first or second message you are already being asked to email her address from your own, ask yourself why?You can continue to message her from our site for a long time at no additional cost.One of your greatest protections is just to stay on the dating site for communications until you are confident she is for real. The scammer desperately wants off site as quickly as possible, to avoid being caught and to get more personal.Usually a scammer will tire after maintaining contact on the site for even a few messages, because she/he wants easier targets to deal with.She/he will drop you and move onto easier fish to catch.
Of course watch out for someone who too quickly asks for money. In the case of ChinaLoveMatch.net, we can confidently say that genuine and sincere Chinese ladies do not wish to lose face with you, and to ask a stranger for money is a loss of face. She will do almost anything to find other sources of money, friends or family, a second job, even selling something she owns, before she will lose face with you if she is genuinely interested in you for the right reasons.
3.Game Players
Game Players are members who are not after your money, but they are after something of value – your pride, your psyche, your sense of well being. They are probably usually male members, but that statistic is becoming less true all the time.These are people who, for some reason, soothe their own egos by damaging yours.It's okay to play games if the person on the other side is also playing games, and both sides are aware of it.But it's quite another thing to deceive someone into trusting you just so you can deflate their pride or even break their heart.But for some reason the game player thinks that a "loss" for you is a "win" for him/her.
The variety of games being played or goals being aimed for is endless, far too varied for us to provide a list. In the case of male game players, probably the ultimate goal is a consensual sexual conquest.But it might be a final giving in to a request for sexy pictures, or something more innocent, like simply having a number of women's interest, all wanting him at the same time. For the female game player the goal might be receipt of nice gifts, especially from several men at the same time, or maybe she finds self worth in being told she is loved and admired by as many men as possible.The point is, don't let your self worth suffer at the hands of these people.
As the dating site it is almost impossible for us to control this behavior.We can't terminate someone's membership because another person complains of ill treatment unless that is backed up by solid evidence, and solid evidence is almost impossible to provide. Given undeniably clear evidence of improper behavior we will terminate a member's status, but it almost always becomes one member's word against another, and we cannot be the one to judge on that basis.However, we do offer one excellent tool to protect you from another member's unwanted attention, your Blacklist.On ChinaLoveMatch.net you are entitled to place any other member you wish on your Blacklist under My Space.Once on your Blacklist that other member is unable to contact you in any manner.
Watch out for someone who is too quick to express real love (why would someone seriously searching for a life partner jump into "love" overnight), someone who seems preoccupied while chatting with you (maybe he/she is chatting with several members at once, someone who doesn't remember the things you've written in your profile or told him/her in a previous message (maybe he/she is juggling too many contacts) or someone who says something in a chat or a message that doesn't seem to be directed at you, like asking you about Sidney, Australia, when you live in Vancouver, Canada (maybe you're being confused with someone else on his/her list of conquests).
Most importantly of all, when you find yourself the victim of a game player, remember that it is his/her fragile sense of self worth that brought you there, not your own.He/she is truly the "loser".Don't give up on the rest of the members of your favorite site (hopefully ChinaLoveMatch.net) because most of them are truly, sincerely and honestly searching for you.
Safety Tips
Having now probably scared half of you off of web dating, we now wish to provide some useful tips that will ensure that you really have nothing to fear.Just follow a few pretty simple precautions and you'll be safe from anything going much wrong.
Contrary to what most people fear, web dating is actually a great way to protect yourself, if you exercise appropriate precaution. Why?Because it gives you a chance to meet hundreds or even thousands of people who want to be your life partner, and weed out all but those who you are seriously interested in before you have to actually meet them and really invest yourself in them. If you are searching for your true love in person, be it in bars or coffee shops or even in your work place or school, before you know a thing about them you have already been persuaded by the great smile or the unique gesture or the swaying of the hips.On the internet, you can take some time to explore who they are before succumbing to their wiles. In person you're hooked before you're ready, and you'll forgive faults too easily in order to maintain the image of perfection you've created. On the internet, if you take your time, you may spot that major flaw and you can simply exit the situation, but in person, you will overlook the same flaw because the situation is already too complex to escape.
Pick Your Website With Care
"Free" is a very relative term.It may be free if it costs you nothing to join, nothing to kiss, nothing to meet and nothing to chat, but it also costs the bad actors nothing to play games, nothing to scam, nothing to hunt, nothing to kill. The point is that the same site that is free for you is also free for the game players, the scammers and the predators of the world.
No website is "free". It can't exist without either income or donations. Income is derived from either membership fees, advertising or product sales. Donations are charitable and hardly apply to a dating website."Free" dating websites make their money almost exclusively from advertising.If they don't care about your fees, then they don't care about you.You are a number, not a person, or more specifically not a "member".
If you only interested in floating along for the ride, in playing the game, in enjoying the hunt, then you truly belong on and will enjoy a "free" dating website.And that is where you should be.
On the other hand, if you are truly interested in finding and enjoying a genuine international relationship with a beautiful woman who feels the same way, then choose a website that may not be "free" but that will truly respect and care for your interests. You are investing in the single most important component of your life – your wife, your partner, your lifemate, your true love – is it truly appropriate that such an investment be "free"?
Be it ChinaLoveMatch.net or one of the other dating sites who truly cares, choose to invest your time and your money in this venture wisely – pick someone who cares and will watch your back, pick someone who will guard your interests and your fellow members interests to every extent possible.
Your LifeMate is the single most important investment you will ever make; more than your house, your business, and even your education. Invest Wisely.
The General Process
Some of what follows may seem repetitive because we have already generalized on it, but it is worth repeating in detail:
Now for some specifics:
The Details:
This is info you'll find on almost any responsible and mature dating website that cares about you, so if it isn't there, ask some questions before you continue with them. It's basic, but important.
Now, How to Have Fun and Be Mr. Popular
Now its time to tell you how to have a great time while Web Dating, and how to be really successful at it. Since ChinaLoveMatch.net is specifically aimed at Western Men meeting Chinese Women, many of these pointers are specifically aimed at guys who are interested in Asian and Chinese Women, but I think they can generally be applied to any
Online Dating site and most women.But do remember this is about Online Dating for people seriously interested in a long term relationship, not about cyber sex or cheap thrills. If that's what you're interested in you're on the wrong website.
1.Focus on the Things you Really Want in a Woman
The point of web dating, besides trying to find someone to become your lifemate, is to have fun, to meet people easily, to experiment in a safety zone, and to find the women that really interest you while weeding out the rest before you go through the expense and pain of actually dating them in the real world. Focus on the features of a woman that are important to you if you're going to marry her. If intelligence, independence and large breasts are your primary interest in any woman you would ever wish to marry, then look through the thousands of available profiles for the girls with those characteristics. That's how you're narrowing the field.Of course it was the intelligence in her eyes and her independent spirit that first drew you to her. You might want to wait a little while before you tell her that her breasts were a big part of the draw.
The point is you don't have to feel guilty or bad about your inner thoughts.Don't hurt people in the process, don't cause pain, but feel free to pursue what you really want, not what is deemed politically or socially correct. This is your "lifemate" you are lookingfor, so find the person you're really seeking.
2.Play the Field
You aren't cheating on her by also chatting with other Chinese Women on the same website, at least not until you've come to believe she is the one for you and you've made a serious commitment to her. Meanwhile, you're internet dating for crying out loud, you've never met her yet, touched her, even had dinner with her.This is the time to enjoy the chance to meet as many ladies as possible to ensure you find the one who is most compatible with you.Just be fair about it and let her enjoy the same opportunity. If, after lots of interplay with lots of people, she narrows it down to you, and you have narrowed it down to her, then you have a real chance at success.
3.Dress Yourself Up a Bit
This is your chance to put your best foot forward. Have some great (natural looking) photos taken of yourself.Put on your best clothes.Just like in real life, first impressions are lasting impressions. If she knows you can dress up and look good when the need arises, she's far less likely to hold it against you that sometimes (maybe most of the time) you look like the cat just dragged you in.
Here are a few "photo" tips:
4.Be Careful About Misunderstandings
You are going to have misunderstandings sometimes, especially if she is from a different culture than you, a Chinese Woman for example. You need to be patient and thoughtful about things she writes. So often something in the written word has a totally different meaning than if it is spoken face to face."You are fat" in writing means you are fat, and it is kind of insulting, right?But if a woman says "you are fat" to your face with a great big adoring smile, then it may mean "you are fantastic" (one of the slang meanings of "fat"), or it at least means you are a tiny bit overweight but she absolutely adores you and finds it hugely attractive.But add in that she is Chinese, and it can also mean you are overweight and that means you are healthy and happy and you will enjoy her cooking, because traditionally the Chinese feel that if their husband is fat they are taking good care of him. So look for the best meaning in everything, and if you can't find one, then say flat out "you just insulted me, did you mean to do that?" and give her a chance to explain and straighten it out.Don't sit there with hurt feelings.
5.Take a Deep Breath
You are dating on you computer.Chances are that you don't know squat even about your own computer.I own a major dating website and I still never have a day go by that my own computer doesn't do something unexpected and baffling, such as suddenly not showing pictures. And at least once a day I want to take my computer and throw it off my balcony (and I am on the 9th floor).If she is an Asian woman, chances are very good that she knows even less than you about computers. In fact if she knows too much about computers she better have a good reason – otherwise you should be worried that she is a scammer.
The point is that you will have occasions when things go wrong on your computer or hers, and it takes time to get it corrected, often a day or two for your computer geek friend, or hers, to come and figure it out. In addition, sometimes the website you are members of has a glitch, or is under construction for a few hours, or their server is down, or your provider is down, etc. When this stuff happens, take a deep breath and be patient. If she is right for you and is truly interested in you, then she is sitting on the other side of the problem also anxiously waiting to chat with you again. Relax and go have a beer or coffee with the boys, who have been wondering where you disappeared to for the last 8 days.
6.Don't Be Afraid To Show Your Humor, But Have a Thick Skin
The point of a relationship is to enjoy it, so if you are the kind of guy who loves to joke around, then joke around.But remember that a joke spoken is often hilarious but a joke written is often flat as the proverbial pancake. And also remember that what is funny to a Western man may not be funny to an Asian girl.She may not get the subtext.So don't be offended if she "just doesn't get it".
Chinese and Asian women generally love to joke and laugh and have fun, but it may take a while before either of you "get" the other one's joke. Never be insulted if she fails to laugh.
7.Do Unto Others
Online dating is no different than any other form of human interaction in that common decency is a fundamental requirement.Whether or not you are Christian, the Golden Rule is always applicable. Treat her the way you wish to be treated by her.If you feel good about yourself and the way you are treating the Chinese or Asian women you are "web dating" you will enjoy the experience, and on the rare occasion when she is not good to you, you will simply realize you were lucky her true colors came out, dump her and move on to the ones who are good to you. No need to feel hurt or unhappy about it, if this was regular dating you might have spent a fortune on her before you found out she is not a good person.
8.Be Open and Honest
Always be open and honest about the really important things. You are looking for your lifemate.How will you know if you have found her if you aren't honest with her.Online Dating is about meeting lots of women, Asian or Chinese if that is your preference, getting to know them, and slowly narrowing them down to the one you want to be with forever. style="font-weight: bold;" If you are not open and honest you simply will never achieve your goal because you will end up with someone who thinks you are someone you are not, and that is a relationship that is doomed to fail.
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