It is never "safe" to meet somebody that you have only chatted to on a forum, no matter how good that forum may be.
You can do your best to make it as safe as you can by telling your friends where you are going and even telling the mods on the forum who you are meeting etc. You can even arrange with a friend to call them if all is going nicely and to NOT call them if you are worried about how things are going.
All these things make it easier to catch this guy but they don't stop you from being dead.
I know that was a bit brutal and in your face but it's how it happens.
Much better was a system we had in place in another forum that I was on, one that has now, sadly, more or less died because of the way that the format of the forum was changed.
We had group meetings 3 or 4 times a year. It was a country-wide forum so there would be meetings in York, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, London and Exeter and you went to whichever was nearest to your home or which you were prepared to travel to. There would be upwards of 40 people at the London venue which was one of the pubs overlooking Covent Garden and a great time was had by all. It was at one of the Covent Garden meets that a young lady and I belted out Cinderella/Rockafella on the pub's balcony (you are all probably to young to remember that one) which gives us the right to say that we have sung at Covent Garden.
Anyway, the point was that we got to meet other folk from the forum without putting anyone at risk and a great time was had by all.
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