OnLove - Digital Love: Looking for love on virtual-reality Web sites - washingtonpost.com

A recent study by four academics, including professors from Harvard Business School and Duke University, suggests that online dating sites regularly leave users disappointed because they present potential matches as a rundown of characteristics -- age, race, religion, income -- that in no way embody the full measure of a person.

Vitamins and laundry detergent, they assert, are quantifiable things that can be purchased with reliable satisfaction through the Internet. Romantic partners, however, must be experienced to be properly evaluated, like a restaurant or a perfume...