Pros

You’ll expand your ‘dating pool’

The most obvious perk of online dating is that you’ll be meeting new people. Whether you actually like them or not is another thing but getting the ball rolling and widening the pool of men or women that you have to choose from will better your chances of finding someone you do get on with. You might not find ‘the one’ but you could actually end up making some friends out of the process, if nothing else.

Many sites are free to use

Even if you need to pay to use certain functions on particular dating sites, most won’t charge you for signing up, so you can browse to your heart’s content without having to cough up.

For example, MySingleFriend.com doesn’t charge you to receive incoming mail from other users, but you will need to become a paying subscriber in order to send a mail back. This might be an idea, since you probably don’t want to go giving your personal email address out at such an early stage in the game.

MySingleFriend.com offers the cheapest subscriptions. The current rates stand at:

£21 for 1 month

£38 for 3 months

£64 for 6 months

You can 'window shop' first

Online dating is like going on a blind date, without the blind bit. Sure, you don’t know how long ago that profile picture was taken but you’ll get a vague idea of what a person is like by viewing their profile. You’ll also know more about someone's personality if you engage in a conversation with them over the site.

If you’re not sure about a person, then it’s easy enough to move on without fuss. Furthermore, if you’re particularly offended by anyone, then major dating sites will allow you to block that person from making further communication.

Awkwardness is minimised

By the time you come to actually going out on a date with someone you’ll hopefully know a fair bit about them, and those initial ‘small-talk’ conversations will have been and gone. Of course, you’re unlikely to feel completely natural in your date’s company during the first face-to-face meeting, but it will be easier knowing that you’ve got a bit of background info on each other.

Furthermore, if you like the look of someone, approach them online and they don’t respond, that level of rejection is minimised, since you never knew them in the first place. Equally, you’ll feel less bad turning down others that approach you. Such are the wonders of the anonymous World Wide Web.

You’ll become a master story-teller

A bad date will seem like the most un-funny thing that has ever happened to you while you’re actually on it. But trust us, when you look back at that disastrous night weeks later, you’ll find yourself laughing at the cringyness of it all.

One of our readers (who wishes to remain nameless) went out with a guy who after ten minutes started telling a nasty story involving a hamster and a stick. She scarpered asap and was momentarily scarred but it’s equipped her with one of those unforgettable stories. Not one for the grandchildren, though.

You'll go on some good dates

Even if you don’t find the woman or man of your dreams, you’ll probably go on your fair share of good dates. Dating is generally fun and exciting anyway (in that special, un-nerving kind of way) and once you get into the swing of it you’ll become more and more relaxed on those initially nerve-racking first dates. You’ll meet new people, experience new places and hopefully have some ‘good date stories’ to tell, alongside those occasional horror tales.

You could meet ‘the one’

As difficult as it might be to believe, some people do find love over the internet. Dating sites are littered with success stories, proving that there’s more to online dating than internet stalking and a few terrible dates. One of our Facebook fans revealed to us that they'd found the love of their life on Zoosk and and now lives with them...

Cons

People might lie

It’s difficult to know who to trust when initiating relationships online. You might find that people tend to misrepresent themselves on dating sites, whether it’s their choice of profile pic (does it look like that photo was taken in 1994? It probably was), vital statistics or their real relationship status, the true reality of someones personal life could be a hell of a lot different to that which is advertised.

You never know what you’re gonna get

Believe it or not, we didn’t even mean to quote Forrest Gump. Honest.

While it is good to be truthful, be careful about the sort of info you share with people online. You might think after two-weeks of flirty banter that you know someone, but you should always be cautious because really, you don’t know the first thing about them.

When meeting someone for the first time, arrange to meet in a public place. If you feel like you have to give out personal contact details such as your email or phone number prior to meeting, then make sure you’re comfortable with them having this info. In the worst case scenario you will be able to block telephone numbers through your provider.

You may have to pay for certain functions

As we mentioned before, most of the big dating sites are free to join but you might be asked to start a paid subscription if you want to make the most out of the site... 

You'll go on some bad dates

We don’t suspect that everyone is going to meet someone of the dreadful hamster story variety, but there are bound to be a few dates you'd rather forget. Don't get too downbeat about it though. Remember you're all in the same boat and you can always take yourself off a site at any time, should you decide that online dating isn't for you. 

Just think of those success stories though - online dating can't be so bad, can it? Feel free to post your stories (good and bad) below. We love a bit of gossip...