I met my husband on Match.com, we are coming up on our 11th anniversary this weekend. Even though we lived within a few miles of each other, it is unlikely that we would have met in person without Match. So I'm a fan of online dating.
My experience on Match.com is that as a woman, you can easily be flooded by men who are NOT what you are looking for. The guys just seems to spam every single lady in their area in hope that something will stick.
After a couple of months I hid my profile and built a secondary profile on another website. Then I contacted only the fellas *I* was interested in and provided them with a link to my profile. Also, I wanted to get offline and in person really quick. The last thing I wanted was a long "fantasy-ish" online relationship! People can be so different in person than they seem online. I just wanted to use the online thing to locate potential dates!
I asked my future husband to talk on the phone after 2 emails, and then during that phone conversation I asked him out for a date that weekend. Best decision I ever made.
Good luck to you!