Online Dating is a Battlefield in Portland Unless You Go to Love Prison [VIDEO]

Dating online can have it's upside; and, if you like a lot of unscripted living, you can turn it into a vacation. One network just calls it Love Prison. For this new-ish series on A&E, just set up your first date at a specific web site, then meet for the first time on a secluded island and you have to stay for a week...to see how it goes.  It's kind of like Survivor without an exit strategy.

Dating online can be fun, you meet a lot of new people as prospective mates, and I know of several couples who have met this way.  You've got tons of sites just humming away waiting for your profile; seems lots of people set up profiles on different sites then just wait for the emails to come in. Here's a few that seem to get a lot of action: eHarmony, Zoosk, Golfmates, and my personal favorite Tattooed Personals. And, the business of dating is soooo good, there are web sites that turn a buck rating dating web sites.  I should get into that!

Portlanders have jumped on the new fangled way of dating, but you still have to meet the person and hope it works out...here comes Local Flames Maine. Not necessarily anti-online dating, but still offering a back to basics approach, and an introduction before an island get-away.

For online dating, or not, we're on it like a hohnet in Portland, Bub. We all want to be with someone... ostensibly for love.  If you Google "love," the top three things that show up are Love Quotes, Love Is An Open Door and Love and Hip Hop.  See, there's hope after all.

I want to know if you ever got into online dating? Was is a good time or a serious drag? If it did work out, what did you do on your first date?  If it was a total jerk-around, how did it happen. Let me know at #CVLove on our Facebook and Twitter pages.