Ok you know you're desperate when... but really the dating pool here is absurdly tiny... so I just decided I might surf craiglists personals section... really out of boredom more than anything else... but sure enough there was a girl who caught my eye... and even though she lives an hour away I found myself emailing her... And she actually replied back!
And now I'm a ball of nerves... normally I sneer at people who do the online dating thing... but she really seems like she's what I'm looking for! I've got big butterflies in my stomach... it's been well over a year since I've done the whole dating thing... and usually I'm not very good at it... my relationships usually start out with friends that become more than friends... I don't know how to do the whole flirting thing... eek! I emailed her back again... half of me is sure it won't work our... the other half really hopes it does... I miss having someone to snuggle with...

Has anyone here had success with meeting people online?

Damn.

Be careful.

Being newly single, I've toyed with the idea of online dating too.  Seems awfully scary if you're like me and tend to attract psychopaths and other unsavory characters.  My ex-husband seems to have great success with it!  

Good luck, Kathartica!!  (She probably feels the same way.)

I met my Ben on okcupid.com.  I was only there for the tests at first. (They are a great way to kill time) Then when I realized the rest of the site was an online dating site I thought what the hell and made a profile.  A short while later I met Ben and we hit it off immediately.  So yes, it can work but be careful.  My advice it to email this girl for a while before you meet her. When you do get to meet her arrange to meet her in a public place and make sure she really is who she say's  she is.

No doubt people can be whomever they want online and no one is noe the wiser until it's too late.

Yup, keep it public. Swap pictures, and make sure that you are able to pick her out of the crowd, just as she should be able to pick you out.  When it comes time to meet up, make sure you have a friend on stand by. Have them call you at a specific time, yes to check on you. Even have a safe phrase so that should you need 'out' they can 'just happen to show up' at your designated meeting place to bail you out. Also, for the first date, don't go anyplace that is not 'scheduled' so that your safe buddy knows when you should be home, or make sure you make an excuse to step to the ladies, or someplace to call you buddy and let them know, but for the first date or few even, I'd keep the safe buddy nearby. One can never be too safe, and sometimes nearly safe enough isn't near enough.

All those commercials touting happy couples can't all be hubbub.

We sent each other like 20 emails and then exchanged msn... I was getting really excited... I've seen lots of pics of her and vice versa...
She's awkward to talk to on msn though... I was trying to ask lots of open ended questions, she kept shutting me down with one or two word answers... eventually I was feeling like I was being annoying. Granted, she did only get like 3 hrs sleep the night before but... she may not be quite what I was starting to think she was... bah humbug.