Successful Relationships Without Online Dating

I find that statistic way too low! I have attempted dating via match and eharmony. With match, I went out on two dates and both of the men not only submitted inaccurate profiles and outdated/photoshopped pictures, but in both cases their emails leading up to dates were inaccurrate as well. Maybe it's a gender thing and men, in general, have higher opinions of themselves - - but the facts don't lie. If you say that you're successful, go-getting 40 year old and you show up for a lunch date drunk, wearing a toupee, and dressed like a 65-year old in shorts and look like a homeless person, I would call that misleading. The picture submitted on match was either the same person 15 years ago and the last 15 years haven't treated him well, or that of a better looking brother or family member (son?). By the way, we were supposed to have lunch but this person wanted to have a drink at the bar before we sat down at a table. I had a coffee (like most normal people would do at 11:30 am on a Sunday) and he had a vodka tonic, and then proceeded to insult me: my hair (red, exactly as it was in the photo), my height (the same), my eyebrows (????). Then he said that he had a girlfried but was 'bored' and was looking around on match to see if he could do beter. I finished my coffee and got out of there as fast as I could! The second 'dream date' was a lawyer who claimed he was sporty and outdoors-y. He spent the entire date talking about his diet and how he recently lost 90 pounds. Good for him but I'm sure if you're a short, balding chubby, bookish overeater you're probably not sporty or outdoors-y at all! Not to mention the height on that one was a blatant lie. Again - the photo was misleading. It had to be outdated since the person in the photo wasn't fat and DD said that he was overweight for many years. Not to mention, the person in the photo had a full head of hair and this guy looked like George Costanza's evil twin. eHarmony seemed a lot more promising but after making it through the whole long, involved process, I had a coffee date who ended up standing me up and I never heard from him again. The online dating environment lends itself to lying about yourself - - of course, you want to present the best version of you that you can in order to attract the best people. I must confess that since I look young, I lopped off 5 years from my age in my profile and didn't think twice about it! Of course, for all of the men 'my age' I was too old anyhow. Online dating may work for some, particularly if you're just interested in dating a lot of people and learning more about yourself. If you're looking to find your soulmate or a meaningful relationship, I believe a matchmaker is the way to go. Matchmakers take the time to interview or relate somehow to both parties and greatly lessen the risk of misrepresentation. It is a much more personal and effective process to find true love via a matchmaker than from a computer. When I was single I wasted a lot of time with all of that online nonsense and it never seemed to pan out. Most of my friends have tried online dating too and without exception, they've been disappointed. If you're looking for love I really wish you well and it's a great challenge to find the right person so just make sure that you're using the right tools to get you where you want to go!