For me there are no positive associations to putting 'divorced' over 'single' - however..
I'm 34 and this is definitely not a plus online for the girls i look to date (23ish) but I think it is better (ie more effective) to be honest - sure I could lie, but the most important thing in my view is to be comfortable with who you are, and to show it
so i'd say fuck it - put divorced & be comfortable with that fact
also for me 'dating' is stronger than 'long term' - sure it may end up long term, but she would to have to prove that she is worthy of that status - through the medium of dating. If asked i would say that I am open to that, but in my mind be thinking 'sure but you would have to work for it'
(and this is surely true, no matter what your stated goal, if you met someone absolutely fucking amazing, you telling me you wouldn't want to keep seeing them for as long as they stayed that way??!)This is how it works in the real world, you don't say to someone you hardly know that you are looking for a LTR - why? because you'd scare them the f*ck off! Perhaps after a few dates, if this was your goal, you might broach this subject - this for me is the famous female 'where is this going?' or 'what is this?' speech
silvio