At the end of the day as hard as it is to do you have to take a leap of faith. It's such a hard thing to do, especially for people who have been taken advantage of before, considering how vulnerable a position you need to put yourself in, and not having any way out once you are stuck and knotted.
General tips and guidelines for meet-up safety.
- Thread starter FloofyNewfie
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- guidelines meet-up meetup online safety
Laura23
Tourist
Any of us considering the digital footprints we might be leaving..?
I once mailed & chatted with a guy, and thought "how much could i find out about him".
Sure enough, after looking up the parts of his name, initials, ip-adress from his emails, etc., i found out where he lived, worked etc. in a mere few hours of searching... and i'm not even any kind of IT-expert..
I've bought a secondary cheap smartphone, just for these kind of contacts. Different name, number, clothes, etc.
Call me paranoid, but to my knowledge it's hard, to darn near impossible, to 'un-dox' someone...
I once mailed & chatted with a guy, and thought "how much could i find out about him".
Sure enough, after looking up the parts of his name, initials, ip-adress from his emails, etc., i found out where he lived, worked etc. in a mere few hours of searching... and i'm not even any kind of IT-expert..
I've bought a secondary cheap smartphone, just for these kind of contacts. Different name, number, clothes, etc.
Call me paranoid, but to my knowledge it's hard, to darn near impossible, to 'un-dox' someone...
ConradsK9Droom
Tourist
Yeah, we all should know. Never use your own name. Don't show anything on pictures that can ID you. Use VPN to hide your IP. Use another phone for contacts.
TestingWaters
Tourist
noted, trust is important but being careful is equally as such. Haven't put myself in the position to use this yet but hopefully neither party is in a position to be cautious cause things are going well between us.
But it's just the way meeting online is sadly.
But it's just the way meeting online is sadly.
joecurious
Lurker
How do I meet people I’ve always felt so weird for loving what I love now that I know there’s a whole community I’m anxious to get to know people and how I should handle my feelings
Daedalus
Zooville Settler
Speaking as someone who has hosted several public Meet and Greets, I can say I've had nothing but good experiences with meeting zoos. I start with restaurants, either as a group or 1:1, because sharing a meal helps engender a bond. I keep the gatherings small. We maintain anonymity throughout, using our forum names or a generic human alias if the username cannot be pronounced or repeated in conversation. Arrangements and RSVPs are kept to PMs, never leaked on the thread. I advise people to park in large retail lots to blend in and arrive on foot, bring cash not plastic, and we don't exchange phone numbers. In fact, I have a strict no phones policy -- we all turn our phones OFF in front of each other so we know its safe to talk shop about zoo without fear of recordings, photos being taken, etc.
+1 Saddlebum on duration of meetings. Undercover police are (likely but not necessarily) on a time constraint. They are also not likely to go that deep in on the prowl, ie. to undertake the effort of infiltrating our gatherings. Rather, any undercover LEO operation trying for a zoo bust will more likely take the easier route, path of least resistance, and simply pose as an owner themselves, using the promise of a willing dog as the lure. That's how sheriff Arpaio did his zoo stings back when CL still had a personals section. In this way, they've set the whole thing up themselves and have complete control on the backend. Its easy when they're the ones pulling the strings. To infiltrate us and our gatherings is the opposite: we orchestrated it, not them. They have very little control or knowledge and must spend time in a community like this, learning about us, mimicking us, having the right answers to our questions, gaining trust, and being willing to show up to the social functions in character over and over. That takes an incredible amount of investigation time, a lot more uncertainty, and a lot less control in their hands of the situation.
Genuine zoos with genuine interest, good intentions, and good character will be patient. After all, trust and the anxiety over that trust is a bidirectional, shared phenomenon: that other zoo across the table from you is nervous too, and will want to establish trust as much as you do. They will meet you as many times as it takes for both to feel comfortable. I have my own ways of testing a person further before trusting them enough to decloak and invite into your home and reciprocally be invited to theirs, but more than anything its a matter of putting in the time with people. Much like training a dog, repetition is key. Keep going to those meet & greets with a regular crowd, keep doing normal social things with them. The ones who stay on are the ones you want to know.
+1 Saddlebum on duration of meetings. Undercover police are (likely but not necessarily) on a time constraint. They are also not likely to go that deep in on the prowl, ie. to undertake the effort of infiltrating our gatherings. Rather, any undercover LEO operation trying for a zoo bust will more likely take the easier route, path of least resistance, and simply pose as an owner themselves, using the promise of a willing dog as the lure. That's how sheriff Arpaio did his zoo stings back when CL still had a personals section. In this way, they've set the whole thing up themselves and have complete control on the backend. Its easy when they're the ones pulling the strings. To infiltrate us and our gatherings is the opposite: we orchestrated it, not them. They have very little control or knowledge and must spend time in a community like this, learning about us, mimicking us, having the right answers to our questions, gaining trust, and being willing to show up to the social functions in character over and over. That takes an incredible amount of investigation time, a lot more uncertainty, and a lot less control in their hands of the situation.
Genuine zoos with genuine interest, good intentions, and good character will be patient. After all, trust and the anxiety over that trust is a bidirectional, shared phenomenon: that other zoo across the table from you is nervous too, and will want to establish trust as much as you do. They will meet you as many times as it takes for both to feel comfortable. I have my own ways of testing a person further before trusting them enough to decloak and invite into your home and reciprocally be invited to theirs, but more than anything its a matter of putting in the time with people. Much like training a dog, repetition is key. Keep going to those meet & greets with a regular crowd, keep doing normal social things with them. The ones who stay on are the ones you want to know.
Pennysweetpig
Tourist
ok 
humananimal
Esteemed Citizen of ZV
The talk about weapons can be advisable in a few countries. In most countries it is highly illegal to carry or even to possess a pistol/ revolver. A policeman would arrest you for that. In my country the maximum is a small folding knife.
Otherwise your thought about being careful is recommendable.
Otherwise your thought about being careful is recommendable.
Heavysleeper
Lurker
thanks for posting this. Same about weapons where I am from and they trying to restrict knives
Valkiria
Esteemed Citizen of ZV
Oh yeah, probably necessary topic for ppl who are more naive and easily trusting.
Weirdos everywhere. Can you imagine, it is less than week since I came here, and few men already offered me to visit them and their dogs. Woww, guys, really? Did I look like an idiot?
Weirdos everywhere. Can you imagine, it is less than week since I came here, and few men already offered me to visit them and their dogs. Woww, guys, really? Did I look like an idiot?
Consider visiting this thread once in a while:
How much PM spam do you get?
Over the past years is seems obvious that openly female accounts on here get a lot of spam in their inbox on the forum. Which is also due to the ratio of men to women: https://www.zoovilleforum.net/threads/what-is-your-biological-sex.418/page-8 I am curious how much it is compared to male...
www.zoovilleforum.net
humananimal
Esteemed Citizen of ZV
No you did not.
I guess those persons are the psychopath type, who treat both humans and animals as things to use when they like it. So they see an avatar showing a female and act like a male dog.
Sadly the only defences is to disguise your gender or block PM.
For two people wanting to meet, one option to alleviate some/most of the fear that they might not be really 'into' it and or LE (seems unlikely in most countries), would be to do something with one's pet on a camera, sufficiently disguised as to not give away one's identity (doesn't have to be a live chat). Just an option, if both parties are active and have their own pets AND privacy/time to make something like that happen. For me, I love in an apartment currently and don't have a pet, but I suspect many/most willing to meet up do?
I also don't think it's enough of a moral issue that even in place where it's technically illegal, it's not worth the effort for LE or anyone else to put the time and effort in to fake the kink/interest/sexxualtiy for long enough and convincingly enough to fool someone, for little to no payoff.
I also don't think it's enough of a moral issue that even in place where it's technically illegal, it's not worth the effort for LE or anyone else to put the time and effort in to fake the kink/interest/sexxualtiy for long enough and convincingly enough to fool someone, for little to no payoff.
We all highly appreciate that input. Thank you
1
1spyro
Guest
Bluephoenyx
Esteemed Citizen of ZV
Sadly that's some stuff we usually are used to see/read/feel everyday. From people that only wants to seek out for "free content" to weirdos that are actually sickos that then want to dox someone. Sadly this "frame" of "meetus" are hard-ones for people that lack of a context to have a dog or to experience it, many can't afford or just can't keep a dog with them, not to talk about horses/pigs that are more rare
stami
BANNED
yes
MoreBeastThanMan
Tourist
Thanks for the post!
intomost69
Tourist
Solid advice can never be too careful
Canadaman44
Lurker
As a newbie I find it interesting how often meetups can happen. At a cursory glance it appears there's a small handful of people who actively pursue a social group irl around the lifestyle and most that either fantasize about it or don't know how (I would fall into the second group at this point).
I may be completely wrong (once again, a newbie), but how often to people that genuinely want to meet people successfully do so?
I may be completely wrong (once again, a newbie), but how often to people that genuinely want to meet people successfully do so?
CuriousWisc.
Tourist
Good advice for any type of hookup through a web site. On Fetlife (BDSM) it's the same advice. A couple of additions...be especially aware if you are a female meeting a male, take note if in real life they do not look like their picture