Do/did you ask around about someone before asking someone out?

[sierraAZ]

It's not such a bad idea. In the old days people used to kind of know who they're dealing with and even now they do in the small towns, I suppose. Here people move so much and live far away from family and friends that pretty much everybody is forced to take everybody at face value, which is not always beneficial no matter how great judges of character many think they are.

I come from a pretty small country. Back there if you sit on a bus or a train and talk with somebody, chances are pretty good you'll eventually end up coming up with a person you both know. While I used to resent this lack of anonymity in the past, now I think it's not that horrible.

[wigirl920]

Originally Posted by bjh

Do/did you ask around about someone before asking someone out?

If so, why so?

Or do (did if you're currently involved) you ask them out based on what you know of them and find out the rest on your own?

Yep, I've asked around and even dug around...but only because I've been burned in the past. I had been getting to know someone via online personals and he started to get a little weird. I stopped communicating with him and awhile later he showed up where I worked. Turns out that I dodged a really big bullet. From that point on I made sure that I knew enough about the person before I wasted my time and certainly before I decided to meet him.

My philosophy...you don't have to be paranoid but you can never be too careful. Like someone else said, it's all about safety and comfort. If it doesn't bother you to go into it blindly...more power to you.

My two biggest pieces of advice: Google is your friend and always check the sex offender registry