Online Personals
 

I'm looking for any firsthand commentary, advice, or other thoughts you may have about personal ads on the Internet.

It sounds simple: you find somebody who sounds interesting to you, lists a few traits you have as things they're interested in, and you get to see a picture of them and gauge physical attraction.

In practice it doesn't seem to work quite that easily =)

Dave and I met thru online personals. We'll be together 5 years in September and married 3 years in October

oh and he didnt have a picture up....I met him not knowing what he looked like :)

I see nothing wrong with it in this day and age. I know a lot of people who met on the Internet through eharmony or match.com, etc. It's nothing different than meeting some IRL.

I don't have any experience with it but my Aunt met my now Uncle (he's british) online and they have been married for a few years and have two beautiful kids.

I'd say it's not for everyone, but it might be something to look into

You post your own profile, look around at what other people have posted, and instead of learning what someone is really like, it's easy to overanalyze every work and nitpick over minor details until they become dealbreakers. When you step back and realize you're being dumb about it, you meet someone and find out that they look nothing like their picture and their interests are there to make them sound more interesting to people, not because they're actually interested in those things.

edit: your results may vary

..

well I wasnt in my 40's but I was close, I was 35. I think I liked the fact Dave didnt have a picture up...and lord knows what I surprise I got when I met him and melted at his feet cause he was a most awesome looking person lol

I've had a varied amount of experience at it, some successes, some failures, one or two psychos; there is a fair amount of misrepresentation on it and a whole whack of cheating men lookiing for 'something on the side.' I met my SO on Facebook, we exchanged profiles, played some puzzles and scrabble, met in person and fell instantly in love.

So you kept trying even after a couple psychos???
Edited: According to statistics, women are much more likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs.

http://internet-filter-review.topten...tatistics.html

Thanks for the input, everyone. My current experience is somewhat similar to MSD's description, so I'm experimenting by rewriting my profile. Rambling about oneself is weird, almost creepy, and it's hard to tell how it turns out without over analyzing and nitpicking.
Two sides on every coin..

I used to be an OkCupid member, what site are you using? I can probably give you some pointers if you post a link. I also have no problem with PMs if you don't want to just post a link.

I promise nothing less than brutal honesty and constructive criticism.

I met Crompsin via OKCupid. I sent him a message (high match percentage, whee!), he replied with "You live too far away," and we just started talking via AIM with no real intention of meeting each other. That lasted a little over a month before I decided to drive down to meet him over New Year's Eve.. and if you read his journal you know how that went. :)

I've also met a couple of losers/creeps/weirdos, as a few people I talked to online for a couple of months as friends. Met a couple in real life, but not very seriously.

My current relationship is the only one to ever come out of meeting someone via online personals. The same is not true for him, though.

If I didn't already have an S.O., I wouldn't hesitate to meet someone online.

I ended up with someone for 2.5 years who I met online, although things didn't turn out in the long run.

If I was still in college, I wouldn't bother. But take me out of the relationship I'm currently in, and it would be very hard for me to meet new people. I work from 6:30-7:00 am and get back at 6 or 7 pm. I don't drink anymore, and I'm not into the club scene, so you can rule those two out right there. While I work out, my gym is exclusive to my apartment complex. I'm not a coffee drinker so I won't be picking up any hipsters at the local Starbucks either. Complicate matters by the fact that my job moves me every 6 to 18 months.

What I'm suggesting is that there are a lot of nice people out there capable of being in a relationship, but their jobs/living situation don't enable them to easily go out and meet new people. I'm the type of person who enjoys going out and doing things, but am not one to up and do it by myself unless I have already planned for someone else to go with me. This wouldn't be easy to do for me without meeting people through friends/parties/classes, etc as I did in college.

Worst case scenario, you meet up with someone, find out they're a complete loser, and you've got a hilarious story to tell as the end result of it. Best case scenario, you pull a Crompsin and score a hottie.