Breaking news: Online dating is no longer reserved exclusively for losers who can't get dates elsewhere.

I'm not clear that it ever was reserved exclusively for said losers, but there was definitely more of a stigma attached to it, say, 5 years ago than there is now. You'll still have the odd person or two react with a chortle or guffaw when they hear you met someone from the Big, Bad Internet, but these people are typically, well, idiots, and their opinion is therefore not worthy of consideration.

I guess online dating was a natural means for me, as I've been communicating online since the late 80s. Having tried a healthy dose of both "conventional" and online dating throughout college and since, I can say without hesitation that online dating is a perfectly valid and effective means of meeting people.

It's certainly not without its difficulties, though. Traditional dating has been described as a jungle, and the flora and fauna that you find in the online jungle can be even stranger than anything you'll find at the zoo. On the other hand, you have a birds-eye view of the entire jungle, and can scan it from above, only making direct contact with other inhabitants when you choose to.

To continue the jungle analogy, and quite possibly belabor it, online dating definitely provides a lot of cover for anyone who wants to conceal or disguise themselves in some way. You might read a profile, send a few emails, and chat with a person for awhile, but until you meet them in person, you're never quite sure what you're really getting. Over time, you'll learn how to better screen people, certain questions to ask, etc. that will make this easier, but it can be quite a challenge at first. The way I see it, though, it's a lot easier to screen through hundreds of people online than it would be to look around the local tavern and try to guess which one you might be compatible with. At least online, you can read about what kind of person they're looking for, ask a lot of questions, etc. before you have to go through the time and effort of meeting them.

I'd say I've met a dozen girls from online dating, four or five of whom I went on subsequent dates with. One of those I ended up in a steady relationship with for almost a year. Right now, I'm with a girl I met on Match.com a little over two months ago and things have been great so far. I have two very close friends who've met on dating services and are now married, and several others who are in long-term relationships after meeting online. I'm sure there are people who try it and for one reason or another don't like it, but I would at least give it a shot.

That being said, I don't know that eHarmony is the first place I'd try. I think they focus way too heavily on the idea that the computer can "match" you based on certain personality traits, your background, etc. As a control freak, I like to be the one directly specifying what I'm looking for, and then going through then and including/excluding them based on my own gut feelings. It's also notable that eHarmony was, until very recently, directly connected to James Dobson and the "Focus on the Family" crowd, and the site is definitely geared toward that kind of audience. While they don't make the religious angle as obvious as JDate.com does for Jews, it's definitely there, and I'm personally squeamish of anything Dobson touches. If none of that bothers you, then by all means, give it a shot. In terms of pure volume (number of profiles), Match.com and Yahoo Personals tend to be the most popular, and I think Kiss.com and Lavalife are in the mix as well. Those are all more "neutral" dating sites that I would at least take a look at.

I know there was a thread about this a while back (maybe 2-3 years ago) that had some other experiences, you might wanna do a search. Maybe some of those same folks will post here to update us on how they did.