As far as online dating services such as yahoo and aol. Ive had good and bad experiences with both . In 2001, I signed up to aol looking for friends only, i was married at the time ( 10 years and very unhappy) I seriously wasnt looking for anything but someone to talk to. I received an instant message from someone who "appeared" to be honest, and sincere. After i got a divorce, we kept in touch for several years and we ended up in a relationship. The bad part was that i didnt really know this person i thought i did, even after 3 years of long emails, phone calls and visiting back and forth. Here we were living together,and he had signed up to yahoo dating 3 weeks after i moved in!! ( mind you, this was not something i rushed into) he made many promises to me and my child, and lied about everyone of them. He was a single bachelor, never been married, never wanted to be married, didnt have kids, and i later on found out, he didnt want them either. We were living together for a year when i asked him for an actual committment! He freaked out and then broke up with me by cheating( i later found out by putting spyware on my computer) and to top it all off, hes in the closet about being gay... So anyways.. needless to say, hes worse than the scum in the bottom of the cess pool, and my advice to anyone who does do long distance dating..... dont give up your life or your family, kids and friends for someone you dont really know, you can tell alot about someone in the first 15 minutes of talking to them by asking alot of questions.. If i was smarter, my dumb ass would have saved myself, alot of heartache. Second off, after a year hiatus, i decided to try at love again.. I tried Yahoo personals just to actually meet people, I was scared to get involved again, and i was very hesitant to dating again, since i do learn from my mistakes, i decided to be a little smarter about it this time around. Yes, there are alot of men who just" wanna get laid", and are looking for a one night stand, its unfortuante for those that are really searching for someone that they can be compatible with. Its not that the personals dont work, yes they could improve their websites by extending the "free" period, because we all know that with a million members, one week is like finding a needles in a haystack, theres just not enough time or criteria to find what your actually looking for. Which leads me to my next point. Whether it be men or women, alot of people lie on dating sites, why i dont know, but to actually find someone that is honest about their " skeletons in the closet" is one in a million. We all know that putting that sort of thing on here is not ideal,nor attractive, but like many people that have responded say' people are not honest about what they want". True, however, alot of people dont really know what they want, or how to actually get it. We all see pics that are inappropriate( women in sexy poses) or men with a cut out picture of them and an ex. This tells you right there, that women that feel they have to post a sexy pic of themselves online to get noticed are usually the ones that are the most insecure, and have issues. The men that use their cut out photos of them and an ex ( suggests to me, that they wont take the time to actually take a decent photo of themselves to post) and are not serious about this. Pictures say alot about someone and their charater, which leads me to the profile. Sometimes when people start profiles, they are all gung ho about trying this love on the internet, after no responses themselves, they are sometimes no longer interested and move on to bigger and better things. Also, keep in mind that many people come to online dating because they have such abusy schedule and hectic life, and that is why they chose this type of thing. If they dont wink back, or dont respond, maybe its because they have not checked it lately, or maybe they have 4 kids, or are taking care of an elderly parent, we never know... we can only assume. Those that are serious and honest will usually write back something. Those that have more on their plate or who are not usually interested in your profile will not. But that doesnt mean you have to take that personally, just think" if they didnt respond, they weren't for you anyways. I myself, was skeptical of online datingwhether it be cupid, aol, yahoo, or match. com. Theres always going to be quirks and things that we dont like about the online dating services, its inevitable. However,its not all a bad thing. I went out a year and a half ago on several dates, some nice people, some real wierd. I was very polite to the men that i didnt want to see again, and told them so, that i didnt think we would be a good match, and i told them why.Whether, he wasnt my type or the chemistry just wasnt there, i told them.I too, was fed up with the no responses to the men that appeared to be my type, and im above average in the looks section, so i knew it wasnt that. Whether those men i winked at had hangups with kids, being married etc.., and didnt respond to me, i didnt take it to heart, i realized that those men wouldn't have been a good match for me at all, and moved on. Now, i am remarried, after taking things slow, using the common sense that the good lord gave me, and i am happy. I met my husband on yahoo on july 6th 2005.I asked myself before i actually involved myself with this man, does he want kids, does he have kids, does he get along with his family, does he do drugs, is he addicted to alcohol,is he stable in his job, does he have an ager problem. etc.... these are things that are not negotiable with me, everyone has them. But i asked, i stood back and watched and took it all in. As for online dating, you have to be smart with it, use good judgement and common sense, its not for everyone.