Ok, a typical scenario is that you have been talking with this person online now for a while.  You have developed a very strong desire to meet them face-to-face.  Who knows, maybe you want to even go farther.

Rule #1.  Listen to that little voice when it warns you that something isn't quite right.

The internet is awash with people who have met people in real life, and something went wrong, went too far, or just was way beyond what they expected or desired.  This results in a lot of emotional agony.

Quite often, the most difficult thing to deal with is the realization that they "knew" it was a bad situation up front.  That little voice keeps telling them "I knew it."

It is much easier to bail out, explain that you were not comfortable, and if you want, continue discussing future possibilities.  That way, the only guilt you have to deal with is what other people force on you.

Rule #2.  Meet in a public place.

I recommend a restaurant as a good place.  The nice thing about meeting in public is that if you decide that you have been sold a bill of goods online, you can walk away.   If the person gets aggressive, you can call for help.

Rule #3.  If travelling out of town to meet someone, have a way home.

It is a well known fact that the internet has brought the world closer together.  People do travel to see folks they have met online.  If you fly, be sure you have a round trip ticket.  Discussion of who pays for it is up to you, but you do want to know you do have a way home.  Keep the return ticket in a safe place.

Make sure you have resources to get by on if you find yourself alone.  You may need extra money if the airline ticket requires an additional fee to change the ticket so you can come home earlier, or you may need to find a hotel and pay cab fare.  Don't forget meals.

Rule #4.  Have a safe call arranged.

Find someone you trust.  Tell them where you are going and who you are meeting.   When you arrive at whatever place you are going to be, call them and tell them you are ok, and that you will call back by a certain time.  Arrange with them beforehand that if they do not hear from you, call the cops or bring help.  Be sure this person takes this responsibility seriously.

While this will not guarantee you are safe, at least the cops will have a good start at trying to locate you.. and the person you are meeting.

Rule #5.  Do some background investigation beforehand.

Ask for references.  Start with e-mail references of people that know them.   You will write to them and simply say that you are planning on meeting this friend and their e-mail address was given as a reference.  Ask them to call you so you can discuss this person.  You definitely want to talk to them over the phone so you can ascertain that it simply isn't someone with multiple e-mail addresses giving their own good reference.

Take the information you know about the person and try to confirm some of it.   Here are some links you might check into.

Sleuth Page => www.neosoft.com/~inflo/sleuth.htm

If you live in Texas and have a valid Texas Driver's license, for $25 a year, check out PublicData.com (www.publicdata.com).  You can get up to 250 searches in their databases.  They have driver's license info, criminal record info, sex offender info, voter registration, and so on.

If I learn of other resources such as this, I shall add them to this list.