Love Match

The modern dating scene can be a nightmare. Long gone are the days when a girl could date three different guys in a week and still make it to Sunday dinner with her dignity intact.

Instead of relying on work or school colleagues, family relations and close friends to introduce us to a future mate, we turn to speed dating, dating by text, online chat rooms and specialist dating websites. Anybody in the mood for a man in uniform You no longer have to dodge bullets in a geopolitical hotspot or loiter about the police station to meet one when you have an internet connection. Even lonely hearts advertisements with their charming abbreviations "SWF seeks TDH for LTR" have begun to feel archaic or at least the exclusive domain of university professors and obsessive dog walkers.

Dating in the 21st century is like shopping at a "superstore" - lots of products on offer, but all of rather dubious quality.

Yet not all is gloom and doom - there are success stories out there. AnswerBanker Susie Strawb asks if it is possible to fall in love online Most of you are a bit skeptical of the idea of finding your true love in a chat room - teag1rl found out first hand what happens (answer: "nothing") when a person you chat to for months turns out to look very different from his photo and Cockney_si believes that people who are easily led can be vulnerable to advances on the net. Yet bucking the trend, is Holbeckian who met his future wife in a chat room - six years ago.