Be careful what you ask for. Someone may say.... "This is the solution to club scene dating fiasco"

The most important thing to remember while on dating sites, in ALL situations:
"I have one strict rule when I am on the internet. I will NEVER, under ANY circumstances, send money or gifts to ANYONE for ANY REASON".
Don't be a victim.

Yes, don't do it. meet and greet people in places like here and see what happens or go about your normal life and get out more.

An opinion here: Our real life persona and our on-line persona really are different. All of us are that way. Add onto that, in the on-line world a lot of the cues we use are not to be seen. So the two people who love each other on-line and decide to meet for real are totally taken aback at the person they meet who is not at all like the person they came to love.

I would say the problem is not online dating. The problem is online daters, probably myself first and foremost. I find online dating no different than offline dating. The problems being, no-one I meet has the necessary attributes to entice me to commit to them, and the converse is also true, I do not posses the attributes necessary to attract that person. We are too fussy and unwilling to compromise, if we are smart, our lives are already pretty "nice". It is the old 80/20 principle, 80% of my life is great, so do I risk that to try and fix the other 20% or trade the 80% great, for the 20% great? If I ever find someone who really fits with me and I with her, I am there, but I doubt it will happen. I am not impossible, I have been in love, I have loved, been loved, I do know what I am missing.

I am into dancing so I need to see you dance before my juices are flowing. I believe in "Body Language", in "Vibes". This site is alright with me. All this is New to me. I am a Virgin here. Offering something totally out of my element. I am the one that need to catch up.

I'm a hopeless techy, and have been doing the online dating thing off and on since way before it was cool. The trick is to not take it seriously. It's absolutely nothing more than networking. Playing the numbers. You meet a large number of people and just enjoy the ride. Yes, there are a lot of con artists of both genders. You just have to navigate around those people to get to the ones that are worth meeting. But you also have to be honest about who you are. No one likes to be lied to. First encounters can be awkward enough, they can get downright ugly if one hasn't been honest about themselves.

I don't think you can.

Online dating streamlines certain things about your prospective mate. You can filter out undesirable attributes, and filter IN desirable attributes.

However, they don't allow you to just talk and get to know each other. Even when you CAN do that, you don't find out where they squeeze the toothpaste tube until they invite you over... or you both gravitate to your place or theirs.

It's why we go through so many relationships. We get into private and we see/hear things that grate on us... or we do NOT see/hear things that grate on us. We drift apart, or we get even closer. Just liking someone, getting to know them well enough to want to give a relationship a try is no guarantee that it will work out.

I do really wish that we had a better view on this. I like eHarmony's quote about someone moving on, they say something about "now you know this isn't the one" and are better able to find the right one next. I have adopted this view. Let's date, talk, play a game, maybe go for dinner, maybe drinks and see how we get along. If we realize (before or after sex) that... um, no, this isn't right. We should be able to be adult about it and say so and NOT be castigated when we do. Unfortunately, too often we lash out which only makes it harder to move on to the next attempt. :/

I don't know if this is a solution. I didnt read the articles but I will share on line here and if there is a connection good if now sie la guerre.If I decide to connect it will be in a public place that has a common focus, no expectation except the day together and go from there

What I love about this site is there’s no pressure. We get to know each other by responding to posts and it just goes on from there.

You will have to define your version of what you think dateing means to you before I can answer. Why are you dating? What's your goal? What's the motivation? What's your ulterior motive?

I have been on the internet and on dating sites for 23 years and I know from experience what can happen here. I have no issue with online dating sites and nothing needs to be fixed. The internet is an adult playground for role playing, fantasy games, scammers and just about anything else you can imagine. Accept it for what it is and see what can happen. It is free to try, you have total control of what you do here and no one is under any obligation to anyone else. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Your mileage may vary.

I am pretty inexperienced with dating but have established a few rules that have helped so far.
Ignore/block people who start off being disrespectful. Chat a bit online (not too long) before meeting in person - lots of guys will rule themselves out in the first 6 messages exchanged. Meet in a public place and let someone know where you are, and ask them to check in with you if they haven’t heard from you by a specific time.