The way I see it, when somebody cheats they lose all of their credibility. When people who cheat say "it was only a mistake", they have no idea how BIG of a mistake it was. You not only broke somebodies heart but you've broken they're ability to trust other people. That person will now not only have to try to pick up their broken heart and they'll have to try to regain confidence in other people before even getting into another relationship, which could take months to years depending on the person. I don't blame people who say "once a cheater always a cheater" because you fucked them over.

There are -no- excuses for cheating, if you can't keep it in your pants long enough to break up with them you deserve the backlash.

idk, i have mixed feelings about this.  i used to believe in the phrase but nowadays i'm more focused on this concept of "cheating" in the first place--in particular, i'm not really sure why people feel like they have the right to forbid someone else from doing something.  my belief is that if i ever choose to have a girlfriend, i want her to choose to only fool around with me, not do it because i told her she's not allowed to do it with others.  what a dumb fucking idea.

as for the "liking" someone too much to not cheat, keep in mind that it seems that people stay in relationships after they don't like the other person anymore purely so they can get laid (actually i pretty firmly believe this is why they get into it in the first place, but that's a different story that i won't get into).  my point being, the argument isn't necessarily valid in all cases.

on more than one occasion, i've crawled into bed with a girl who was cheating on her boyfriend, but only 2 particular stories have stayed with me. the first was a friend's ex from undergrad; she cheated on him and started seeing another dude in chicago.  i ran into her while in town for an interview, we hung out that night, and she started coming on to me at the club.  we hooked up that night, after which she told me that i was the FOURTH fucking person with whom she cheated while with her current flame.  the second story was just a few weeks ago; i met this girl at a pizza place at night who told me she came from fucking miami to see her boyfriend, who was dancing with other girls at the club.  we hit it off pretty quickly, and she gave impressively good head. 

I don't like it when some people say, "looks fade but personality is longer lasting" or something along those lines. looks AND personality may be volatile, because some people are unpredictable and you'll never really know, but you just put your faith and trust into someone that they aren't two faced psychos

@UnconventionalButterfly@xanga - Being someone who got too drunk, too angry, and made a huge mistake one night, I have to disagree. I have hated myself every day since cheating; there's nothing I regret more. It was by far the stupidest thing I have ever done - I wasn't even thinking, and that was the problem. I almost down a bottle of pills because of it. Needless to say, I will NEVER cheat again - not only because I severely hurt someone that I love due to my lack of mental presence, but also because I almost destroyed myself in the process. All in all, people do learn, and I learned big time. 

@Babieboo_Annie@xanga - I have to disagree. Knowing the full story behind the cheating doesn't make it any less wrong than it already is.

Mistake: an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong.

i believe once a cheater, always a cheater. i've witnessed it w/my own eyes...i don't believe a cheater. 

If you believe that people can change, then "once a cheater, always a cheater" certainly isn't true.  Even if you don't believe people can change, it doesn't mean that someone who has cheated in the past will cheat again.  Obviously if someone is a "serial cheater" or has had issues with faithfulness in the past, it's a good warning sign, but it doesn't guarantee anything.

I think it's true for most cheaters. They will repeat the behavior because the issues, feelings and desires that led them to cheat don't just go away on their own.

But some people do change, they work on their issues, overhaul their lives, etc and for them, their propensity to cheat may go along with a lot of other behaviors they throw out of their lives.

But barring that, I think most people will cheat again.

I've cheated on most of the people I've been with. I grew up surrounded by violence and abuse. As a result when I got older and started dating, I'd do my best to make the guy happy. I never had the courage to leave them or dump them, even if they were abusive or the relationship was miserable. So I'd cheat, in an attempt to keep myself from going insane. However those were boyfriends that literally pulled the "if you ever leave me, I will kill myself/do something highly destructive" card. While most won't agree, I was in high school and I feel no guilt for those situations.

Lol, I'm wondering if a serial cheater would actually admit to continuously cheating in this post...To those who serial cheat, shame on you!!

I've cheated in the past yes a few times and I deeply regret it, as I deeply regret anything I've done in the past that has hurt someone. People become wiser and people change, so I can't agree with that statement.