As many have mentioned, budget and manpower combined with shit MUCH worse than you jacking off your dog makes this EXTREMELY unlikely. Further, the nature of this particular website (GLOBAL membership) compounds that aspect even more, imo. In certain *select* locations, yeah, sure, maybe. Members here are not required to select a location. That makes searching for a particular location EXTREMELY difficult (I suspect strongly, that's why that's not a requirement, call it an added layer of security for users).
Imagine the meeting where the boss is asking what you've dug up and are working on, you, the cop in middle america......and all you have is some kinky bitch in the UK.......Hmmm.....Ok, drop that shit and find something else to do.
On Craigslist, you'd likely be at higher risk simply because no one places or answers ads more than reasonable driving distance, no one serious anyway, and thus, it would be MUCH easier to specifically target users in a defined area. Here, we all talk with folks from all over the world, sometimes not even KNOWING they are 8000 miles away. Imagine time and budget constraints being under the gun and you fishing in a worldwide lake trying to land a local fish......good luck with that.
I'm not fool enough to say it doesn't or won't happen, because.....well, life.......but, I am very confident in saying that if you follow simple internet safety precautions that you SHOULD be using regardless of beast implications, you're almost bullet-proof. First and foremost, you meet somewhere neutral and excessively public. Busy coffee shop, mall, you get the idea. No one is paying you any mind, but if there are issues, there are shitloads of people around if you need to raise alarm. It's YOUR life and safety, don't fuck around and take chances. 2nd, as others have pointed out, do NOT bring fido with you. This does not mean don't bring him to wherever you're meeting (I only add this because people are fucking stupid and will inevitably choose a place where an animal IS allowed to be, without being a service dog......), this means do not bring the dog at ALL. Period. Take a picture of the dog if you must, but keep it PG, you never know.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Do the meeting loop as many times as YOU need to feel safe, PERIOD. Might be one meet, might be 10, who cares as long as you don't end up dead or in a cell. And, don't let anyone RUSH you or the process. Anyone that eager is trouble waiting to happen. Don't let them happen to you.
If that goes well, then you can move to the next step. I'm not offering any advice on that next step because that has to be decided by the folks in the meeting. Way too many variables for me to be giving blanket advice. Except that if you're alarm bells are ringing, you need to reset and drop it. Time to pack up and move on. Who makes the 1st move in the next scenario is also really dependent on how everyone feels about the sterile meet(s). Impossible to determine from where I sit. I know how I feel and how I operate, but that's based on all my perceptions from the meet, not necessarily a set list of criteria. What I do may not, most likely is not, what you do or will do. Above all, use your head and make decisions based on common sense. And, most importantly, DO NOT disregard gut feelings, whatever they are. Those exist for a reason, and most often those reasons involve your safety and well being, disregard them at your own peril. And, yes, it's true, sometimes those gut feelings are good, but, far more often, they are not. Pay attention. It's your ass on the line. Don't take chances.
