How could he not know who she was? Her dating profile obviously has her photo and info. I think she meant it as in he treated her better and they had better communication than ever, because he knew it was her and wanted to trick her into falling for him. Too bad he wasn't that nice before or they might still be together! Jerkoff

don't know why she's getting negative when she had a point. unless the person that post forgot to mention that he was the anonymous one

I met my boyfriend on xbox live in 2013 I am living with him now for over a year.

thats great? General rule of thumb would be to validate a persons existence before falling for them. Obviously your situation worked out for you however OP is stuck with the fact that not only did she fall for someone who did not exist, she also knows now that her ex bf is a psychopath.

Just because her ex is crazy doesn't mean she should avoid looking online for a relationship. She should be more aware, yes. But my previous comment was just to prove that you CAN date online and it CAN work out.

If you meet a dude at a bar or a restaurant, you hit it off, then find out he isn't who he said he is, does that mean you "shouldn't fall for someone you meet at a bar or restaurant"?

I think #16 point is just to make sure you at least see the person (either in person, video chat, or even by phone) to make sure they exist before you allow yourself to have feelings as serious as love. Because a lot of people are really different online than in real life, or are just faking profiles for fun. You can like someone you've met online and develop a crush on them, even get into a relationship with them, but I would definitely agree that it'd be wiser to at least see them in some way before falling deep in love for them. Just for the record, I'm not saying there aren't people who successfully fell totally in mutual love online before ever meeting in person/calling/facetime with the other. In fact I think online dating is a great way to meet different people. But I think a little bit of caution just in-case could save a whole lot of heart-break.

Your comment doesn't "prove" anything and I definitely think that you are taking my comment the wrong way. The fact that OP fell for someone online and had no idea that it was her ex bf shows how impersonal the Internet is. As far as your reference to meeting someone at a bar I completely agree that you can get ****** over by people in person. Meeting someone at a bar is perhaps even more risky then meeting someone online.

It's hard to take "don't fall for someone online" in s wrong way, I think it was more your phrasing. And I'm really not trying to be rude, but reading the comment offended me as well since I am dating someone I met online. Explaining your view did help. It's true you have to be careful, skyping sending different pictures to each other, perhaps even asking them to take a picture of them with a paper saying something you choose are great ways to make sure they are real.