General Internet Advice

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The internet is in someways like a minefield, every person you meet on the internet could be a potential friend or someone who will leave a hole in your life through deceipt and lies.

I am sure you have all heard stories of how people lie on the internet?

Well as someone who has run online sites for over 7 years I have pretty much seen it all, from people pretending to be male/female, to older people pretending to be younger, to people who simply invent drama in their lives to try to garner sympathy from other people.

The truth is there is no sure fire way to find out if someone is genuine or not on the internet however here are a few simple things that might help:

• Too friendly, if someone you barely know seems far too friendly the chances are they are setting you up for something, real friendships generally take a long while to form and if someone is obviously forcing the friendship then they probably have another motive for doing so.
• If you are still classed as a minor beware of anyone who says they want to be your girlfriend/boyfriend unless you actually know this person in real life, there are simply too many predators on the internet to make this work. If you do arrange to meet someone you met online then make sure you take an adult or a couple of friends with you as if the person you go to meet does turn out to be a weirdo there is less chance of something bad happening.
• Never arrange to meet someone you hardly know, talking to someone over the phone is a good first step but again do not assume that because someone has a nice voice over the phone that they are a nice person in real life.
• Never share personal things with people until you are 100% sure they will not stab you in the back.
• Beware of people who say they love you after a few hours of chatting or they wish to spend their entire life with you, infact beware of anyone who hugs/kisses or otherwise crosses the emotional barrier without consent after all that is often a way for predators to sink their hooks into someone by finding out who is willing to return such personal affections.
• If someone tells you their age take it with a pinch of salt, a lot of people never tell their real age online … if someone says they are 40 but types like a 12 year old the chances are they are a minor, and if someone says they are 12 but type like an adult then be wary too …

Don’t get me wrong there are still a lot of nice people on the internet but remember not everyone you meet is truthful.