I've had good experiences for the most part. In the past two years I've dated a couple of people I've met through online dating services. First there was an ER resident, who I really liked - she basically decided that she was going to be my rebound so that only went on for a few months - she started getting very rude at some point. I was stood up once by a girl who in retrospect was very probably bipolar, so no loss there. I dated a really nice Biologist from Peru for a couple of months but then she became too busy with school (or so she said) so that kind of fizzled out. The last girl I dated lived almost 100 miles away, but oddly is only two blocks away from my brothers family. Things just weren't clicking for me in that one so I ended up calling it off  :-\ 

I was really planning on taking some time off from dating, but last week a coworker in the lab sort of set me up to meet a friend of hers. A fellow grad student from across the street. We seemed to hit it off well, so hopefully there is some potential there :)

oh sweetness, you know all my horror stories.

let's just say, the following are not topics to bring up on a first date:
1. your skillz in bed
2. the time you were raped by your step father
3. the abortion that resulted from rape (see above)
4. getting kicked out of your house
5. your battle with cancer
6 your tatoo you want removed b/c it matches your ex's

all bad. all happened to me (from one person, on one date also!)

Oh wow! ...I guess that's one thing I like about the online thing. You get a chance to talk a bit via email, IM and phone before you actually go out on a date. For me, that is kind of a screening process... I've found that if you find yourself a "keeper" ::) like you described, they will usually pour that stuff out over IM considering they are probably drinking as they type.

I've had awesome, good, bad, and awkward experiences from online dates.

The awkward, meet this guy for coffee, he's already there, sitting down, so I get my drink and join him, we chat it up, he's a musician that has a full time job working as a counselor for kids and a home owner!!! ;)b We get up and I find myself looking DOWN at him!! I'm kinda on the short side (5'2"), he described himself as avg height, but I SWEAR when we hugged good bye, he came up to my chin!!
The bad...is a toss up between this guy who's classified as my one and only one night stand kinda thing...where he was so bad that I refused to return his calls afterwards; and this guy who's photo didn't show the uneveness in his facial and body parallel structure, due to brain injuries. Needless to say conversation was limited, when we went to a salsa-afro-funk fusion jamband concert and his thought of dancing included "rump bumping" me to the point of throwing me off my rhythm!!!
I've had several good ones. And a few awesome ones that have resulted in relatively long-term relationships and life-long friendships.

And down right traumatic ones from Speed Dating....It works for some, but not for me. This guy, I actually filed a police report against this guy...unfortunately, it was his word against mine, and they didn't feel it possible to bring charges against him for sexual assault.

In general my entire dating life can be summed up as dating all the wrong people and doing the really close friends thing with all the people I should be dating...

Ugh.  The story of my life...and I'm running out of friends...  :-[ :'(

I found two huge weirdos over myspace--actually three. One I sort of dated for a while, until I realized it probably wasn't my fault that I was feeling insulted by half the things he said...and just basically got sick of his bs. I found some people on an actual dating site--met three of them, and am still friends with one I have yet to meet. One of them had a boyfriend and a baby...which was a little awkward...I couldn't decide what to rate my experience as, but since the only one I've seen multiple times was a freak, I didn't do the 'it's ok' thing...

I've done the online dating scene with good results.  The first guy I ever met online turned into a 3 year relationship.  I remember I was so nervous about meeting him.  "I said what if he's crazy? I met him online."  Then someone said to me, "what if he's thinking the same thing about you?"  That put it all into perspective.  I met some losers too but to me you have just as much chance of meeting "the one" or a crazy person online as you do in a bar/bookstore/class/etc. 
I met the guy I am currently engaged to on Lavalife. 

I have had HORRIBLE online dating experiences.  Most times I met them irl and that was enough to say "no thanks".

And you wonder why I'm still single after 3 years (my last relationship was with my BF, who I did not meet online):

1.  Winner #1 was about to be downsized and had been offered the chance to relocate (fully paid relocation, mind you) in either Detroit or LA but decided that he didn't want to move out of Mom's house  :stfu:; he then said that he was going to leave it in God's hands to find a new job (uh, yeah, God helps those who help themselves????);  This guy also knew that I was into photography and brought his digital cameral with all 300 (yes, 300) pictures he had taken while driving around the desert.  He sat at the dinner table and watched me go through EVERY SINGLE photo.  No offense, but I've had more fun faking an orgasm than looking at his damn photos.

2.  Winner #2 shows up and seems nice enough, although his canine teeth are a bit pointy for my taste, but whatever.  He tells me he's currently an electrician and about 9 hours short of a degree, but has decided that he wants to do something different with his life, so he's not going to finish school.  Instead, he wants to find a new profession.  What was my profession??  Oh, that sounded good to him :o  Then, he tells me that he owns two longhorns and he just couldn't wait to eat them . . . . and yes, he knew I was vegetarian.  But, it gets better - he then tells me that he doesn't "feel the need to populate the earth" with children.  Yeah, because I was really thinking that he was the one that I'd want to have babies with after only speaking for about 10 minutes . . . .

3.  Winner #3 is a professional living in Austin who is a jazz musician in his free time.  He seems cool - he's smart, can carry on a good conversation, knows what he wants to do with his life, owns his home - how bad could he be?  First of all, he owns a dog that is over 6 feet tall when standing on his hind legs.  How do I know this, you ask, well because the dog "welcomed" me into the house by jumping on me and almost tipping me over.  Then the dog proceeded to sniff my crotch the entire time I was at the house.  Okay, I can handle that.  The first date isn't too bad, but I have to drive 1 1/2 hours to see him and he refuses to come to my small town.  I go on a second date and he doesn't want to leave the house, so we watch a movie, literally.  I turn around for a second (after the movie is done) and he's standing there butt-ass naked.  Evidently I missed the part in the dating manual that says watching a movie on a second date automatically leads to sex.  Hello, foreplay??

4.  Winner #4 didn't even constitute as dating since I evidently didn't respond fast enough to him showing interest and he proceeded to email me nice things such as "you're a fucking whore who thinks she's too good for me" . . . . cause that's really a way to get me to be MORE interested in you - WTF???

5.  Winner #5 has also never had a date because he likes to send me emails that say "grrrr" . . . . um, yeah, not a good pick up line . . . .

Yep, that would be why I'm still single and have 3 cats  ;)b

AC - we were sitting on the couch watching a movie and nothing was going on - we were hardly even touching while sitting next to each other.  He then got up - I assumed to go pee or get a drink - when I look over, he's standing there naked!