I ended up having a really great experience with online dating. My ex wife got me a subscription to match.Com as kind of a breakup gift (messed up, I know). I ended up meeting a few women, and ultimately my wife. I found going into it without expectations of anything long term made it easier for me to just get out and try to meet people. I'm sure I was one of the freaks some of the women talk about (freshly divorced, relatively depressed, crazy animal lady) but I was really just looking for social interaction and some "fun"at the time. My wife was one of the first women to contact me. I was emailing about a dozen people at the time, so I got mixed up and responded to the wrong email. It was the best "mistake" of my life. We took it slow, both still dating other people for about 6 months. We also did not meet in person for a few weeks after we started talking. We got to know each other, then ramped up op the typical lesbian stereotype of "bringing a u-haul to the second date." Pretty much the day we decided to go exclusive was also the day we decided to move in together.

It was a fun experience overall though. I'm pretty socially awkward. I'm better at writing things than saying them, so initial introductions through writing are very helpful for me. I think, as everyone has said, if you are careful to wed out the creeps (but not necessarily the weird ones), you can find some really great people online. Just be safe about any meetings, and maybe keep your home address private for a while.