the only reason I like real pics is because I like knowing who I'm talking to but I love the other pics too. I just feel more personal knowing who I'm talking to but it's not a matter to me of being honest

It is hard to tell if they are real even in person but I agree it is easier to lie online. I was chatting with a guy for almost a year, almost fell for him. We spoke on the phone everyday for hours, he made me laugh,made me cry, listened to my troubles... he seemed so real than his ex-wife found his online account OH MY...he used fake pictures and lied about pretty much everything, had a bunch of women believing him (he was a flirt and we all knew it) he finally fessed up (kinda) about 3 months after he was found out.

You just have to be careful... with your heart and your wallet and if you have kids, keep them out of it till you know for sure

good luck

Thanks for your opinions. I didn't know if it was just me or what. If I talk to a person for a while and they want to see a pic than I will show them.

If I was actually capable of choosing who I grow to be fond of.. Who I fall for, I suppose I would have picked someone closer. Life has never been that way for me. In my history... as far back as my early teens. Every time I have tried to pick.. I've picked badly. Even the girl that turned out to be my highschool sweetheart, was the sister of the girl I originally chased after.

Distance is a tangible problem. It can be closed. If there is time, patience, trust and faith given.
It is relatively easy to overcome compared to the list of other potential hurdles relationships can present...

The only thing distance tends to do, in fine fashion...is exacerbate all the other individual character defects, flaws in the relationship and arresting growth... That can cause a relationship to crash and burn.
What the two decide to do with that is where the relationship either succeeds or fails. Whether they decide to learn from it and work on those defects... Or give the distance and defects an unwarranted power to corrupt everything that is good and right.

The long distance relationship is not designed for the weak of heart. It takes a bit of courage and ability to look into oneself honestly, to communicate honestly. A willingness to see things differently and to change accordingly.
However.. These things are also a pretty big requirement for any relationship, distant or otherwise.

I've not been one to be lonely. To feel a wanting or longing for something, anything, with a somebody I have not met yet. In that, I wasn't all that lonely before she came along. There wasn't anybody in my life to be lonely for. Now I am... For her.

Being lonely for her is not a bad feeling. Sometimes it is frustrating, without a doubt. For the most part though? It is a feeling that enhances my life rather then takes away from it. So long as we are encouraging and reminding eachother to choose to feel this way about it during our separation? To give our combined energies to the stuff we can do to close the distance and prepare for the time when we are closer... We stand a chance. Otherwise? It will erode under it's own weight. Either way...it is our choice to make. Either reaping the reward or suffering the consequence.
So far...We choose to see it as an enhancement more often then we choose to be frustrated, with eachothers help.