Hi Joely! I was in your situation about a year ago. I ended up reading what people posts, and then posted some questions about a kink which appealed to me. Of the people who responded, one really stood out. The topic I asked about was this Dom's primary area of interest in BDSM. He pm'd me offering to answer any further questions I might have had. We exchanged a few pms. He was articulate and interesting, and wasn't too aggressive. I liked the attitude he displayed in all his posts in the general forum. Eventually, we agreed that he would help me explore our mutual interest. The more we learned about each other the more compatible we found we were. So there is something to be said for looking at someone's forum postings to get an idea of their personality. The Doms who have hit on me who don't generally post in the forums have been completely unappealing to me.
fantassy