I do background checks before I get into a car with people. You can meet anyone in public at a club or bar and talk to them , so I don't see how meeting someone you met online is any different.

You should probably ask for their drivers license if you are really serious about getting into the vehicle. Court dates are public record. Sometimes they will volunteer info about their duis. etc... Public records are free. People have lived in multiple cities, so that is an issue...You can learn a lot by just a simple google in a city.

Nobody has every asked for my info about anything, but they should.

Do you do it? Not officially but I search the name, log in name, and phone number looking for court records

How do you ask their permission? Don’t, it’s none of their business

Do you even ask them? NERP

Would it upset you if someone looked into you? No, please do

Do you use one of those search companies? No I just investigate my self, there are also apps that can find shady phone numbers

Which ones are most legit? No clue

There are so many ways to check. Reverse image search of a photo reveals quite a bit (same photo on social media), especially if they post an official work photo on a dating site
Permission? They put it out there, so it's publicly available info search on publicly available info. Gotta think before posting pics.

If you do a thorough background check, you'd probably have to use one of those pay websites. I hate to pay for anything. I've not worried about being assaulted by a prospective date, but I can see how it could be a concern.

Good questions.
It wouldn't upset me, I'm married.
Might do a background check, but haven't had the need.

The most I've ever done is to google their name, but after I met them and only if I liked them. the practice of meeting in a public place seems to be perfectly alright to me.

I wouldn't be upset if anyone checked me at all. My only concern is that my given name is fairly common. If it wasn't ridiculously shady, I would get it done for myself and offer it to potential dates. But why would they trust me to provide a "real" one? And, if I brought it up to you and was like, "don't bother, I have one right here," I would hope that set off alarms lol.
I personally haven't done it, partially because I don't fear the kind of women I'm attracted to being capable of over powering me in a public place. I do choose public places but even that is more to put her at ease. I'm really good at reading someone in person, a benefit of abusive parents, had to know when mom's mood was swinging.
Best advice I can give is never ever ignore your instincts about your personal safety and don't apologise for wanting to be safe!

No, but I wouldn't care if someone checked me out. Now I'm getting older I can see so many tells, I hope I make a better choice next partner!

I've gotten checked for my finances more than once. Makes online dating something you really look forward to, doesn't it?

Nope, why would I want to do that if it takes few words exchange when meeting, to read the real person?

No. Can't hurt obviously but I'm resisting. I like trusting people and my intuition.

Rarely

I don’t do background checks. If I have that sort of negative intuition about someone based on our emailing or phone calls I won’t meet them. If I take that chance, I meet in a public place, let friends know, keep my cell phone in hand, and make sure the employees know what’s going on. I also will ride my motorcycle which tends to conjure up false stereotypes about me. Which is just fine with me if it means a guy won’t mess with me because of it.

If it gives you peace of mind, I say do the background check. And tell them you're doing it — and why — because their response will tell you a lot, too. If anyone is offended that you don't trust them, when they're still basically a stranger, that's someone you want to avoid (whether they're hiding anything or not). As for reputable background-search companies, I don't know. A basic credit check might work (landlords use such services all the time), but it wouldn't be a complete profile. A lot of employers check newspaper archives on job applicants for criminal background, but that works only if you have their real name and address history.

This is a great post and I'm going to follow it even though I would probably never do a background check on anyone. Thinking back, there are a few that I should have had checked out.
Add one more guy to the list of comments.

I do a background on phone numbers only. This can tell you a lot. My friend Willie has a phone under his wife's name so it says he is Brenda. I get this, but it is different if you want to date Suzie and she turns out to be Charlotte. Maybe Sandy is really Abby. I do this limited check only and if you are talking with the person on the phone and info is exchanged you can stop short of a real background check because what pops up is exactly what you have been told. No need to pay for this nonsense and I do it free. My view is that if you do not do this you can be scammed bigtime and you are simply a fool.

I have 3 phones and I use one to text with ( I hate texting) and my flip phone cell is like a throwdown phone. If I give you my house phone number you will instantly be able to check me out and find my real name and address. I do give this number to those whom I talk to and trust. Many scam calls come daily on the other 2 phones. People that have offers you cannot ignore just for you personally but there is no way they can know who I am. These are those people who would scam you and steal all your info.

They very fact that such things as the above exist is good reason to check people out. I have had many that turn up bogus especially on a paid site, and one from this site also. She keeps wanting me to text her. Texting seems like a good way to accumulate lots of info, so beware until you know someone a lot better.

After we meet for coffee, if there is mutual interest, I might Google them....but only if my Spidey Sense was tingling.....

When I can

It depends. When going on a date, I invite the person to a very public place, during the day, for a brief and simple meet up. Usually the premise is a cup of coffee or a light lunch. This sort of light commitment is not only a safety precaution for both parties, but it gives either side an easy way to bail out if/when things aren't looking so good.

Background checks are helpful - and decent, understanding people ought to accept your desire for safety - but it needn't happen before a meetup of the type I've described above. You'll glean a lot of important revealing info quickly enough through a chat in public over coffee.

If you are going to do it, ask for permission. If that person gets offended, perhaps that person is not for you. I would be upset if someone looked into my background, unless I was asked first and had the chance to say no. I don’t know what company is more legit. At my work there is routine checking of backgrounds and none of the results are 100% accurate. And returning to que issue of asking or not, it all depends if you are thinking long term or not. If you are serious about someone, really serious, you eventually will let that person know all about you, and you would expect that person to tell you everything about her or his life. The results of both background checks would be an excellent topic of long conversation and discovery for the two of you. So ask for permission and offer that person the chance to look into your background.

Nope - never did. I had rental properties in the past, and learned rather quickly that background checks are a waste of time. The proof is in the pudding - so to speak.

My instincts have proven to serve me well - I go with that.

If they are less than forthcoming with information about themselves and I get an uneasy feeling about it, then I will. Otherwise I just take the normal precautions before meeting.

I’ll answer when I have my first online date, but spoiler alert, probably no.

WHAT? What kind of check? Do you do background checks on people you just meet too?

I haven't found the need; but there are websites that do
screening in conjunction with employment. The nature of
society ,I guess.