Fitness Friends Safety Tips
FF is designed to allow people to meet up in the interest of sport and recreation. At FF we hope that people using the site will do so in a responsible manner, however, we feel it necessary to provide our users with the following safety guidelines.
Creating your profile
When posting a profile on the FF, your personal details will not be shown. It is important that you don’t put any personal details in your profile or in any messages to other users unless you feel it safe to do so. We strongly advice against using your real name as your user name. It is against the terms of the site for phone numbers and email addresses to be included in profiles and we strongly recommend that you give careful consideration to what you do include in your profile i.e. do not include something which may indicate too much about where you live or your occupation etc.
Contacting Others
If you find somebody you would like to meet up with we suggest that you take the following advice into consideration:
Use the FF site to make email correspondence. We would advice against using a personal email or work email that may give more information about you.
If you make contact using the phone, think about withholding your mobile number from their view until you are sure about an individual.
Go with your feelings; be careful, and do not continue correspondence if you suspect someone is:
• Being dishonest with you
• Trying to pressurise you to meet up, or find out your personal info
• Ignoring your questions
• Inconsistent with their information (look back through your correspondence with them to check)
Meeting with others
Here are a few general tips for meeting someone for the first time
• We recommend trying to organise taking a friend with you for the first meeting.
• Don't forget your sporting partner is still a stranger to you. Make sure you meet in a public place that you know. If you don't already know it, go to the place in advance so that you can be sure it will be busy with general public, and you won't end up on your own.
• If you are meeting someone from the site with the intention to do some activity which is not within a safe environment (i.e. going running, cycling or walking) we strongly recommend that you meet up in a public place prior to the exercise session, maybe suggest meeting for a coffee first.
• Do not arrange to be picked up or taken home (remember your personal details need to stay that way!), so make your own travel arrangements
• Tell a trusted friend about your activity plans: pass them the information you have about the person you are meeting, and ask them to be available in case you need some support. Tell them where you are going, how long you expect to be, and call them when you have arrived back home alone safely.
• Take a mobile phone with you (FULLY CHARGED & WITH PLENTY OF CREDIT!) and arrange to call to a friend during the activity, or for them to call you during the activity and check you are ok.
• Always use your common sense and go with your feelings, don't worry about seeming overly cautious.
It's really important to us and to you that this site is a safe place, for honest people. If you think someone is abusing the system let us know - we'll look into it (the user won't know you have highlighted them).
No harm can be done in letting us know.
admin@ffnetwork.co.uk