Online Singles Forums and Special Interest Dating Group “Chat Rooms”

The Internet makes the world a little smaller with chat rooms, forums and special interest groups. Do you collect 1950’s toys or are you a rose expert? With a little searching, chances are you’ll find someone online who shares your passions and interests. If you like games, use a search engine to find sites where other gamesters congregate and compete.

Online forums and special interest groups can put you in contact with like-minded people who may become your friends. You know the old saying, “birds of a feather, flock together.” One of them could be your soul mate.

Here are some tips for Chat Rooms:

• Browse slowly through the various online interest groups, looking for those with message boards that appeal to singles. Search engines save you time in finding good spots to meet folks with similar interests.
• Ask online friends about other online meeting places.
• Choose a few forums that focus on matchmaking or on one of your interests. Visit them and read the messages (or “posts”) on the message boards at intriguing Web sites and follow the “threads” about topics that interest you.
• Pick a site that attracts birds of your feather and spend some time there.
• Don’t go into a chat room and get offended if you are not welcomed with open arms. There are usually a lot of people who have been there a long time. Do not demand attention; just naturally join into the conversations. You will be welcomed in time.
• Post a message of your own after getting a sense of the interaction. Keep your posts brief and humble at first; soon you will be communicating with the regulars and forming friendships.
• If you’re rude to other users, and make fun of others, remember: What goes around comes around.
• Forums and chat rooms have pecking orders. Do not ignore them.
• Use e-mail and chat sessions to get to know an appealing person better.
• If you form a romantic attachment to someone in the group, do not announce this to the other members until after you have met your partner in person.
• Beware of the easy but limited intimacy that can rapidly develop in e-mail. Meet the person early on to see if there’s any chemistry. Remember that common interests are great, but having a relationship with your mirror image may turn out to be boring.
• Attend a forum-hosted party in order to meet your potential sweetheart if it is possible or practical. If not, plan a real date in a public place.
• Host a party yourself if your forum friends do not get together at parties, and meet some of those people you have been attracted to online. Pay close attention to the way your romantic partner interacts with other group members