Defining Relationships Friendship & Dating

A Net dating service, also known as online dating or internet dating, is an example of a dating system and allows individuals, couples and groups to meet online and possibly develop a romantic or sexual relationship. Net dating services provide un-moderated matchmaking through the use of personal computers, the Internet, or even cell phones

It is arguably very difficult for people to establish meaningful relationships with those they can't see or interact with. Without the verbal and physical cues that assist in gauging a person's emotions and feelings, there is a high possibility of deception. However, many who maintain online relationships contest that not seeing the other person actually helps relationships develop, and that they have fewer social inhibitions without the expectations that ordinary face-to-face contact engenders.

Others acknowledge that the lack of face-to-face contact can cheapen internet friendships, and that it could be considered shallow of them to want to see who they are talking to, thus implying that their friends' appearances could change how they think of them.There can be a variety of problems with using online dating sites. Some sites expect members to sign up "blind", eHarmony for example, with no preview of the type of profiles they will get to see. On other sites, some profiles are not actually real people, but "bait" put there by the site owners to attract new paying members.Most members are enticed to join dating websites with free or low-priced "trial" memberships advertised on many other websites. These trial memberships lack many of the features of the full membership, including the ability to contact other members or reply to e-mail from other members. On sites which require credit card information to join at all, these trial memberships often automatically become full memberships at the end of the trial period and charge the full monthly fee, without any additional action from the member and regardless of whether the member has actually used the services or not. For paying members, it is often unclear whether a potential contact has a full subscription and whether he or she will be able to reply at all.

Matrimonials Sites are a variant of online dating sites, and these are geared towards meeting people for the purpose of getting married. Gross misrepresentation is less likely on these sites than on 'casual dating' sites. Casual dating sites are often geared more towards short term (and implicitly sexual) relationships.

Labels: friendships, online dating sites, relationships