Um. Okay. I'll be the voice of caution. I do know people who have met their spouses online and suchlike. So my experience was not necessarily universal or even representative or even common. But here goes.
The one relationship I had with someone I primarily got to know online before becoming ... er ... more involved in the physical world ... well, it was a nightmare. The worst experience of my life. The guy in question created a very sympathetic and charming persona ... in fact, he's very charming in real life, as well.
He reminds me of Prince Charming's line in Into the Woods: "I was raised to be charming, not sincere."
Anyway, the anonymity of the Internet can allow people to portray themselves as very different from what they're really like. You don't have the opportunity to see them with their real-life friends, or get to know their real-life friends, or see them interacting with other people, or any of that. All you know is what they want to tell you. And even if you see them interacting with other people online, that's still only what they are choosing to show.
The guy I got involved with seemed like the most honest, sensitive, kind person I'd ever met in my entire life. We were friends online (and rarely in person) for months before getting romantically involved, so I felt that I knew him fairly well.
I didn't.
Yeah, someone I met offline could pull the same sort of fake-persona crap ... but the Internet just makes it very easy, because the anonymity is built right in.
As they say, "On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog." Well, on the Internet, no one knows you're a jerk, either. Or a psychopath. Or a compulsive liar. Or physically abusive. Or any number of bad things.
So I would advise extreme caution, personally. There are a lot of great people out there, but the are a lot of scary people, too.
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The one relationship I had with someone I primarily got to know online before becoming ... er ... more involved in the physical world ... well, it was a nightmare. The worst experience of my life. The guy in question created a very sympathetic and charming persona ... in fact, he's very charming in real life, as well.
He reminds me of Prince Charming's line in Into the Woods: "I was raised to be charming, not sincere."
Anyway, the anonymity of the Internet can allow people to portray themselves as very different from what they're really like. You don't have the opportunity to see them with their real-life friends, or get to know their real-life friends, or see them interacting with other people, or any of that. All you know is what they want to tell you. And even if you see them interacting with other people online, that's still only what they are choosing to show.
The guy I got involved with seemed like the most honest, sensitive, kind person I'd ever met in my entire life. We were friends online (and rarely in person) for months before getting romantically involved, so I felt that I knew him fairly well.
I didn't.
Yeah, someone I met offline could pull the same sort of fake-persona crap ... but the Internet just makes it very easy, because the anonymity is built right in.
As they say, "On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog." Well, on the Internet, no one knows you're a jerk, either. Or a psychopath. Or a compulsive liar. Or physically abusive. Or any number of bad things.
So I would advise extreme caution, personally. There are a lot of great people out there, but the are a lot of scary people, too.