[Serra Britt]

Well, whenever I went to meet any online friends in RL, I had some guidelines, for both my safety and theirs.

Meet in public and stay in public, and bring friends.

Really, no matter how much I trust someone, and I trust people a lot because I'm good at reading them and am empathetic, I'd still do this because it's the best way to stay safe. Once you get past the first meeting you could do more, of course, and it will never be "fully safe" but I think at least meeting and spending time in a public place is a good idea for a first meeting.

Just my point of view on this, as this is what I did when I went to go meet Lunaryon a few weeks ago.