This time three years ago, I signed up for internet dating. I am now living with the man of my dreams and 8 weeks pregnant. If you are looking for true love it can happen, if you are looking for some fun that can happen too.
I tried the guardian soulmates, match.com and okcupid. The latter was the best for me, not only was it free but you learnt the most about the people on there. As a member you can answer over 1000 different questions about every topic under the sun, some serious and some light hearted- you can also read and compare answers with the people you are browsing. You can chat with people, the phone app was good (it was then anyway), and it was a very pleasant website (unlike some dating sites like plenty of fish which can just be horrid and crude).
I went into internet dating very self conscious, low self esteem, had been single for 5+ years (and not had much luck before then tbh), and not really expecting great things to happen for me. I was really surprised at the fact that men weren't horribly repulsed by me, some actually quite like what I had to say and responded favourably to my (well selected) photos. Of course some were monosyllabic idiots or creeps but they quickly got blocked and ignored.
The first guy I met up with was nice but there wasn't any chemistry, second guy was gorgeous and funny but said he wasn't interested in anything further after a few dates. I was gutted but decided (after a few days of feeling sorry for myself) to be braver and introduced myself to every single person I saw who I quite like. I expanded my location search to a slightly wider area. This actually made me pickier as I had more men to browse.
I discarded anyone who didn't post a profile picture, I looked for a certain level of education, certain beliefs that were compatible with mine (ie I wouldn't even consider dating someone homophobic or racist etc), and looked at all the answers to their questions (which I found revealed a lot of the person's personality).
In the end though it was a complete fluke that I met the right person, they had an unusual profile picture which put me right off, I skipped past them but for some reason I went back and gave them a second chance. I knew from the moment I read their profile that I wanted to meet this man, he was unique and interesting and weird, and as it turns out perfect for me. I introduced myself, he wrote back. within a week we had swapped phone numbers and were chatting everyday, first date two weeks later and the rest is history. I don't think I could have found a better man for me, shopping around a bit definitely paid off !
my mum and step dad also met online, married 8 years now.
I hope things go well for you, and that you find what you are looking for. If there's anything you want to ask then feel free.