Online dating... why I haven't tried it yet (and don't really plan on it)

I found this article today on ABCNEWS.com about online dating. It seems like online dating is the "big" thing nowadays. You sign up for one of those dating websites, like match.com or eharmony.com, and find your "knight in shining armor", just waiting at the other end of your computer. But I just don't get it... I mean, I know there are some couples who have met online, married, and been successful, and I'm not questioning that. I don't get why people are flocking in droves to these online websites. It seems to me that, at best, online dating is a risky gamble. Like this article discusses, it is far too easy to be someone you're not when you're online. You can find pictures online (or scan photos from magazines), you can say you are 20 years younger than you are, you can claim to be an astronaut or a doctor or a nuclear physicist when you're really an unemployed mechanic. Women, especially, who sign up for these sites are putting themselves at risk, I think. I mean, I have no idea who that person on the other end of my instant message really is. And when I go confessing all my deep dark secrets to him, he will gain an unfair amount of power over me.

Whatever happened to the "good old days", where people met at churches or concerts or even clubs? I don't think there is any shortage of eligible bachelors nearby, and I certainly don't think I need to look to the internet to find my soul mate. What a shame, that so many people are so desperate for marriage that they will settle for a guy (or girl) that they don't really know much about.