This is a short and sweet reminder: When you receive a friend request, whether on this site or any Social Media/Networking site, be sure to check out the potential new friend. It only takes a few minutes, and may prevent potential issues in the future.

What to Check:

• Their Profile page
• Any links they provide
• Their stream of activity when available
  
• How many friends do they already have? This can be an indication that they are only interested in being your friend, to send you a lot of unsolicited emails - - or flat out: S-P-A-M.
  
• Any content they've added - - are they adding content that may not make a good friend for you?
• • In other words, do you have anything in common?
  • Is their content offensive to you?
  • Is their content (be sure to check out uploaded images) something you don't want to see?
    

These are valid questions to ask yourself. With the explosion of online Social Communities (Ning to BuddyPress), from Facebook to Twitter, you can be judged by association.

Final Tips:

• By briefly analyzing this type of information, you are likely to ward-off any future issues.
• Take this online business of friendships seriously, especially with all the information "one" can find out about others, online.
• For goodness sake: DO NOT show your full real name and birth-date for public viewing. This is an open invitation to a criminal or scam artist.
• Be particularly cautious if someone requests friendship, shortly after they join a Social Networking site. This is often an indication, they are up to no good. ;-)
• And last but not least, do not feel guilty if you do not want to accept a friendship request. So what if you don't? That is your decision.