Guys: What does becoming 'official' officially mean to you?

It's a fairly direct question..

How do you decide to become 'official' with someone? Are there things you need to decide about a particular person before you say...'ok, I can live with that, or I can't? Can certain things/ habits be the deciding factor for you? And does becoming 'official' typically mean at some point moving in or living together?

I am mostly curious about the guys answer, but all are welcome

Thanks!!

In my mind, being official would mean that you're past the initial infatuation, know who they are, and are both comfortable keeping them as an 'exclusive' significant other, faults and all. You don't need to be living together for things to be official.

Offical to me means, that we are now going to enter into a relationship together. It goes past just dating the person, it heads into real relationship territory.

Of course there are things that are important to consider before deciding to date someone exclusively, which is all I take 'official' to mean in a dating context.

we're expected to swallow

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LOL! shooting star, you totally made my day.

I think of official as the point at which you're not only exclusively committed to one another, but your friends and (at least close) family knows about the two of you.

As far as deciding which things you are comfortable with, I think this totally depends on your preferences. The factors, themselves are, of course, totally up to the two of you. In my personal experience, some factors (or habits) don't show up or bother the other partner until later on in the relationship. The key here is knowing what you're happy and comfortable with, and also knowing that this may change and you should always openly communicate. You could discuss with one another those things that are absolutely necessary and decide which things you're willing to compromise on. Other than this, many of these things can be discussed as they come. Good luck!

Sorry, I thought more about the second part of your question - the deciding factors. Assuming you are wanting personal opinions, here's mine -

I don't think official necessarily has to include moving in. For me, it would eventually include it. But, I do think it should have some deciding factors. Many of these factors will come up later on, and I think it's just fine to learn about them as you go. Sometimes you don't know about needing a boundary with something until later on. Again, open communication is important here.