Some helpful on-line dating guidelines….

Be yourself

It may be daunting, but it’s YOU and your personality, likes and dislike that people must meet on-line – not your impression of who you think people would like to meet. And, although it may sound obvious, you’ll feel pretty silly when the time comes to meet face-to-face if you haven’t been totally honest on-line – its probably not the best way to start off a potential relationship either!

Be positive about yourself

When creating your personal profile, mention positive aspects of your personality, things you are good at, things you enjoy doing. We all have our own insecurities and are fantastic at picking holes in our own character - it takes much more effort to see our positive sides! When communicating with a potential date, give them enough (honest!) information to encourage them to meet with you but not enough to scare them away (such as your wedding plans)!

Be safety conscious

There are some simple but essential safety rules:

• Do not put personal information (such as phone number, personal e-mail, address, etc.) on your profile
• When meeting a new date for the first few times, ensure at least one trusted friend knows who you are meeting, where, what time you expect to return and your date’s phone number (if possible)
• Meet up in a very public place until you get to know your date – if your prospective date doesn’t want to meet up in public, forget him/her!
• Trust your gut feeling! – if something about the date feels wrong – make a reasonable excuse and leave – you must remain in control of your dating experience!
• Organise your own travel to the meeting place and always have a charged mobile phone (with credit!) with you

Pay attention

Unfortunately, there are some highly unsuitable dates out there (also known as crazies!) and chances are, you will encounter at least one of them before you find your soulmate! Fear not, this is entirely normal and to help you out we’ve provided a few telltale signs to weed them out.

• Any inappropriate messages and / or abuse of the LoveGAA dating system should be reported to the administrator immediately.
• Look out for signs of unreasonable behaviour – eg. Not taking no for an answer, pressuring you for personal information – stop communicating with these people immediately!
• Again, trust your gut feeling – if there are inconsistencies in a member’s communications which cannot be explained or if communication with any member leaves you feeling uncomfortable, this is not be your soulmate and you should probably stop communicating with them

When meeting your date: 

• Look for a wedding ring (or the dent formed by one which is normally worn when the owner is not being adulterous!) – Seriously, NOT worth it!
• Pay particular attention to how your date addresses the waiter / waitress / cashier / barperson – it will tell you a lot about the real character of your date
• Don’t be shallow! Just because someone doesn’t look like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie doesn’t mean that person isn’t your potential soulmate – give their personality a chance to shine through… You just never know what can happen…..

Don’t treat the date like its an interview! Sure, its good to ask questions about your date’s likes and dislikes but it’s not supposed to feel like an audition for Dragons Den or the Apprentice!

Who pays? Traditionally the male has been expected to stump up the cost of the date but given the current state of equality it may be more reasonable for the female to pay her own way – or at least offer to!