Host: How long should you e-mail before sharing personal information when dating online?

Toni Coleman: I think you need to go with your gut and your instinct on this one, generally speaking, if you are going to be e-mailing, for instance, you send out an e-mail or a wink and the person gets back to you within a day or two and then you get back to them within a reasonable amount of time and really it is a back and forth thing with no breaks. Generally speaking, after about a week somebody usually brings up to you do you want to share, do you want to exchange phone numbers, that kind of thing?

That would be probably, a good appropriate time. You have had a little time to assess some. To get a feel for them in their e-mails, perhaps, to ask some more questions, to share a little bit more, to have them share a little bit more. Now, in some cases when people e-mail, they do not hear back for a week or they do not hear back for two weeks and then of course, if that is going to happen, then it would be longer if there are periods of time where you are not hearing anything, which by the way, could be another red flag, but if you are not hearing anything then, it is going to probably, be a longer period of time. Again, I tell people do not wait too long. If you are e-mailing and it has been going on for weeks and it has been fairly constant and perhaps you have had a phone conversation, it is definitely moving along and if it is not, then that might be something to take a closer look at.