Does online dating work

I read a debate on whether on line dating works or not and would love to know your thoughts, as it seems to be an ongoing debate with my friends and I as well. Here is a bit of the debate that I came across;

YES. "Online dating can and does work, but it takes two people willing to do the necessary hard work to build a good relationship. It is even more difficult if it is a long distance relationship, but many couples pull through times of separation just fine. Online dating can be a great way to meet new people, test the waters, just have fun or possible meet your future spouse. Trick is to play it all by ear. You cannot get too serious right away."

NO. "I believe that on-line dating does not work. When people go on-line to date how do you know that the person you are talking to is real and that is really them. There are so many things wrong with that. Say you go to meet someone that you have been dating on-line and when you get there they are not at all what they said there were. You then think in your head "Was this wrong?". You have left yourself vulnerable and have also left yourself heartbroken and lost. Not only have you left yourself heartbroken and lost but you have already locked yourself out of the real world just by deciding to do on-line dating. I mean yes there are people who have had successful on-line dating but maybe they were one of the lucky ones. How can we the people even consider on-line dating when we should be acting like humans and dating the right way. We are not cyborg humans lets do things like we do in reality."

Source: Helium

From Romantic Relationships to Online Dating