Meeting someone you met online?

they are "for" my protection

First, I never rush into anything. Been there, done that, wound up with an arsonist.

I like to move slowly from e-mail and IM, to phone calls (I almost never give anyone from a website my phone number anymore -- actually, only 2 from Mingle have it), and, maybe, eventually, to a face-to-face meeting.

But, having been fooled several times in the past by on-liners, I am extremely skeptical of the legitimacy of people I meet here, until I have interacted with them for awhile and can get a sense of who they really are.

And I've even been fooled after taking all the precautions.

In my mind, there are still decent people in the world. I want to believe some of them use dating sites. I've seen no evidence of it, but I would still like to believe it! And yes, I may very well be fooled again. And I'll take the responsibility for that, if and when it happens.

I wholeheartedly agree with Lex.

I also do not involve my children until I've spent some time with the guy and am relatively sure I'll continue to do so.

Nice to have some kind of documentation the the guy is clean...if you know what I mean.

i have lab results...!!

I think considerable time spent talking in some form begins to show patterns (honesty vs. dishonesty etc.) and not rushing things is a big deal for me. Not because the other person is rushing me, but because I tend to lose patience with electronic forms of communication. If I'm interested in someone my heart tells me to jump in and my head has to remind me to slow down! It's important to get a good feel for the person before you put trust in an actual meeting.

Above all, my main rule is to go with my gut instinct. If something seems sketchy, it probably is. Also there are obviously safety concerns you have to consider, but that pretty much goes without saying.