Online dating services are very convenient sites where you can potentially meet someone you can spend the rest of your life with. Instead of hanging around a bar, wearing your best \"come get me\" outfit, your face all made up and prepped until the wee hours of the morning in hopes of striking up a conversation that you like at least physically, now, you can just stay at home and log on to your dating site, wearing your comfortable PJ\'s and eating a bowl of ice cream.

Online dating revolutionized the way people develop relationships as it made things easier. All you need is your computer, an internet connection; your credit card details (as most social dating websites require some monthly fee) and the ability to describe yourself and you already have the entire arsenal you need to snag that online date. It is a quick, and liberating alternative than the usual dating process.

However, with the convenience of the online dating package, it comes with it some not-so-pleasant things that you have to take note of. Here are some of the known and unknown disadvantages of this virtual alternative.

There are a number of online dating services that offer limited services but still require to pay you good money. Make sure you do thorough research before signing up.

There are some dating sites that will not delete their inactive members just so they can say that they have a huge number of users in their sites. Thus, you may find a user that you like but will not get any response at all.

There are a lot of \"bait\" usernames used by telemarketers who use online dating service ID\'s to get to know someone, then just end up selling a product to the unsuspecting victim. These people who use fake user ID\'s are very clever and can sometimes seem like they are genuine but will end up duping you in one fluid move.

The internet allows for anonymity. Say the picture of the person in the user ID is smoking awesome but in reality, that was her picture 20 years ago. There are some profiles that are made that way in hopes of reeling in more potential dates. But in reality, too good to be true profiles are actually what they are. Too good to be true. So do not be conned by misleading pictures and too good profiles. Be vigilant in dealing with people over the net. And this includes dating networks.

Sadly, sexual predators also use this medium in drawing in potential victims. Sexual predators usually are good with words so they seem sane over the instant messaging but once you meet up with this user, all hell breaks loose.

These disadvantages may discourage you from joining an online dating site to find love and relations but being online and internet smart, you can protect yourself from these disadvantages and reap the full benefits of internet dating, in all its easy to follow and convenient glory.