If you become convinced that this person is not what you are after in a date, then you will be able to decline the invitation. Look carefully at your screen and you’ll see an icon that will give you the option to block the person from contacting you. Use this option if you wish to have no contact whatsoever. However, many websites prefer you to send the person a polite email to decline the invitation and give your reason why. They feel that this will enhance the friendly feel that they want the site to have and make everyone’s experience of it a happy one.

If they seem a nice person, but you just don’t want them to contact you – you might have others in view – be firm, but polite and let them know that it is nothing personal. You don’t want them to feel depressed about themselves for weeks because you rejected them. Let them know it has nothing to do with their looks or any thing else, but is just a personal decision on your part. Assure them that they will be sure to meet many other people who will be eager to date them. Being kind like this will make you feel good about yourself and help the recipient of your email to feel the same. Good manners and kindness don’t cost anything.

You will also be able to block any initial contact such as anyone sending you what is called a Virtual Kiss or some other kind of flirtation. Go to your profile details and uncheck the box next to that the icon to disable it if you wish to. Doing this right at the start of your online experience may save you from having to explain why you don’t want to make contact with them. Remember, if you stay in control of your online dating experience you will be happier and safer. It is important to trust your instincts and use common sense with online dating, just as you would with offline dating.

These questions are often in the form of a quiz, and all you have to do is check the most appropriate box (or circle) in the row. They may ask questions like: – are you content, humorous, efficient, artistic, a perfectionist, creative, etc. with options ranging from a little to a lot. This sounds simple at first, but one site has well over 75 questions of this type to answer. Okay, so you only have to tick each one, but it still does take up quite a bit of time.

Once the easy questions have been answered, you will be likely to get some harder questions. Never mind; they are important and at least they are mostly still to be answered with a check in a box or circle, so at least that part is easy. These are to find out about what sorts of values are important to you, whether you are good at resolving conflict, what background you come from and all those kinds of things.

Not only do you have to answer questions about yourself, your personality traits, your likes and dislikes, whether you have a faith and how important it is to you, your background and whether you would prefer a serious relationship or one less so, you also need to answer questions about what you would prefer to find in your prospective date. Most of these will be on a similar line to the ones you just answered about yourself. But you are likely to answer them in a different way. Why? Because you are not going to want a date that is a carbon copy of yourself in every way.

It is important to answer all these questions as truthfully as possible, even though it may seem to take forever. If you are serious about finding a person that you get on well with, these questions will help the dating service find a really good match for you. In fact, they will probably find several, and it will then be up to you to choose whom you want to get in touch with.

Most online dating services have a great deal of protection in place for your own personal safety. They do not give out your real email address to anyone and neither should you. Even though you must give your real email address to the dating service, most use technology in the form of a double-blind email system to keep your email address anonymous. When you join up, you will be given an email address that you should use for the purpose of contacting others in the dating service. You should never reveal your private email address to anyone.

Your online dating service will never send you an email asking for your account password or secure names or numbers. The only time this is likely to happen is if you have instigated a query to the help line. Another thing you should never do is give out your credit card number to anyone who sends you an email asking for it. Or if the email has a form to write it into, do not do this. Some fraudulent people may pretend to be the website dating service and send an email in order to get your credit card number. Always check on the blue line at the top of the screen. It should have the name of the dating service and their website host on it. Many will tell you what this is when you join up.

If you use a public computer to access your online dating service, always be sure to sign out before leaving, otherwise the next person to use it will have access to your personal information. Never give anyone your real address either. Some people who use dating websites may not be fully trustworthy, so if you remember to never divulge your personal details, you will be protected from these frauds.

When you join an online dating service, you should always read the terms and conditions very carefully. There you will find other details that will put you wise to any frauds or scams that you may come across. Remember, this knowledge will keep you safe only if you act upon it.