getwokingham - Reading Evening Post

It could be argued that the inclusion of technology to enable a person’s voice and image to be transmitted across cyberspace leapfrogs the problem of false pretences and the risk of meeting online users with worrying intentions.

But paedophiles and predators befriend their victims in different ways and so perhaps these people are an unfortunate but inevitable part of any online forum.

Some of my less positive experiences of internet dating have by no means scarred me and I’m lucky enough to be able to look back on them and laugh but I definitely learned that, like when encountering strangers in the real world, you should always be on your guard.

The first sex pest to contact me online was called Ragu. Unsurprisingly his first message to me included a joke about pasta sauce.

“Hi, my name’s Ragu – like the pasta sauce. Don’t waste a drop of me!”

That was proceeded by a winky face. He probably thought the message would be an interesting and successful icebreaker. Nowadays I stick to pesto.

My next encounter with a weird and wonderful webguest was a middle-aged farmer.

His name was Harry so I remember thinking it strange when glancing at his first message to me that he had signed it Oscar.

I read through the four-stanza note carefully and blanched when I read that Harry/Oscar wanted me to put him on a lead and take him to the park.

It wasn’t until I’d read the message another three times that the clouds of confusion cleared and I realised Harry was writing a message from his dog (Oscar) in an attempt to win me over.

I told him I was more of a cat person and never heard from him again.