1376 Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 5.9 E-Dating: The Five Phases on Online Dating Monica T. Whitty Nottingham Trent University, UK abstract Online dating continues to grow in popularity as a way for individuals to locate a potential romantic partner. Researchers have examined how people present themselves on these sites, which pre- sentations are more likely to lead to success, the effectiveness of the matchmaking tools that some companies employ, the stigma attached to using these sites and the types of people who are drawn to online dating. However, there is an absence of scholarly work on how these relationships progress compared to traditional models of courtship. This chapter sets out a model for the phases of online dating and compares this model with Givens’ (1979) work on a traditional model of courtship. It is argued here the phases of online dating are very different to other courtship models. These differences pose new challenges and create new benefits to those who elect to find a partner via one of these sites. WHere can one FInd a romantIc Partner on tHe net? Before moving on to consider online dating sites, it is important to understand that these sites emerged because it became obvious that there was a need and a market for such sites. As is well-known, the Internet was not originally set up as a social space, but rather as a space to transfer data. However, not long after (even in its most primitive textual form), friendships and romances began to blossom. People were meeting each other in all sorts of places, MUDs and MOOs (multi-users dungeons or domains, which are essentially role-playing sites), bulletin boards, chat rooms, newsgroups and gaming sites. Bulletin board systems (BBs) were possibly the first place where romances initiated on the Inter- net. DeVoss (2007) has succinctly described how these relationships initiated in these sites and quite rightly points out that one could not escape gender roles in these spaces (even when people swapped DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-104-9.ch016