Online Dating: The way to go or just plain desperate?

Hi there,
So first thing I have to say is I'm probably a LOT older than you guys which kinda makes this all the more strange really. I was married in 1983 to what I thought was my 'forever' partner. Cut a long story short 20 years nearly to the day later (I got my divorce absolute on my 20th wedding anniversary) I found myself no longer married and having to move for financial reasons from my home of 20 years (just outside of London) back to the North East of England. basically I was dumped for a younger, richer model!!!!
Some months later armed with my new computer and what now seems like a ludicrous display of 'brain melt' I joined and online dating site (didn't really have a clue!!) and there I met my new husband. we chatted online for a while (about a month) and then met. Not love at first sight (I was ssssssssssssssooooooooooooo nervous, I obviously hadn't dated in about 24 years) but we were best friends pretty quickly and 18 months later we got married.
That was 7 years ago, and no, it hasn't been sunshine and roses all the time. We've had good times and bad like everyone but what makes it all worth it is that he's always there for me and we're still best friends. Neither of us can imagine life without the other and yes, he'd been married before as well.
Maybe I was just one of the lucky ones who didn't get into any sticky situations.But i guess if you're thinking about it then go ahead as LONG as you're careful, consider the other sides feelings and treat others the way you would like to be treated then all will be well.

I met my husband to be online dating, on our wedding day the 1st June this year we will have been together 4 years :-)

There are a lot of weird people around but as far as I'm concerned some guy I talk to for 10 mins in a bar could end up being just as weird! I found I actually got to know more about people before actually meeting them. I was under no illusion that all they were telling me was true, but anyone can lie, online or not.

Catfish...

^^^Yes. Although, if you meet someone you like you shouldn't accept waiting years to meet them in person. I mean come on, how gullible do you have to be??

I met a guy I dated for 2 years on POF... great guy, but we should have just stayed friends and not gotten romantically involved. We had a ton in common, except for what our ultimate goals in life were, so I moved on....

I decided to try one of the paid sites (Singlesnet.com) for one month. By the second day I got a message from the man who would become my husband. Oddly enough, they never should have "matched us up" because he lived in another state and normally they only match you with people closer to where you are. He was in my home state, 160 miles away, and we quickly realized we had crossed paths hundreds of times in our younger days. To top it off, we were both professional artists. We wrote back and forth, talked on the phone, and after about 6 weeks and really got a good sense of who the other person was. Of course, I checked his story to make sure he was who he said he was. He told me he was coming up to the next town over from me to visit his friend, who, as it turned out, was also someone I knew! We had dinner together, listened to some music... we saw each other again a few weeks later, this time with me driving the 160 miles to him. We knew very quickly that this was it! A year later, we were married. The odds are I never would have met him if it wasn't for that dating site.

Is using a dating site a sign of desperation? Not these days. Both my husband and I were in our late 50's, and it isn't easy to find compatible people that are truly unattached, not damaged beyond repair, and don't have baggage the size of steamer trunks. I also have to say I met a few absolutely wonderful men through dating sites that, when we met, instantly realized were not "love" connections, but we became and remain good friends to this day and I have entire networks of new friends that I know through them. For me it's been a win/win situation.

Hi. I figured MFP was the place to bring up such a silly subject, because to be honest, I've met cooler girls on here than I ever have on online dating... go figure. Anyways... have any of you went the online dating route and what was it like for you? Is it the way to go or just a cry of the desperate? I've went on a few dates and it's taken me forever to meet anyone that I was remotely interested in... so it seems to not be working for me. Oh well... just curious how everyone else's experience has been. OH... and just so ya know I've tried... POF, Eharmony, and Match.

I met my husband online.. I dated some buttheads before I got to him though lol

I'm totally fine with online dating but its hard. I really, really fell in love with a guy in Texas and had to break it off because we're just teens. We couldn't do anything thing about the distance. I don't regret the two years at all but I wish it was easier. So if you think you can face those struggles and let's be honest, Have the money to see them if/when it gets serious. Then you should go for it.

I met my husband on POF. I tried a few dating services, mostly because my work schedule stunk and I never was able to go out with friends nearly as much as I wanted to. Online dating allowed me to at least talk to guys online, and I had the choice of meeting them if I chose to.

I will say this - I tried again and again and again(and again, etc) with online dating. Meeting my husband was the best thing, but I dated many fellas prior (and had a few bad experiences to boot).

P.S. - Real men DO love cats!

Back when I had more time, I got on a dating site and purposely chose the weirdest, douchiest guys to go out with, just for the good story it would produce. And trust me, I got some GOOD stories.

I see that as clever, not desperate.

This is how we met.

:flowerforyou:

I met my husband online.

It's not 1995 anymore, online dating is normal these days.

Is it?

I met my boyfriend on an online game and we knew each other for a year before we met

You do some pretty good bonding when you slay dragons together with your +6 sword, just sayin'

Has the mail order bride business moved online yet? I wonder if Amazon has a section for that.

If I ever decide to date, I'll probably have to go online to do it- or start stalking the clubs. We're not supposed to date people we work with, and pretty much everyone I know here are people I work with, because I moved here for the job and work with awesome people. I don't think there's anything wrong with internet matchmaking, but I do think there are good ways and bad ways to go about it. There are a ton of articles and books out there that have theories about how to best present yourself to attract the right person, and how to search profiles for someone who might be a good match for you. And maybe you just need to meet a bunch of people until you meet the right one- after all, that's usually how it happens in real life.

I think it's a terrific way to meet compatible ppl, certainly no worse than the usual hit n miss, at least you have a chance to test the water first with emails and phone calls. Just take sensible precautions, but then u would do that in real life as well of course. Have fun!

Online dating worked for Manti Te'o, right? RIGHT?

I won't attempt online dating. I'm a people person and I like to interact with people and have no intentions of meeting people online.

I think it's kind of a necessity in this day and age. People are very mobile, move around for different jobs, often to where they don't know anyone. That's what I did. I moved to MN for an internship and the only people I knew were people that did the same thing and also didn't know anyone. Other than hitting the bars where you'd end up with who knows what, online was the way to go.

I signed up for match first and went on one date with a guy from there. He didn't like dogs so that wasn't going to work out, lol. I then went on okcupid. Went on a few dates with a guy I didn't really like at all. Then I met my boyfriend and we've been together for a year and a half. I was infatuated with him from the start.

I like it. Unlike just talking to random people, I know from their profiles what their religious and other beliefs are. I can also weed some out that sound desperate or really bitter. I'm a fan.

A couple months after meeting my boyfriend I went with him to his hometown to meet some old friends of his. There was a total of five couples there. Four of the couples met online. Two are married and the other two are engaged. I think the stigma is gone.