Google

[hot_rider]

If I feel a connection with anyone I chat to, I always do a basic Google search of their name. If I suspect someone is playing with me, I do a basic Google search.

It's amazing what you can find out about people. Just reading their MySpace or Xanga can reveal a lot about the type of person they are, things that aren't always revealed in chat right off. I've also managed to find their profiles on other sites, whether it be dating sites or just interest sites.

One guy I questioned about a comment by a woman on his MySpace immediately blocked me and set his MySpace as private. He obviously had something to hide. Funnily enough he contacted me again over the weekend, profusely denying he was hiding anything. Apparently he had read my blog about him. LOL.

I also found out that another guy on here who acted rather strange with me during our brief chat had recently been in rehab.

I have done routine Google checks on another guy I started getting serious about months back as I felt he wasn't all he made out to be. I've checked all the details he gave me about his life and job and nada came up on Google. Either he lied about his name or he is a player. And a very good one. Had me fooled.

Some people get put off when they know I am doing preliminary checks on them like this, but hey, this is the internet. We have to protect ourselves when we start to get emotionally involved with people we meet via this medium.

[vickeee]

There is also a website called "Intellius". There is a minimal costs for specific searches but you can learn a lot there, anything from marriage records to criminal records. Additionally, you can check the person's local Assessor's Office info and it is completely free. It's all public records.

[lunamor]

However, make sure that the info you pull up is actually about the same person you're checking out: I've googled my own nick and my own name, and stuff that comes up isn't about me.

[ailurophile]

kinda scary ...=/

[vita]

Very.

I think you can generally get a sense of whether someone is being truthful or not, over a period of time, without doing any kind of checking up. I would not like someone to check up on me - I'd expect them to have trust until such time I gave them reason not to (which I wouldn't). And I do the same with others. Rarely are my instincts wrong.

[tolteca]

Trust is the key for any relationship.

Feelings, passion. love are not mesure in years!
Asking the rigth questions to the person will give answers.
IF the person is not willing to give answers then is time to move one.

[lunamor]

"Asking the rigth questions to the person will give answers.
IF the person is not willing to give answers then is time to move one."

Not necessarily: I am NOT willing to submit to a third degree when I'm first getting to know someone - and many people seem to think that an interrogation constitutes conversation!

I tell what I want someone to know in my own time, and I allow the same to them.

[violet]

I did a google search on Intellius, and found out people are getting scammed by subscription charges even if they only purchase a one time search. Also, this seems a bit extreme unless you're really suspicious about something. I do google searches all the time though, it seems so common place and I don't even think of it as snoopy. I read something once to the effect that you should consider everything you do on the internet to be stapled to your CV - forever!

[lunamor]

Originally Posted by violet

I read something once to the effect that you should consider everything you do on the internet to be stapled to your CV - forever!

Now that's scary...

[lynda]

Anytime people go on the internet it is scary but we put faith out there. I for one agree in doing a little search on anyone that you might have a connection or having lots of talks. Many times in talking with some of these guys if I had not gone with my gut feeling and did a search it would take me longer in finding out what type of person they are. Now not every search will turn something up but better to be informed if it does. So many times these guys show their true colors in being players and wanting only to talk sex thank you guys for just admitting it.