I don't like it! But it almost seems you don't have much choice. Unless you are a very social person or are still in the workplace where you can meet people. I have to force myself to go to social events because I feel so awkward and out of place. ?

Totally. I keep trying it but never getting very enthused because it never seems right. Whatever you see about someone online is just a tiny fraction of who they are and yet somehow a decision is supposed to be made about whether or not you want to date them? Ugh. I know it can work out, but I think it is not a natural way to go.

What am i voting for if i vote "yes?"

"Online" everything is great. We get to find others like us way far from here. This is the true purpose of the age of electricity.

And, as reasonable to expect, there are foreseeable, and unanticipated, consequences that come with the changes that have brought the good bits.

I try to apply this principal to more than just meeting people : I believe that anticipating an outcome in advance is the source of much of our disappointment - as opposed to just going with the flow, and not trying to determine what will happen - before it does !
Especially with meeting folks found on dating sites !

Online dating is not backwards. Forced marriages and arranged marriages are backwards.

Meeting a man through online websites is like a blind date. Remember: Nothing is real until you meet.

This gives me the opportunity to meet people whom I would never meet.

I usually date men from Seattle who are hikers and skiers. Skiers have winter driving skills and snow tires, to drive up to snowy mountains passes where ski areas are located. They can drive over the passes in the winter to visit me.

Also Seattle men are usually better educated and liberal like me.

Here's my joke about middle-aged, single men in Wenatchee:

"If I wanted a fat, ignorant, good ol' boy, Republican, tobacco-chewing, judgmental Christian, fisherman and hunter who love his Harley, snowmobile and chainsaw and decorates with antlers, I'd be all SET."

This has been my problem, too. I am just much more comfortable meeting people first and then deciding if I want to know them better than I am deciding I want to know someone better and then meeting them. I see it working well for many,though.

Awkward and frustrating. It seems the women where there seems there might be some chemistry are always 500 or more miles away. ?

Yes! The expectations are destructive. That's why I regard "dating" sites as conversation sites only. I think they are the least likely place to meet someone you're going to have a close personal relationship with in the real world.