Do Tell

Match.com announced this week it will start screening members against the national database of registered sex offenders. The decision follows a lawsuit filed by a woman sexually assaulted by someone she met on the site. Most of you say that when you date online, you date at your own risk — just like you do when you meet a date at a bar — but avoiding an image problem might have motivated Match's move.

Lawmakers in states including Connecticut, Texas, and New York also want to pass laws dealing with online dating safety. Bills under consideration would require dating sites provide more information about the risks of online dating and offer safety tips for singles. Match.com already offers some, including: guard your identity by not sharing your real name, phone number, or address; remain anonymous until you feel comfortable; get to know the person online before meeting him offline; always meet in public and tell a friend where you're going; stay sober; drive yourself to and from the first date.

A lot of these tips, like meet in a public place at first and tell a friend where you're going, are smart practices followed by smart single girls long before the Internet. But when you've met someone online, do you have any special rules you follow?

I asked what your biggest prom regrets are here and on Facebook, and I saw some recurring themes in your responses. Most of you either regretted going or not going, fashion faux pas, and lame dates. So for future generations of prom-goers, I'd say go with a guy friend or group of friends, wear something timeless not trendy, and bring a pair of flats in your purse for dancing! Here is a sampling of the things you'd do differently if were you able to go back to your good ol' high school days:

• "My regret is the shoes I wore. I rarely wore heels and I decided to wear 4 inch heels to prom. My feet were killing me before the prom even started!" — Gdeeaz
• "Junior prom regrets . . . my hair was boy short and yet I still paid $60 for an 'updo' that consisted of one big 'bang curl' and a fake diamond bobby pin. Letting a makeup kiosk at the mall do my makeup for the evening: orange face/white neck . . . pretty!! Being too nervous around my date to actually have fun and not be completely awkward. I made up for those the next year at my senior prom and had a great time. Live and learn, right?!" — Anonymous
• "Waaay boring date, and not even a kiss goodnight. Lame." — Elizabeth
• "I regret that I let not having a date keep me from going. I easily could have found a group of girls to go with." — roseate

Read the rest below.

From extravagant proposals to $1,400 dresses, are proms the new weddings? Reading the New York Post piece on pricey proms, I'm baffled that girls are not just getting $1,000-plus prom dresses, they are buying wedding-esque white, celebrity-inspired dresses and renting $9,000-a-night double-decker Hummers. I remember prom being important and fun, but "splurging" on a dress back then was closer to $300, and I'm glad I held on to my savings for college instead of wasting it on one high school night. My prom night was a blast and super tame (no crazy lost virginity stories), ending with a group of us staying up all night before going to my best friend's date's swim meet at the crack of dawn.

Whether you got a little too crazy or not crazy enough, your date was a disaster, or you spent your college fund on a hideous dress, what is your biggest prom regret? Or do you not regret anything?

Source: Flickr User gregor_y

We don't need the Bridesmaid movie trailer to know it can be hard for single friends to adjust to a best friend's engagement. When you're still far from the aisle, excitement for your friend can get mixed with melancholy thoughts that things won't be the same. Marriage isn't the only lifestyle change that can spark feelings of isolation. Perhaps you've had to get used to friends having kids, moving in with partners, or going to grad school. When you find yourself at a different life stage as your good friends, how do you adjust to the reality of spending less time together, or having less in common? And do you have any tips for staying connected?

Photos by Michael +Anna Costa Photography via Style Me Pretty

Ke$ha wrote Britney Spears's single "Till the World Ends" for her newest album, Femme Fatale, and she wants to celebrate by stripping down with the singer. Specifically, going skinny-dipping at a "dress-up-like-Ke$ha-or-Britney party":

"I have a small, salt-water pool that has laser beams in it and a stereo so you can be under water listening to music."

Not all of us have had the pleasure of diving into a laser- and stereo-filled pool. But if you've ever taken the plunge and gone swimming in your birthday suit, how did it go? Share your best story in the comments!

Source: Flickr User olofw

Wow, I am speechless; fortunately, Dominic, leaver of this voicemail, is not. Too bad Ryan, the object of her intoxication, must not have been charmed by her drunken, three-minute voicemail. Otherwise, it wouldn't be all over the Internet! She even says where she works — eBay and Jamba Juice — and spells them both out like "J" is for juice. "U is for Eunice." You get the picture; now listen to the voicemail.

This is why there are apps to prevent drunk dialing! Can you top her?

What is going on in high school these days? Specifically, this high school where a guy wrote a song, got his friends to be back-up clappers, and popped the prom question in front of third period with next to no embarrassment.

The video even circles the classroom, showing clapping kids who are totally supportive of this public display of vulnerability. High schoolers aren't supposed to act like this! But since this video went over so well, expect other lyrical boys to follow. Meanwhile, I fully expect this crooner to grow up and publicly propose marriage via a full-scale Broadway production.

For now, I want to know how you were asked (or did the asking). Did a friend act as a broker, either procuring the date or ensuring both parties would say yes to minimize risk? Was it on a note or by email, IM, or text? My date whispered the question in the school library, and I felt pressured to say yes by the publicness. In hindsight, it was everything it's supposed to be — passive and awkward. What about you?

The scenic eye candy starring in Woody Allen's new movie Midnight in Paris made me want to book a trip abroad ASAP. Instead, I'm living vicariously through a friend who's planning an adventure to Paris on her own. Freshly single and getting ready to start a new job, she figures now's her chance to embrace her independence and experience the benefits of traveling alone. Wandering the city of lights as she pleases, she'll be free to reflect on herself and her surroundings, or you know, meet some handsome locals.

From California wine country to Montreal, we've already explored destinations for romantic getaways. But where would you go if you wanted to get away from everything and everyone you know, if only for a week or so?

Source: Flickr User subashkuttan

Sasha Grey, the porn-star-as-performance-art actress, isn't the first person you'd ask about romance. But while publicizing her book Neü Sex, she told the Daily Beast that the male-dominant sex so popular in porn can not only be romantic, it can also be empowering, at least to her. So I couldn't help but ask: What is romance to you, Sasha Grey?

"Not chocolate and roses and a candlelit dinner. I want a sloppy, handwritten letter on newspaper where you white-out the newspaper . . . Something with thought to it. A shiny ring isn’t romantic to me. I think thought and love into what you do for the person you're in love with — that's romance."

I'm partial to finding romance in the last place you'd look, so I'd say her answer is spot-on, for me anyway. But what is romance to you?

Opposite may entice, but it's likeness that attracts. With dating sites matching users by facial symmetry to maximize attraction, expect the next dating gimmick to analyze users' profiles. A new study found initial attraction and couple happiness is higher among people who talk and write alike.

The best part about the study is the authors created a site to analyze how in sync any two people are. You simply paste in an email or chat from you and any persons of interest — it's best if they're from the same conversation — and then voilà. Your relationship destiny awaits, or you'll just find out if you're above or below the mean for happy couples. Still, I love when relationships can be quantified! Go take it, and tell us where you stand.