[Ciaran]

Do you (or would you) go out with someone you met online, such as from a dating site, chat room, BFP, etc.? (this can be local or long distance or both)

Yes, I have done so and think that this is perfectly normal and healthy. However, I wouldn't / couldn't "date" someone online. Rather, via online media, I've been able to meet (in real-life) some interesting people and date.

Do you go out on blind dates? (set up by friends, co-workers)

Have done so and have had some very enjoyable and fun nights out as a result.

Would you go out with someone who has dated someone you know?

Yes. I wouldn't have a problem with this at all in most circumstances. The only difficulty I would have would be where my friend had been in a full blown relationship with the other person and still had strong feelings for the person or was feeling hurt emotionally. Likely, I'd still be happy to date this someone but it woukd create an unwelcome complication.

Which do you think is better: meeting and dating people from an online source, or meeting and dating people you meet in real life?

I think that either can be great in that you can meet what become fantastic friends or fantastic partners via online or in real-life. However, generally, real life can be better in terms of initial interaction as, for me, it's so much easier to get idea of who someone is and what they are by interacting with them in the flesh and looking in their eyes.

In my experience, a person's online persona is typically different from their real-life persona. In most cases, there's nothing disingenuous about that - it's just that we are much more multi-layered in real-life, for good and bad, than we can be online. Of course, there are those who are rather disingenuous online and, in addition, some crazy people can appear normal online. Therefore, the real-life method is a better filter mechanism for me.