How to get parents to understand online friendship?

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My parents are like that too, but they've kind of convinced me to not be so trusting. I once chatted with this guy and I felt I had a connection with him, so I felt really close to him. My parents didn't like that one bit and eventually the guy cut off contact with me. I thought he was decent enough though, not a bad guy, but I haven't heard from him since.

My parents are right though, that I do need to be cautious. I have a myspace and all, but I will probably never meet with a friend who asked me to meet with them because you never know. So, yeah my parents have made me a little paranoid perhaps, but I just can't take the risk. It's kind of unfortunate because if I met someone I liked online I would never get to know what they're like offline. Too dangerous.

I don't have online friends, but I do meet girls online, and occasionally go on dates with them. So how do I get my parents to understand online dating? I don't. I just tell them that I'm "meeting this one girl for coffee" or "going to see a movie with this one girl". Since I'm male, my parents hardly ever ask questions about my dating life, and I don't volunteer information. The "this one girl" description seems sufficient to them, so who am I to complain?

I met an online friend this year, a girl I've known since late 2002. We had talked on the phone a few times before that, so I at least knew she was the gender and general age she said she was. The meeting went really well, although it was very brief (her friends gave her a ride up here and had other things to do before they left for their town again). I'm surprised my parents didn't freak out about it, but then maybe it's different for me because I'm a male.