Have you even made contact with anyone you have met on the internet?

[autopilot]

About 10 years ago, a guy i went to school with starting chatting with an American girl on the net while at uni. Eventually they met, fell in love and got married. Luck git because her dad was the CEO of Catapiler USA. Now he live's in Seatle and works for Microsoft. Was unheard of at the time (mid 90's) and made the national press.

I once met a girl in a chat room and it turned out she only lived a few miles away. Met her and she was an absolue honey. Had a brief fling, but she went to uni.

But you do hear of some right horror stories. So I was just wondering what peoples experiences are here.

(I am very bored at work).

[Lee H]

Had a few meetings with people from on the web.

Met Vicky ( one of my ex's ) on AIM one day sat there bored and a message popped up and thought stuff it I might as well say "hello"

Met another bunch of folks that are crazier than me basically and we all tend to meet at least once a year and get drunk and take over places like Alton Towers when they are in quiet season.

[DavidM]

Met a few friends online - and have met up every so often... like WM just for boozing and so on.

[turbo]

yer i 'nearly' did, at the time I was 16 (im 21 now), the only thing that stopped us meeting was the distance and that fact that neither of us could drive (both 16) I suppose it would have been fairytale to think anything would happen but i do believe that if both parties are totally honest with what they tell the other person and pics and that sort of thing are exchanged then what have you got to loose? if you can get on with someone over a screen why not face to face?

[Stoo]

I've met up with a hell of a lot of online friends (50+ at the last count), most of them I'm still in contact with

[silent ben]

Met alot of friends on the net, my ex gf was a friend of a friend who i started talking to on msn first before we met up.

Personally i'd never sign up for a dating service though

[DavidM]

if you can get on with someone over a screen why not face to face?

Trouble is - the horror stories about online meetings are true. I did know one person fairly well who almost got killed meeting someone in the same way. They turned out to be about 20 years older than claimed, and have a criminal record for assault - and worse.

Definately wise to be cautious.

[Grey M@a]

So moral of this story is to go visit them if you wish but go packing tasers and machette's etc etc

I met XTR of this very forum though here, lets see, I know kirkabus from the school years, brodieman is from uni year's other than that met a few people from wow as the guild seems to be over run by geordies (and a few mackum's but we don't mention them )

[Mike Fishcake]

Met loads of people... too many to mention really!

I know of several who have actually got together, one of which is kinda "meeting on the internet by proxy" - a mate meets the twin sister of someone i'd been talking to and they start seeing each other, get married, have children and live happily ever after!

[shiato storm]

youch!
friend of my g/f's meets guys on the intenet then takes off over the country. its a tad irresponsible of her parents that she's only 17/18...and she's been doing it for ages. thing is the blokes she apparently chases are all a bit odd in one way or another, behaviourally. She also has no female friends which has got to be a little odd.
I think we've all been on chat rooms and had a laugh etc., and how likely are the pictures put up going to be those of the chatee? [especially if they're a real hotty]
no, you want real women, go out with your mates to a pub/club...anything then you can meet anyone you like and guage them there and then. I agree, the blanket of anonymity you gain may help your confidence online in chatting to strangers but being involved in a chat room itself assumes you're there to participate, at a bar etc you can shrink away from the crowds and keep to yourself...also that blanket of security you get online also masks those who are deceitful, so it works both ways. the moral of the story?
get out more.

[Stoo]

Personally, I've found that people are usually willing to be more truthful over the net than in "real life", and you can meet a complete psycho in any number of ways (it's not restricted to the net).

People may take the michael, but effectively, it's not really any different to writing a letter, sending a text message, or having a phone conversation (okay, so you don't *hear* their voice ), it's just the medium that changes.

As long as you don't go into anything blind, and follow the standard meeting rules you're going to be as safe as anyone else.

[magemanda]

I've met a couple of people over the Net, but only in a friendship sort of way. We were involved in the same hobby and met up at a couple of tournaments.

[shiato storm]

have any of you been onto one of those rant forums...i went once to see what people were ranting about and oh my god! it was jus t a load of red-necks shouting the whole time, the chat room was voice activated. needless to say my perusal was brief and unrepeated!

[turbo]

Trouble is - the horror stories about online meetings are true. I did know one person fairly well who almost got killed meeting someone in the same way. They turned out to be about 20 years older than claimed, and have a criminal record for assault - and worse.

Definately wise to be cautious.

I totally agree fella thats why i mention the truth factor in my post, of course many people choose to bend the truth either a little or to a level like you mention. naturally these horror stories are the minority but sadly they tend to be the dominating view.

I moved on from the internet chatting dating thing, yes it can work but to many people were posting fancy cyber and all that sort of crap and their was always the possibility of the person you were chatting to being a total nightmare

[Stewart]

I met Swafe after knowing him through this forum... I may never recover.

Its a risky business.

Still, would be nice to meet more HEXUS peeps, Amanda, Tigs, Elmo, erm... the local Birmingham HEXUS people, etc. 0iD, WildMonkey, Rave, etc as well.

[magemanda]

You're a nightmare, Stewart! When I lived round the corner at Aston Uni, you resisted my best efforts to meet up. Now that I live halfway cross the country from you, you now want to meet