Being that my husband was a friend of a friend never bothered me. I remember that back in our day I found his Livejournal. That was where I got his information from. No one had posted anything bad about him there, so I figured I would go for it.
Ha, maybe so lovemykids. I do like to get to know someone and judge them for myself . . . but it would be nice to know if they are former criminals or if someone they owe money to is looking for them, etc. LOL
Google is a good thing.
Back when I was dating there was no google but I would ask around about the guy before I would go out with him. Maybe if there was google I could have saved myself some grief!
The worst con men though are extremely charming. I think I'd probably google. I'm glad they didn't have facebook back in 'my' day as what a pain that would be. Like, where is the mystery?
I don't know...I think I'd do it the other way around...google/backround check first. Londres made a great point....to trust your GUT. I think we all know when we get that "feeling" that something just isn't right. Plus, you may be dealing with someone who is a monster, just never got caught yet.
Either way, in this day and age, I think it's a great tool to be used in conjunction with other safeguards.
I would rather meet someone face to face FIRST and then Google them later hahahha. I would check to make sure they were legit and not in trouble with the law after I met them. If all checks out, then I would date them to see where it goes. Google has been a great filtering system. Looking up personal records of possible guys to date is really easy and I believe it is fair to know if you are about to pursue a relationship with a *********, murdered or drug addict.
Google is a great tool. You would never know who someone really is unless you google them. They may have a posting on a website called cheaterville or something like that ;)
The google and background report could come out clean and you could still be dealing with a total monster.
Background checks and google are great to find out if someone is married or has a criminal history (that's if the person has been caught).....they sure can't tell you 100% about someone's character or ways. Being an (you fill in the blank) is no crime and google can't give you that info.
My mother taught me to trust my gut.......it works for me.
Missed your add-on post about the backgroung check.
TO ADD: Why goggle when you could get a basic background check done?
No, I wouldn't goggle him UNLESS his story or situation didn't sound or seem right.
My gut is a pretty GREAT judge of character though.
I never did with mine (first and only), but we met through the school choir, and his best friend was my friend's boyfriend, so I'd been hearing about him for probably a year before I ever actually started talking with him and eventually dating. Funnily enough, I'd always heard he was a jerk from my friend, but it turns out now that she's had time to put herself in check, she realizes it was because she was jealous of her boyfriend playing video games, and he always went to my boyfriend's house to play his video games. And then there was the fact that my boyfriend is very much...not a chubby chaser. He doesn't go for sticks, but he doesn't like bigger girls, and a while before she tried setting me up with him, he'd turned down her friend fairly nicely (have since met this girl and had this fact reported by her) and then told my friend her friend was a whale. So, yeah.. She had some reason, but she didn't really know him.
My boyfriend added me on Facebook shortly before we ever started dating, so the most searching I did was looking at his profile and pictures. Do I wish I'd googled him/done more? Definitely not. He's a pretty straight forward guy. What you see is what you get, and he values honesty like no other. And I'm more than glad I didn't let my friend's opinion affect mine because I never would have gotten to know this amazing guy who loves me and lets me know at every opportunity. He couldn't be further from being a "jerk."
Never had, but if I were dating now, I probably would.
Oh, and I thought I'd add the idea of doing a background check on a potential partner while dating? Does anyone do that or does anyone wish they had?