International dating

There are a great number of people on the Internet who are single
and looking, but either don’t know what Internet dating is, don’t
know how to use it, or are just reluctant to use it. These people are
not off-limits to your searching, there are ways to find them and
persuade them into a date!
This can be a huge untapped resource for serious Internet daters.
These people will be surprised to hear from you, and as such are
often very keen to try something new. A nice side benefit is that
there is no competition − the thorn in the side of every Internet
dater.
How do you find these people and contact them I hear you ask?
There are a few avenues available to you:

ICQ
ICQ is a great way to search for people. There are millions of people
using it, and the ‘ICQ Whitepages’ search facility allows you to
search for people based on similar criteria you will find on personals
sites. You can search by geographical location, age, sex,
occupation, and even interests. You can get a list of search results
and it will even tell you who is online at that very instant. You can
then send them an instant-message or chat request.
It’s best to send an instant-message first, as it is considered bad
ICQ etiquette to send uninvited chat requests.
The key to using this method for guys is to be polite and nice.
Women on ICQ can often get bombarded with cyber sex requests,
and guys just asking if they have a picture. If you are polite,
introduce yourself and ask nicely if they would like to chat, then
you stand a much better chance of getting a reply. Don’t come on
strong via ICQ, people will often just ignore you.
Some tips:
• Once you have developed a rapport, don’t forget to add them to
your list, and get them to add you. You don’t want to lose them.
Ask nicely before adding them though.
• Don’t sound too desperate, if they have to leave then thank them
for the chat and let them go. They will be on again, hopefully.
• Find out when they are typically on, and let them know when
you are on.
• Add personal information to their ICQ ‘profile’ or document it
elsewhere.
• Ensure that you backup your ICQ list and history information.
One hard drive crash can mean the loss of year’s worth of
contacts!
• Ensure that you save any chats to a text file so you have a record
of everything.
• Messages are automatically saved in an archive, make sure you
check it before you chat to them again to find out where you left
off.
• ICQ has excellent documentation features, get to know them
and make use of them.

Work Email
Never underestimate when and were you can meet people using
the Internet. It doesn’t always have to be via the Internet chat rooms
and personal sites as such. It can just as easily be randomly via your
email at work − emailing customers, clients, work colleagues, etc.
If someone sounds nice then why not try sending a nice ‘thank
you’ email to someone who has helped you out. While you are at it,
try flirting a bit to see if you get a reciprocal response. Obviously it
will be difficult to find out much, if any information about them
initially, but why not take a chance and ask them out for lunch?
If you have their mobile number then how about sending an
SMS message? You never know where it might lead.

Newsgroups
Newsgroups are the place to find like-minded people. There are
tens of thousands of newsgroups on almost every conceivable topic.
If you want to meet people with similar interests, then subscribe to
a newsgroup and scan though the messages. To do this you will
need a newsreader program. Your ISP will be able to tell you about
how to set this up and connect to a news server.
Another way to find people via newsgroups is to search through
the newsgroup archives at http://groups.google.com
Google also allows you to read and post messages without a
newsreader program. You can do an ‘advanced search’ for various
topics, groups and messages. Newsreader programs have more
flexibility however.
Look for messages from your target group, and by checking their
email address you can get an idea of which country they are from.
Send them an email and see what happens. Obviously keep your
email contained to the topic of the newsgroup until you feel
confident enough to ask them out.
This is a long shot, but you never know your luck on the vast
world of the Internet.

By David L. Jone