I just came across a great dating advisor through my followers at Twitter. I should introduce her to you. Here is she is, http://dateprettygirl.com/

She writes very well and her advice really comes from the heart. She underscores the advantages of online dating in passing in one of her essays, and let me add, indeed, online dating is a great time saver. Why? Because by the time you meet your date you are already aware of his/her background, life experiences, idiosyncrasies, etc. This is what happens as you web cam with this person, send emails back and forth, Twit and Facebook each other to death. With complete research done, there's only one milestone to complete and that's (you guessed it right) the date itself!

And so the moral of the story? Post that eye-catching, provocative, insightful and creative dating profile, and they will come! How much research you want done before the date happens is all up to you--just make sure you obtain a recent picture as a minimum requirement.