I think online dating has changed a lot since its conception. Whereas originally it was mostly a bunch of computer types actually flirting and interacting virtually (cybersex, photo exchange, etc), these days it looks more like online meeting (as opposed to dating) in order to set up real life dating. For a lot of people (my recently divorced parents for instance) it’s an excellent thing. It’s not always easy for busy people to meet new people, especially people they get along with. With websites like okcupid.com (free) they can now create an honest profile of themselves, answer a bunch of questions (again, honesty being key here), and attract people who are very compatible to them. After a few email conversations, if both parties are interested, usually someone will suggest a real date and after that it’s all real life… nothing online about it. So it seems to me like the online part is more “meeting” than “dating”. So many people are doing it these days that most profiles you’ll see out there are very real and honest. My buddy moved to a new, unfamiliar area for his job and he doesn’t drink so bars are out of the qustion. The few females at his workplace didn’t interest him at all so he tried a few websites, including match.com and okcupid.com, to find some local, single women, who he’d get along with. It worked amazingly well for him so after breaking up with my girlfriend I tried out okcupid.com (I, personally, wouldn’t want to pay for the other ones). I posted an honest profile and have met several great girls who share a lot of the same interests. Living in this small town I’ve never dated girls who matched me nearly as perfectly as some of the ones I’ve met through that website. And even though they’ve all lived within 20 miles of me, the chances that I’d have met them otherwise aren’t that great. There’s definitely still the other element to online dating where people actually build relationships online and never actually meet in real life but I’d say for the most part it has become a great way to meet the people that match you best. In fact the internet has become a great way to find just about anything you want. The people who want meaningful, real life relationships, find others who want the same. The people who just want *** partners or to meet other fetishists, find others who want the same (adultfriendfinder.com and ALT.com), geeks find geeks, nature people find nature people, freaks find freaks, busy people seeking someone to share their limited free time, find other busy people seeking the same. Once in a while a pedofile probably finds a kid (the internet has its dangers just like anything else in life).

Advantages- you can screen age, know a little about the person before you even meet them.

Disadvantages- Some putting their whole life story on their profile, you don’t truly know if the person is who they say they are.

Advantage – avoid the small talk and courage needed to chat someone up.

Disadvantage – its addictive, and most of the people you meet have been sleeping around for months.

Well, there are very glaring disadvantages and most people have very negative preconceptions about meeting people from the internet. The advantages are that you can essentially pre-screen their intelligence level (to a certain extent- spelling, grammar, etc) and get a pretty good idea of how a person would speak based on how they write. This extends beyond intelligence and into personality-type. If someone is going to say “asl? do u like ***?” instead of “Good morning, where are you from?” you can make a very obvious judgment of what their intentions are based solely on their opening statement. It is my opinion that you should spend a fair amount of time screening people online and learning how to detect these differences before you make any actual decisions on who you’re going to meet in person. The disadvantages of doing that, like I said, are common knowledge. Even if you go on a blind date, that person could have never gone on the internet before, and still end up hurting you in some way. There are good and bad people everywhere- don’t pick on the internet. I’m available over IM if you’d like anything else from me.

Advantages:
- know core values, like/dislikes, up-front
- access to a larger pool of potential mates
- see physical characteristics
- get to be with an open-minded, tech-savvy person

Disadvantages:
- can’t predict behavior or what relationship will turn into
- chance that the person has “done the rounds”
- awkward to explain how you met – stigma is you’re desperate
- person could be misrepresenting themselves and actually be a
criminal/rapist (unlikely but possible)
- having to watch cheesy commercials for on-line dating sites on TV

Advantages – Able to meet someone who likes pretty much exactly what you like within minutes.

Disadvantages – A lot, they could be an imposter, rapist, et cetra. You need to be careful with this sort of thing and do it through a safe practice. AIM and other messengers isn’t one

Advantage:
Convenience

Disadvantage:
dangerous

advantages-meet you soul mate, my cousin did
disadvangtages-meeting a huge creep