This has been bugging me as of late and I think it's worth discussing.
I'm participating in the "Finding your special somepony thread," and one of the arguments against such dating programs is that we need to let love "come to us." We shouldn't search for love and we need to just let it come with time. Some believe searching for love is a fruitless effort and that true love must be a spontaneous crossing of fates.
I don't believe that. After all, people being open to relationships at all requires some amount of effort. If people put no effort in at all, not only would opportunities for love pass us by, but all opportunities in life PERIOD would pass us by. Life takes effort, simple as that. So with that said, if people are open to love, then on some level, whether conscious or not, they are looking for love. So the question then goes from "is it appropriate to look for love?" to "How much effort is appropriate in looking for love?"
And if that's the case, then how much effort is appropriate is up to the individual. Some people need more, some people need less. It's all up to the person's circumstances, and if that requires using online dating, so be it. And how do we know that looking for love isn't simply part of fate, as well?
TL;DR - Everyone (whether consciously or unconsciously) looks for love to one degree or another.
Thoughts?
