it seems like there's a tendency to the negative side regarding online relationships. I can only say that it just depends on what you seek.

if you want a r/l relationship and am just interested to find someone fro that, you can surely do that online, but I don't know how successful that might be. haven't tried it. for me online means online only, for now and ever (but one of my best friends accidently found her boyfriend online, so hey, there's always a possibility to get it to work).

I guess a online-only relationship just works on trust, and trust alone. I'm a weirdo as far as things go there, because I have an aversion against webcams, mics, and even pictures. for me these are my boundries, I won't step over them because I consider an online-rlationship as something that works primarly in your mind, so why need these other things? but I understand many people not understanding me, or even telling me that I won't take it too seriously - they might be right, the moment I find it ridiculous I'd quit, but as long as I'm determined to stick to it I will, and I still consider myself being the only one to justify myself to. [now don't I sound like a horrible online-sub? ]

so, to spell this out clearly, let's come back to that trust thing. I'm rather trustworthy and I'm talkative, so I'm quick to believe if someone tells me something and I'll provide what knowledge they would want to have of me. I also follow the instructions I get, but I won't ever lie or omit something just to avoid punishment, or not follow the lines of that punishment only because it's inconvenient. If something disturbs me I'd rather say so to find a way to work around that. that means trust to me.

Cleo671 said something else I agree with, it's the issue of the silent treatment and the mind games. I guess there's not one single relationship, even if it's as vanilla as it gets, that doesn't have a little of that in itself, whether you want it or not. for me that's the worst anyone could possible inflict on me because I go basically insane within hours if ignored, and I tent to have a too vivid imagination concerning that (it's a major character flaw I'm working on). I wouldn't consider ignoring your sub as efficient, because that just depends on said sub - if he/she is like me it's just cruel and might even backfire, if he/she doesn't mind it it's useless. so once again it's important to talk about this. trust and talk, that's the foundation of anything, online or r/l.