I think it has its good points. You can spend a lot more time looking, its cheaper than a bar, and you're basically standing there with your cheesy mug on display 24/7 with your life story printed on a t-shirt (they send you to AA or the mental hospital if you do that in a bar), so you can weed out the ones who's tastes are too dissimilar without even having to talk to them.

Having said that I've not given it a try as of yet. It seems like I'm always either not single or now just isn't a good time for me to be looking. Take now for instance, I've recently found myself to be one of the many suddenly unemployed programmers out there. You know, what do you say when you get the question, "So, what do you do for a living?" OTOH, I guess since I'll be starting school next year (finally) "I'm a student". Heh :) Sorry don't mind the insomniac's ramblings.

I tried it, but only to meet chicks in Melbourne as i was going down there a lot for work, and didn't want to go out by myself. Ended up meeting two girls who are very good friends to this day. For what it's worth i didn't get any sex out of it, but met a few real fun girls...

Too busy to date, online or off. Maybe when I get back to college...

tried it out, but i used alt.com. Had a couple of dates, had some fun but moved on in time, I just lost interest in the whole online dating thing.

Well, I've dated a lot, meeting people from both online and in real world, and can say that both have their advantages.

Meeting in person you can tell if you're attracted to that person (and vice versa) and if you have some minimal things in common. But after a few dates you can find out that you really don't have that much in common, and if you've slept with them, your good judgement can be clouded by sex (especially if it's good)

On the other hand, meeting online is a bit easier (no first approach syndrome) and you can get a better idea of what that person is like, but the chemistry factor is a mystery until you meet. Sometimes you'll meet someone who is attractive, but there's no chemistry.

Another good thing about meeting online is that you can meet a lot of people who you wouldn't normally run into in a bar or anywhere else.

Crazies on the web are vastly overrated. In the end you'll probably meet the same number of deeply damaged people online as you would anywhere else. Just make sure you meet somewhere safe and have you exit script ready. "my mom just died, I have to go."

So, to sum up, I think online is a perfectly acceptable way to meet people. No better or worse than going to a bar or family reunion. Just have different expectations.

i've never been into the bar scene, and i was constantly disappointed with girls in college. I dated some girls that i met online, some successful, some not. I met my fiance at match.com over a year ago. things are great.

people are just as crazy online as offline

As a matter of fact, I met my last three GF's through a service and still remain good friends with the exes. My current GF is a keeper.

I use Hot or Not its kewl

Ummm yeah. What he said.

I have tried a few different online dating things, but the cost of actually talking to anyone is pretty scary for someone of my limited income. The other thing is it seems the people that have nothing in common with me are the ones that constantly message me. Like, did you bother reading my profile?