I recently paid for 6 month membership here. If someone likes me or writes to me, before I respond can I verify they are not one of the "fly by night postings" I have seen in the past, where they may be a scam but the post only lasts a day or 2 at most, then disappear.

There's no way you can "verify" someones profile.

Basically it comes down to using your brain.

It costs you nothing to reply to a message.

But, never send anyone any money, gifts, etc.

And do not give out personal information, phone #, E-mail addy etc, until you are absolutely, positively, 100% sure the person is not trying to scam you.

Hint; if she looks like a model or movie star, is half your age, quickly uses a lot of terms of endearment, honey, love, sweetheart etc. or starts to give you sob stories, etc, use your big head not your little one.

Great advice, thanks. Ultimately I decided to wait a week or longer before responding, and even then just respond here, not through email, phone, etc.