I'm not sure how romantic the poets of the last century, or the great writers of the 1800's, or the great classical writers like Shakespeare and Chaucer would have viewed online dating or online dating chat, but it's here to stay. It's become a mainstay of the dating scene.

In fact, you don't even have to let the other person know what you look like until you are ready--unlike the old-school method of face to face, often awkward, first-time encounters. As well, through dating chat, you can get to know your prospective face to face date quite well, even taking months or longer to get acquainted.

This acquaintance period is a bonus, as you'll definitely have something in common to talk about when and if you finally decide to meet. Non-compatible upsets may be largely avoided through online dating chat as partners will quickly learn if there's anything there to go on well in advance of a personal get together, and weed out potential failures.

Dating chat can also ease the tensions of normal dating by providing a well-established comfort zone of rapport before the couple hooks up for their first official date. So, dating chat may not be romance in the classical sense, but many are starting off romances on the Internet in this manner.