How does online dating actually work? Surely there are some guys out there that are not complete f-wits?!

[Belle12]

So, I finally plucked up courage to move on and create a profile on a match.com, got chatting to three guys, two of which were asking me to add them and talk to them on Skype after just saying Hello and the other guy I chatted to for a bit kept making sexual references and did seem to like that

I met mine on POF too, I didn't want to pay the extortionate fees the others charged!
He was the first person I gave my number too and the first person I met and that was that :)
I wasn't even really looking for anything "serious" I was just bored and looking to chat to people and then along came DP and that plan went out the window!

I met dh on pof. We have been married years now and have a toddler son.

You just have to keep going and deleting and blocking all the idiots. And only meet for a coffee during the day for a first date so if they are truly awful you can bolt after an hour and never ever see them again. We met for coffee and it turned into 5 hours. ... :) and then we met again for a proper date.

My mum's been single for about 15 years and has been doing online dating for 3 of those and has only just met the right person. It does take time.

I agree with the other's about meeting quickly but only those who appeal, who message properly and not using text speak etc. Don't reveal too much about yourself early on and one of my 'must not do's' is get into each other's dating/divorce/break-up history. I've been on lots of dates with guys who seem to think it entertaining to relate their dating disasters and it puts me right off. So I tell them before we meet it's a no-no.

Someone upthread said it's a numbers game. It is, very much so. if nothing else it really makes you savvy and improves your confidence if you get a lot of experience of different kinds of men.

Good luck!

To give you an idea about the numbers game, when I first started OLD I did a bit of a blitz and I arranged to meet a dozen men for coffee over a period of time (not all at once!). Only one actually turned up. The majority had reasonable sounding excuses and got in contact before we were due to meet so I wasn't left high and dry but some didn't.

How many dates have people gone on ??