Meet and Greet

@Enchanted.  Yeah, that's a little cynical.  I can appreciate how annoying it could be for a female to continue to get harassed by guys trying to get a date (sex, whatever, etc.).  You gotta hand it to them for not hanging out in the bars and spending tons of money and drinking and driving though. 

You've provided a distraction for them and have made the world a safer place because they're off the street now.  Thank you so much.

Just keep doing what you're doing and eventually you'll meet some more nice people on here (I'm kind of nice, but have some character defects that I still have to work out.  Besides, I really don't give a **** about ever meeting you in real life.  S4H is the only one for me, I swear it).

God bless.

I also hope you get to know some people here that are nice.  I would like to meet you in person, as I would many here, but only to get to know each person better.  And then, there are others that I do not feel I would be comfortable being near.

 At least it should not be a problem getting a conversation started - just mention chess.  

Aren't you the funny one, Bob-O. 

It's a little cynical, but everyone has their own comfort level.  I keep my distance from most people and any email address I give out is one that I created specifically to communicate with chess folks so there's no personal information exchanged.

When I first came to this site, I met a man that I thought was very interesting and being a little naive about it, I let him get too close.  Nothing too frightening with that experience, but it taught me to be on guard.  I had another bad experience last year about this time with a man that started off very nice and then became rather abusive and even used part of his profile as a childish personal attack on me when he spotted something he didn't particularly like.  I've since learned that I was not his only victim.  I still see both of these men on this site using the same dried up lines they used on me and I always hope the other unsuspecting women fair better than I did with them. 

On the other side of that coin, I've met some truly incredible people here, one friend even spent a small fortune on me to send me oodles of chess books, but that kind of comfort level comes few and far between for me.  I know in talking with other people, that they have had some incredible and wonderful experiences with folks here.  Even with the good I've seen here, it's still better to always err on the side of caution. 

It's better than being out and getting into trouble, you've got a point there.

I'm wondering though if the "you" is in general or directed at me since the prior paragraph was. I don't actually provide anything, so I'm unsure of your meaning.

I'm pretty much set with meeting people. If I do that's cool, it's just not my intent, not why I'm here. I'm not overly serious about chess, I'm not very good at it, but it's fun and I'm amused, so I keep my distance, and don't become harrassed.

And I know that was a wicked long run on sentence. :)

I agree. There are probably some wicked cool people, and honestly, the people in the groups we're both in seem great, but I'm not about to get super close to them. I definitely wouldn't meet them based on just how cool they seem so far. I don't really know how to explain myself any better and I'm not entirely sure I'm getting my point across clearly. I guess, basically, I'd rather have acquaintances. It sounds worse than I meant it...

My husband and I just met someone that I play here, for dinner on our trip...had a great time!

LOL thanks :)

No, didn't sound bad at all.  I often think this place should be renamed Pervs.com and just be done with it.  There are definitely some nutters here and I don't even like keeping very many acquaintances these days.

I met a person on here that I believe is really a great person to know.  We have some common interests and philosophies.  However, I am careful about revealing much information about myself early in any relationship, online or off.  I also know a married couple that met through a mating site  and they are truly happy.

 I often wonder how a blind person chooses friends and a marriage partner.  Just think, for the most part it is just by listening.  Even trusting friends' advice is listening. Meeting on the Web is similar. Sure, photos are often exchanged, but who can be certain those photos are the person one is communicating with?  

I agree that you never really know who you are communicating with.  My recent meeting with a fellow member was purely a leap of faith on both our parts.  All we knew about one another was what we knew through emails, chats, Skype sessions, and phone calls that went on for almost a year.  It could have gone badly, but lucky for the both of us, it went very well and we both left the situation a little richer having met in person.

I've written many posts on the internet and I only have one word of advice: SPACING!

p.s.

The only thing I know about the secondary characters in my life, is the story I create about them.  The truth is that I don't know anyone, and nobody knows me either.

And now I'm curious about the story you have created about me. 

OOh baby, I gotta keep that to myself S4H

LOL!  That frightens me, Bob-O. 

Glad we have you around, Bob-O.  You keep it entertaining. 

I'm sorry for anyone who's had negative experiences meeting others through this site. I've had nothing but WONDERFUL results and would not hesitate meeting anyone (after, of course, getting to know them through chatting here). If there are enough common interests (in my case, classical music, cats, and the obvious one: chess), how can things go wrong?

Karl....I will meet you buddy. Hopefully both legs will be the same length by then!