As long as they remain friendly and never get intimate, it is alright in my opinion. I think those online dating services would be the best way to meet someone from an online perspective since they screen and qualify people for you. Seriously, you can't have enough friends, so as long as you keep it on that lever then I say you are fine. I'd be a little leery of someone who really wants to meet me because I would not be able to trust someone like that whom I have never talked to or seen before.

I think so as long as you realize that they may be very different IRL. And as long as you us common sense in what your reveal you should be fine.

Yeah why not..forget the hang ups and live life..just use common sense and caution.

I think it can be a good start to something but people need to be leary about chatting on the internet it can be so dangerous. It is better if it is just friendly chatting nothing serious.

its not as bad as meeting someone on answerbag, which in that case ur children are doomed to have cleft pallets and hooved feet

I think that the internet is a great TOOL. I know it definitely has helped me in many areas. I do see how it can help those who are for different reasonings unable to go out and meet people, be able to meet others... however I do see that it can be harmful to already developed relationships that people have with others offline when people become addicted to the point that they are constantly on and chatting. Leaving little room for those offline in their life. The mystery of the unknown and learning of someone online is alluring but sometimes.. mysteries are not all that great ....just something wrapped up more for you to unravel. I do not like too much mystery.. I like to move ahead and not have to play around trying to figure things out. Who has time?? Let's make it fun together! I think people should do what they want.. but I come across people who are hung up in "relationships" that have gone on for months..even up to a couple of years.. and they have never met! .. they are constantly online and not out being active and LIVING because they are waiting to talk to their partner online. I think this is unhealthy. I think if people want to hook up via the internet.. they should meet right away and make it more real than just sitting, typing or yapping on the phone. I have quite a few friends that I have met from the net. A few I have known almost ten years .. but I guess while I do see it more unhealthy than healthy as an overall.. I will have to say that it is like anything.. you get what you put into it and what you put up with. So it is what you choose to make it. If you want to sit around and the majority of your involvement in your relationship is via the net or phone.. its a choice.. if it is to get out.. meet them and build towards working to be closer or spend more real time together.. its a choice. It can be a good idea for the people who make it work without neglecting their activities of daily living. I know that when I first discovered the internet and chatting, I was online WAY too much. It was unhealthy and I stopped devoting as much time to things offline. It was fun at the time but it also wasted a lot of time. I think that if you are able bodied and sound .. meeting people offline is much healthier. I know people like the dating sites and prefer them to bars and such .. and I can understand that preference but I do not understand sitting at the pc and chatting all of the time. I do not see how that is healthy physically or mentally. I think it is a great thing for the disabled and such who are homebound and whatnot. I email a lot but chatting is not really something I am into much. I keep in touch with friends and family back home via email and while I have aim and yahoo .. I rarely use the messengers. Life is too short to spend it stuck inside communicating through a box when the sight and sound of someone is much better. My opinion.

If you are talking just friends, I have been doing it since 1996 and have met face to face with a few and just been online with some others for over ten years. I would consider them good firends but most are not great friends, or some I would rely on to be there in a pinch , but we enjoy each ohters email and comments and well-wishes. I don't expect more than that. Without face to face, it just isn't the same as seeing someone's eyes and hearing their voice and inflections. If you are talking romantic friend, I don't think they work out very well, except in rare instances. I've known a few people who have 'found' someone online and at first it was okay but they really didn't know each other personally, face to face and eye to eye. They have all broken up. There was no real foundation to build something that lasts and they couldn't work past some differences tht onlu come up in person, the day to day stuff.

1) Yes. It is a very good idea, I think. You just have to be somewhat cautious. You would not talk with anybody on the street (apart from telling them the way or something similar). And it depends if you are looking for an aquaintance, a friend or a partner (anything could develop). 2) "Disadvantages to this style of dating are legion - people can sometimes not be who they purport to be, and notable cases of abuse have occurred. Cyberstalking, and real life stalking, has been well-documented, and it is as well to have an awareness of the issues involved in internet romance." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_romance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberstalking 3) I found many interesting information about it here: The psychology of text relationships: http://www.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/textrel.html Online relationships and their risks: http://www.relationships.com.au/advice/building-better-relationships/online-relationships Being smart about online relationships: http://www.geekgirls.com/security_online_relationships.htm The hazards of online love: http://www.ivillage.co.uk/relationships/dating/onlinedate/articles/0,,166420_180290,00.html

It's worked for me, but I wouldn't recommend it as a way to meet people. I much prefer interacting with people face to face over any other forms of contact.

Sure, but don't be consumed by anything in cyber world. I once had an online relationship and i knew I was tripping when I ran home from work and turned on my computer before doing anything else to see if I had email from a man/woman/who knows, I've never seen before.

Some people can actually do it, and I've actually seen it work.

That's how I met my wife - on IRC.

No. How would you know that they are not a mad axeman in real life

use common sense, go slowly and you should be fine. I met my wife in a chatroom, we took our time, and we are best of friends and couldn't be happier.

I don't understand what the big deal is. Probably on average people who meet online have better success then those that meet through friends or in bars or w/e. Let's face it, those movies where people meet in a bar or at a bookstore or coffee shop and fall in love are bullshit. Girls go to the bar/club to get drunk/dance, guys go to get laid. You go to a bookstore to read, and anyone that sits in a coffee shop for more then 15 minutes reading a book is just pretending to look intelligent but instead just looking pretentious. Finding people online has far more advantages then trying to find people in real life. Online usually you not only get a picture of the person, you get to read some stuff about them. This is good for me as personality is pretty important to me and if they sound like a bimbo or a pretentious bitch I can just pass them up, skipping the embarrassment of being shot down at a bar/club/public place. You can talk to people online or on the phone and see if you get along. You get to meet more people in a shorter amount of time. It's also a hell of a lot cheaper, I can't tell you how many times I've bought women drinks only to have them walk away with it anyway(you all do it women, use men for stuff like that). So yeh, you don't have to waste tons of money going out hunting or on dates, you get to sort of pre-screen people, you get to know them first, and you don't have to deal with any feminine power-play turndown crap that seems so common nowadays in bars and such(guys go to bars to get laid girls, get over it). I think it makes finding a person much easier and more practical.

well yes you meet new people and ideas

Do, I think making relationships online is a good idea as long as one of the people arent a Cereal killer or a con artist or a preditor or they are at least half normal. Well, I personaly would have to see someone in person before I would say I am dating someone or have a relationship on a computer too me it is not a real relationship like being with someone in a real life relationship in that case I would take my computer in the Las vegas drive thru marrage and marry my computer and we would have a grand ol relationship.

I am a strong believer of such things. As long as you are very careful and when meeting the person you meet them in public places where there are alot of people for atleast a month so that while getting to know who they are in real life you can make a judgement of character. I met my boyfriend soon to be married online two years ago. I love him to death. I think it is an excellent idea for introverts who have a hard time going out and socializing with large crowds of people. instead they can meet people in the safty of their own home.

I have never done this nor am I ever planning on doing this type of relationship if the real life one I have now ends. One of my friends did this and I am hoping she does not do it again. He ended up being a total looser. She was lucky she did not get a cerial killer or a con artist or a preditor. He ended up just being a bum that did not hold a job and expected not to do his part in their relationship. In my opinion, if he was not working, he should have at least helped in other areas while she was working. I guess that was not happening and she kicked his butt out.

Yes why not? You can forge different kind of relationship through the net, like friendship. Many couples experienced love-at-first-sight. Why not love-at-first-chat? Ü

Not really, I don't think so. I tried so many times and it all went to hell. Besides, I may never know who that person is on the other line.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR IF YOU FEEL THE SPIRIT THEN THAT IS UR CALLING WAIT UNTIL IT FEELS RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it can be, because you can get to know the real person without being distracted by physical stuff (e.g. looks, places to go). It certainly worked for my wife and me, as that's how we met, and I left England to move to the US to marry her three years ago. We began by email, then moved to IM, and then to Internet telephony (e.g. Skype). It was only a short while before I moved to the US that I even saw a photo of her!

Making relationship is good whether online or not.

Sure, if you like a good fantasy, that's the way to go!