Online Dating!

I've tried it. It wasn't for me. I reactive my okcupid account every couple months when I'm feeling bored and quickly deactivate it. I don't "click" with very many guys in general even if we do have a lot in common. I don't like the idea of meeting someone who is more or less a stranger and can't shake the feeling that I'm being judged and weighed against the guys ideas of a good lay, gf, wife, etc. I also feel when I put up my best photos that I look much better than I do in person and someone will think I lied. I wanted to put up an awful photo of myself but my friends told me not to and while I thought it was funny I see their point. Most guys don't want to talk much before meeting - and I understand that - see if there is a spark so we aren't wasting time right? Well I don't want to waste a bunch of time meeting guys when I can tell after chatting for a few days that I might not get along with them. It's a catch 22. I did meet one guy - we seemed to have a lot to talk about before meeting but when we did meet it was very meh. He seemed a lot older (not physically just in general) and while it wasn't a horrible experience it wasn't a great one either.

The first time I signed up I used a photo from the waist up because I am a bigger girl and wanted that to be clear from the start but that just got me lots of messages about my boobs. It calmed down once I took that photo down.

My biggest problem would be guys who don't have much to say or trail off and really pushy guys. If I tell you more than once that I am not interested in meeting until I know you better and you keep asking me "what about tomorrow night" I'm going to stop talking to you because you are already annoying the crap out of me.

There were a few guys that I thought were probably pretty nice but I don't feel I could really get to know them on there and didn't want any of the pressure with meeting them in person. I just hate "dating" in general. All of the guys I've had relationships with I knew them as coworkers or friends or friends of friends so it wasn't so weird - even a few online ones from gaming.

I met my fiance on a dating website and we now have an awesome 2 week old son!

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I'm with my boyfriend I met on OkCupid for almost 2 years now. I also tried match.com and eharmony.com, but it all depends on what you're looking for because they all seem to cater to different types of people - also, OKC is free and most other sites are not. It's real hit and miss with all of them, but worth a try I think.

Well...there is always craigslist :smooched:

I met my husband online, though not on a dating site. It was a forum for an anime convention. My friend and I were looking for more friends our age to hang out with at the convention and he was too. So we met at the convention after a few nervous conversions and hit it off (go geek powah!) Started dating, moved in at the end of the year...got engaged at the same anime convention the next year. Now we have been married for almost 3 years and have 2 beautiful daughters.

Just try it and have fun with it. I wasn't looking for anything serious but I found him

I am on both eHarmony and Match.com.....Losing 30 pounds helps give you a sense of confidence! eHarmony is more intensive and a lot slower in the responding. I have a date tonight, we are meeting in a public place. I wish you could make updates to your profile without matches seeing that...I am constantly thinking of things I would like to change, but don't

Online dating is stupid. I absolutely did not meet my husband by stalking him on a internet forum the summer of 2006. Was more like early autumn...

Had good and bad experiences, just like meeting in person. Be careful, it may be worth it.

Howaboutwe is amazing.

It can happen - I met my husband on Match - my best friend met her husband on Match (after trying Toyboy warehouse for some fun first), an ex-colleague also met her husband on Match, and another good friend met her husband on The Guardian dating website. However, I have also had other friends and colleagues who met people to date for 4-12 months, with no marriage - but which I also see as a successful outcome.

In addition to what some of the other posters have advised (being safe etc), I also:
1. Looked at other peoples profiles before writing your own. You don't want to come across as only a good time girl, but neither do you want to seem like your looking for husbands and babies, etc.
2. Everyone has the pre-requisite scuba diving or skiing photo, and the made up, at your best photo (eg at a wedding), but it is the other photos of you looking relaxed and natural, that appeal. You want to look good in your photos, but better in person.
3. I only engaged with guys who contacted me first and mentioned something about my own profile - ignore general comments, or blanket emails. You want to see that they are interested in you.
4. Do not over invest emotionally in someone before you even meet them. Emailing for too long can create a false sense of intimacy or connection - in the end, you need to meet them to see if the connection is there.
5. If you want longer term -don't sleep with them for about a month - unless you want to, but then don't be surprised if they don't stick around long after. (This is not meant to sound judgemental or manipulative -but experience has borne this out)
6. It sounds stupid, but I guess that I was expecting everyone I met to be weirdos or players - but that was not the case. Most were nice people, and most were just looking for what we all are - friendship, love and affection, marriage and babies -etc
7. The stats worked out by my friends and I about our collective dates meant that about every 7th person we met there was a longer term dating / relationship formed

Sorry if this is TMI - I was lucky to have the experience and tips of friends and colleagues who had already been on-line dating for a while before I started, and so some of this was advice from them, some I learned myself. I was lucky to meet someone on a site that I married - I had decided he was my last date and then I was not renewing my membership, and it worked out for me. Even if I hadn't met him, however, I would still have enjoyed the overall experience as it gave me more confidence and also a greater insight into people and how they think.

It is like everything in life - you get out of it what your looking to get out of it.

I haven't dated much in last 3 years, did use POF for 3-4 months late last year... Went on a date nearly every week... Even after reading their profile and chatting to the girls on the phone... They were different meeting them in person... And a few total loony tunes and some scary...

Not sure what I want to do in future... I don't tend to 'look... Might try again...'

Wait! You're telling me this isn't an online dating site?? What the hell am I doing here then.

In the days before internet dating took off people went on blind dates, I met my husband on a blind date on June 4th 1994 and we were married within 3 months and gave birth to my son on.....June4th 1995! exactly a year later lol, we have been together happily for 19 years . The advantage of a face to face meeting early on was if there was no spark or attraction then we were only invested one date in and could have walked away easily.

there are drawbacks to internet dating and the whole getting to know you slowly thing, you still have to meet at some point and may not be attracted to each other after all, by that time you may have opened up about everything under the sun over a period of months and spent hours on the phone too, so it wont be as easy to disentangle emotionally and from somebody who comes across in person as a weirdo.

Finally my husband works with a lot of men , some of the single ones use Plenty of Fish looking for a weekend legover. They all say the women are willing and up for having sex immediately , if thats the case then they cant complain about being used . Whether you meet someone in real life or meet someone via the internet , just be safe, dont rush into physical intimacy and until you go exclusive then date as many people as you want.

Finally my husband works with a lot of men , some of the single ones use Plenty of Fish looking for a weekend legover. They all say the women are willing and up for having sex immediately , if thats the case then they cant complain about being used . Whether you meet someone in real life or meet someone via the internet , just be safe, dont rush into physical intimacy and until you go exclusive then date as many people as you want.

That's a bit of an old-fashioned notion, that when two people have sex right away the woman is the only one being used. It all depends on what women want from the guy, and sometimes it's just a fun weekend.

I thought this was online dating....wtf