domtimothy46176
Posts: 670
Joined: 12/25/2004 From: Dayton, Ohio area Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: MsSonnetMarwood Even though it's tough at times, I don't take it personally when people bail after I've invested time and effort into getting to know them.... But because this does happen so frequently, I have ended up what I call the "one month rule". It's simple - a sub who first contacts me has one month from first contact to meet me. This goes for if they've met me online, or we met briefly at a scene event. If they can't get it together to move that quickly, then they can move on. I tell people upfront that this is the timeline that I work with, and that I don't make exceptions to it. My expectation is that if first contact goes well and there's mutual interest, I want to "talk" regularly & consistently for 2-3 weeks online. This means both emails and via messaging. Messaging is great but email takes a little more effort - and they will need to be sent. This is usually the time period during which I will end contact if I feel I would not be interested in them. All going well and the interest is still there after 2-3 weeks? Great. I'll put an hour to one side and we'll talk on the phone. Phone call goes well? The sub has a week after the phone call to meet me for coffee, face to face. (You might even get that bumped up to lunch if you ask nicely enough) By rolling things through like this, it cuts out a lot of the nonsense with those that are soooo sincere but want to chitchat forever and a day before they meet if they ever do. I end up not having to invest so much of my time or myself, and that's that. Understand I am not saying at the end of a month that sub will be serving me. Far from it. There is plenty of time to get to know one another - but it won't be happening online. You just don't know about a person until you sit down and talk to them face to face; 10 minutes of that will tell me far more than chatting online for 3 months ever will. That period of talking will give me a feel for them (why I won't meet say, two days after first contact), and the prompt meeting in person will generally give me a good enough overview to know if I want to invest the time getting to know them better. I find this approach does chase off a lot of people LOL....but the hardy do make it through. But that's fine with me...I'm no more interested in wasting a sub's time than I am my own. This makes perfect sense to me. Online contact is great for expanding one's pool of potential partners but has limited usefulness if one is looking for a R/T coporeal relationship. I, too, move thing along to a face-to-face meeting within a reasonable timeframe. No matter how well I might feel like I click with a potential partner, I am very aware that sometimes the chemistry just isn't there in person. I think it's much better to determine if there are real possibilities than to make assumptions that may be disappointing. Timothy
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