Internet dating is here to stay. Once reserved for the antisocial or terminally geeky, online personals have become an alternative for college students looking for a more objective way to find dates.

Personal ads allow people to connect with each other in a controlled situation. There is less chance for misconceptions about what the person is looking for because he or she is able to post it in plain view.

The ability to decide what to share, however, means that personals can be misleading. People can use flattering photographs that don&t accurately represent what they look like in person. They can also choose to omit information that might otherwise be the deciding factor for whether somebody would really be interested in them.

Some online personals are specialized, focusing on particular interests or lifestyles such as religion, sexual orientation or hobbies. Others are all-inclusive, allowing for people with different interests or backgrounds to get to know each other. All personals sites fall into one of two categories 8211; free or pay sites.

Everybody should be familiar with the phrase &you get what you pay for.& Internet dating is no exception to this rule. Pay sites offer more services and specific search criteria to help find the perfect mate. Some popular pay sites include Eharmony, Match.com and Yahoo! Personals.

Eharmony (www.eharmony.com) bills itself as &the best way for you to build a lasting relationship.& Its creator, Neil Clark Warren, believes that 29 specific factors can determine the compatibility of a potential couple, and that the scientific method is superior to more traditional means of finding true love.

The Web site offers a free personality profile, but if you want to place a personal ad, be prepared to spend between $50 and $250, depending on the amount of time you want to have your ad posted.

Yahoo! (personals.yahoo.com) offers two different types of personal ads. Regular Yahoo! personals offer the more traditional method of posting ads with flattering information and photographs.

Yahoo! Premiere says it focuses more on developing long-term relationships and uses a matchmaking style similar to Eharmony&s personality profile. Both services cost about $20 a month.

Match.com is nearly identical to Yahoo! Personals. Match.com uses a wide range of search criteria for users to find potential dates. Match.com subscribers pay about $30 a month for its services.

For those who cringe at the idea of paying for the privilege of meeting someone, free personals are an option.

Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) offers personals that are free to post, browse and apply to. Users also have the option of posting pictures. The ads are fairly basic, with only a text box and photos 8211; but they are free, after all.

Joey Hill is a senior at Sacramento State and has used several different online dating services, including Match.com and Hotornot.com.

&I&ve had a few bad experiences,& he said. &But I haven&t used any of the pay sites. A lot of people post fake pictures on the free sites and most of the girls I&ve met have just been interested in hooking up. The sketch factor is pretty high.&

Myspace (www.myspace.com) is another place to meet people online for free. Although it&s not a dating service, Myspace gives people the ability to create a homepage, post pictures, build a list of friends and post bulletins or private messages. Myspace is completely free and only requires an e-mail address to join.

A number of special-interest sites also offer personals, catering to everybody from Christian singles to people with tattoos and piercings. Some of these sites offer free personals, while others require payment. An Internet search on any topic, including the word &personals,& will yield all kinds of results.

Sara Dunn, a sophmore at Sacramento City College, has a &friends only& policy when it comes to meeting people off the Internet.

&I&ve used Yahoo! and some free personals, but most of the guys I&ve talked to have been either unattractive or really creepy,& she said. &I&ve made a few friends off of Myspace, though. It&s a great way to network with people.&

Any situation involving the exchange of personal information can be an opportunity for scam artists and predators, however. Online personals are no exception.

Most personals sites offer safety tips that anybody using the service should read. Use careful judgment in what you&re willing to share and whom you exchange information with.

Never give out personal information such as addresses or phone numbers early in your correspondence, and end contact with anybody who pressures you to share this information. If you decide to meet somebody, make sure it&s in a public place that you&re familiar with.