While the bar scene serves a purpose, Online Dating or online personals sites allow you to initially meet quality singles from the comfort of your own home or workplace. You do so utilizing a Double Blind Email system that prevents the person that you are emailing from knowing who you are - allowing for a graceful and easy exit if the person with whom you are exchanging email is not your type. To further your privacy and safety most online dating sites do not permit members to post personal information such as last name, street address, Phone number or personal email address on profiles.

Once you are communicating with a potential date over a dating site's double blind email, look for consistency in what is said and use common sense in regards to any requests asking you to divulge personal information. No need to feel pressured. You can either tell the person you are emailing to take it slow or just stop emailing the person altogether.

When you have a comfort level with the person you have been double blind emailing, you can either arrange a meeting in a public place over email or proceed to talk on a secure phone. Speaking on the phone is a great way to get a better feel as to whether this person is your type, but to be safe, make sure you only give out a cell phone number or if you are calling your potential date from a regular phone, make sure that caller ID block is activated. Look in the front of your phone book to determine how this is done.

You may also want to request a picture from your potential date if they do not have one posted on their profile - or offer one if you do not have one posted. Seeing a picture will give you a much better feel about that person and allow you to see if they are your type. Once you decide to meet, make sure you set up the meeting in a public place that you are familiar with - such as a restaurant bar, café, or coffee house. I suggest you keep an initial meeting to an hour or so, just in case there is not a match. You can always extend that meeting if both agree.

Remember to use common sense, go with your gut instinct and to follow the above safety tips. While dating is not a risk free venture, you can go a long way to ensuring a safe and fun experience. Female friends of mine have surprised themselves as in the past they have given their home phone number to a man they just met at a bar, party or social event, and after one phone conversation had the man pick them up at their home for a first date. They now say they use the common sense approach to safety mentioned here on all dates - whether through online dating or by more traditional ways of meeting.