Like having more than one way to meet someone in real life, there is more than one way to meet someone in cyberspace. Many of the online dating services offer more than just a series of desperate profiles. Most services provide at least chat rooms and message boards unique to their site.

Internet chat rooms give users the opportunity to correspond instantaneously with groups of other people. Heather Newall, 24, a senior from Lindon majoring in English is the Web mistress of her own LDS oriented Web site. "I wanted a chat room, so I started building it from there," she said.

Although chat rooms are known to be addictive, users still claim advantages to chats over the personals.

"In the chat rooms there’s always a feeling of safety," Newall said. "But you never really know."

Newall said that there are usually between 20 and 25 people in a chat room at once, with about 15 rooms on her Web site. The chats offer a certain exclusivity for distinct groups. The rooms of Newall’s Web site are divided into specific age groups for convenience.

Message boards offer another route in internet intercommunication. Like chats, message boards offer communication to groups, but they don’t work instantaneously. People leave messages and wait for a response, sort of like an editorial page in the newspaper.

"Message boards people come to debate issues," Newall said. Message boards can be used for people looking for love, but they're not limited to the subject. Currently 1,650 people are registered to use Newall's message boards.

One Web site's message board is called the 'Rameumptom,' a reference to a Book of Mormon place of the same name.

Right now, the topic of the Rameumptom is the war in Afghanistan -- a subject far from dating or meeting members of the opposite sex. Although the topic is off place, users who post comments on the board make their own personal profiles more readily available to the public.

These broad options tend to help users narrow down the people they hope to associate with over the net and continue personal relationships online.

"Usually people use chat or message boards first, then exchange e-mail addresses or instant messenger identification," Newall said.

Bob Haupt is one designer of another LDS online service.

"We replaced chat rooms with our very own instant messenger software," Haupt said. This software enables chatters to view other users' pictures and personal demographics.

"It's a more personal experience," Haupt said.

Even with the safety of anonymity and public rather than private forums, the consensus remains that the Internet is far from safe.

"If you check out people at BYU, you can check route Y to see if they really exist, but there's never a guarantee," Newall said.

29-year-old Mike Christensen of Sandy said, "You can just lie a lot through online dating." Christensen toyed with some online services in the past, but said wouldn’t recommend the services to friends.

"Meeting them in person is the best way," he said.



Copyright Brigham Young University 7 Nov 2001