curious- don't rush into anything. That's all you can do. The more time you spend with somebody, the better the sense you can get about whether they're as switched on as they claim to be. If somebody claims to be an experienced Dominant, then They won't mind (and will often require) getting to know you as a person first, before even thinking about you submitting to Them. Talk talk talk. Don't feel obliged to submit from the word go, no matter how experienced they look. Be respectful, but firm in what you agree and don't agree to, until you know the person well enough to trust them.

Not everybody's a predator, but not everybody's straightforward, either. There's young idiots, there's old idiots. There's young, experienced and responsible Dominants, and there's older, experienced and responsible Dominants. You just have to stick it out long enough to find out who's who.