You will put in a lot of time with nearly zero results. Example 400 emails out, 40 return, of which only 4 are positive emails (the rest are rejections), and 1 results in a potential
dupe date. That's .25% right? Wrong it's zero %. Why? Because it's
a dupe date. The dupe date explained. As has been explained here and multiple websites ad nauseum, women do not take responsibility for their sexuality and do not seek men out honestly. Online women are attention whores. Online women are delusional thinking they are 10s, even if they are 5s and will have a laundry list of expectations, to look for ways to avoid sexual contact with a man. This is called
avoidant personality disorder (APD)(e.g. the "I don't give my phone number out to someone I don't know; let's text more= I have no intention of giving you my phone number, but let's play, who's gonna walk away first).
Next, women online think 80-90% of men online are unattractive. 7% of men online receive 100% of the attention of the women online. Add to that my own statistical study indicating that 90+% of women online suffer from some sort of mental illness. All of these pathologies combined set the stage for the
"dupe date" where a woman will write an email or say something to the effect, "when are you going to take me to dinner and drinks so I can check you out
to see if I'm interested in you." If she writes something like that or "I'd rather just meet for coffee than talk on the phone," she is duping you into a date, to stroke, while at the same time she has no interest of having sex with you, EVER.
She is telling you up front that she neither likes you or is interested in you. If she is not showing you IOI and flat out telling you that she digs you, the sign post ahead is a dupe date.
Next, women online adopt a tough guy persona to say vicious things from the anonymity of their computer screen. These same women, if you met them in person, would cave in upon your overture of seduction.
I am probably the oldest member here, at 50. Even with my experience, I will get duped 2X year, whenever I let my concentration slip and do not follow my steps for seduction (my own version of Mode 1) on the phone with a woman from online. Yes, it is a battle of wits to keep from being duped, ripped off for dinner and drinks, or led on in online dating. Asking her to qualify herself, "what do you like about my profile?", is indispensable along with:
1) how long has it been since you had a man in your life? (willingness question. The longer she has been alone, the more likely APD),
2) she will set herself up for sexualization and being disqualified as an APD or prude as soon as she gives the no sex monologue, "most men just want sex." Your answer, "I haven't brought that up. But, I like that you think of me that way...I am only interested in spending time with a woman who wants to put in the work of making attraction and ultimately something greater happen. Let's do that by
spending the weekend together." If she starts to back track or the "I have to meet you 1st
to see if I'm interested in you," you can now put her on the spot, "are you saying that you neither like me nor are interested in me, but want me to take you out?"
My experience after dealing with this scenario 100s of times is that she will confess again to not liking you, "well a lot of people lie online; I have to meet you first to see if you an honest person." At which point my answer is always, "you are saying I am dishonest, but you want to meet a dishonest person. You did not read my profile and just looked at my picture, but you said you were not shallow. I thought you were a nice lady. Why should I go to see you?" And I end the conversation. Women are good mimicks, who will copy what you say to manipulate you, and you will forget to test their sexual willingness.
3) frankly, women, who are honest with themselves and want sex, are ready to be hooked and will start talking about how sexy you are, "I like that you are sexy, handsome, and have a bold profile. I like that you describe your style as _______" This woman wants you, and shows you IOI by citing to your profile. It's rare.
Rarely, will online websites result in a true hookup= online phone number exchange, call, and come over to your house for sex.
The limited pro or benefit to online dating is that you can explore the female mind under the microscope. See how I mentioned that I have spoken to 100s of women online? I've read thousands of profiles. You will see the patterns of writing (they copy each other b/c they're too lazy to write something deeper than "skiing, sexy, independent"), speaking, and acting. You will get it down to a 5 minutes to determine if she is APD or some kind of resource extractor. You will see the key words that will signal that she is trying to dupe you, e.g. impersonal BS questions "so where were you born? Where did you grow up? What do you do for a living?" vs. signs of intrigue, "what do you do for fun?" and statements, "I like your description of romantic settings to pursue each other..." You will see how many lies these women can utter in 60 seconds, "I love to travel," (gold digger statement) and 5 minutes later, she will say, when YOU are planning a date, "I don't like to go to places I don't know." After scores of these conversation, it will not be mere experience, but rather ethnography and case study.
At this stage in society, girls 18-29 with their lack of upbringing, lack of social grace, and lack of everything else you can imagine do not merit that kind of time from you online. In the manosphere, PUAs and MGTOWs complain that women are into hypergamy, branch swinging, and will meet a guy in a bar and get fucked that same night, but jerk you around online demanding to "get to know you." So, you should not devote any meaningful time to online dating, instead opting to swing on the branch with these loose women. Leave the APD prudes to wallow in their pathology with the AFCs at POF.
As has been repeated here and elsewhere, online dating cannot be your sole game. In public sarging where the women have to perform will always be the way.
Girls/women do not take online dating seriously; nor should you. Keep your cash in your wallet, and your Trojans in your lapel pocket.