I found my husband after several years of online mishaps. The biggest difference I've seen with "traditional" dating is that it takes longer to find out what the guy is really like. Everyone says you can believe what they say, and it's easy to be faked out when all communication goes through a keyboard. Usually it takes meeting someone in person to really get to know them. Meeting on the internet gave me a bit more comfort than meeting them for the first time in a bar or something.

In many other ways there's no difference between online dating and face to face meeting. In general, people are single for a reason. I didn't really start dating until I was in my 30's, which says something about me. The guys I met were also single for a reason. Sometimes it comes out via the computer, sometimes you need to meet with them, in one case for me it took moving 3,000 miles to stay with him for a few months.

As with everything else on the internet, success depends on the website. There was a big deal a few years ago about a guy (who was a lawyer) who sued a dating site for taking off his profile after records showed a marriage certificate but no divorce decree. Things like that would make me more comfortable with that site. I met my husband on a site for people like me. There wasn't much of the computer matching or anything, but everyone knew from the get go what I considered my major weakness in finding a husband. Most religous denominations have some kind of site for people of that faith, and there are sites specific to geographic areas.

Just as with everything else in life, there are jerks and idiots in every group. Hope you find some of the good guys, who are also there if you look hard enough.