Just sitting up late at night alone as usual and wondering if there are any stats or so that say that dating services that set up people based upon personality have any greater success ratio than going about the ordeal in a natural fashion. Is it best to have someone find you a loser or go about it the old fashioned way? Plus, what if the mother scenario kicks in? Like when your mom says that this is the guy for you based upon what she knows about you and yet you feel no attraction what so ever.
While it’s not much, there’s an article in this month’s “Scientific American: Mind” magazine that discusses online dating and casts some skepticism on it:
http://www.sciammind.com/article.cfm?articleID=79C583A1-E7F2-99DF-3BE62D88C9C352E0
Oh. I thought this was going to be about nude dating. Never mind. 
Well, dating, and attracting a date, is not a skill we are born with. There is too much societal variables involved. You have to learn what the potential target mates “value”. It’s tied in with the culture they grew up in, or adopted.
So, if a dating service can help some person who never learned how to “break the ice”, and at least make first contact, then I guess a potentially valuable service was provided.
Of course, the rest is up to you.
I don’t date much (because I’m in a long term committed relationship), however I would recommend both online dating (with appropriate weirdoproofing) and regular style. It’s kind of like looking for a job. You put passively put a resume on Monster but you also still network and call headhunters and whatnot.
The advantage of online dating or going to bars and clubs is that you know people are generally there looking for dates (whether those dates last longer than the next morning is another debate).
My own personal irrational bias, however, is that internet dating is for nerds, pedophiles and losers.