I have met many people after chatting for some time. It really depends on what you want. In general, its a good idea to meet in public places, and leave yourself an alternate as far as where to stay. In three years, I think I've met over 200 individuals from many places.

We sometimes throw "chat parties", where the people are all from a certain room or environment. This takes the pressure off of you from meeting one on one and is much safer. When you are among friends, meeting new people is easier.

Actually, four couples have happened as a direct result of some of our "parties", and two of them have stuck for close to a year now (50% average is as good as current US marriage statistics) so we are doing as well as can be expected ;)