Online Dating Misrepresentations

I have had several of my friends lament to me about their online dating adventures.  I encourage all of them to find love however they need, yet have learned through several terrible experiences with men who online date that online dating will not be for me.  But that's a story for another time...and you will totally understand why I encourage everyone to do it, yet personally have some heart-breaking trust issues.

My real question today is this: Do you feel people misrepresent themselves, mainly physically?

Popular Daddy Blogger, Single Dad Laughing, had an experience where a lady misrepresented her weight drastically.  He wasn't turned off by her weight so much as the fact that he felt lied to and betrayed.  But there was no convincing her or most of his readers that the weight was not the reason for the rejection.

In almost all of the lamentations I have heard, there is some tale of how the young woman or man was significantly larger in person than in photos.  Why do people do this?  I would never want to be that girl that shows up and my date is immediately disappointed.  There are plenty of men out there who like their women with more to love and plenty of women who like teddy bear men.  Why must we lie?  There is a difference between putting your best foot forward and putting your non-existent foot forward.   And why go into a date knowing you will begin it with disappointment?  I just don't get it.

What do you all think?  Have you had any experiences like this?  Why do you think people do this?  

Withholding the Truth vs. Lying

There is a very fine line between "withholding the truth" and "lying."

Wouldn't you say?

I can think of a time, years ago, where I pretended to like video games because a guy I was dating loved them.  Was this a lie for me not to tell him (for the record, I don't hate them, I just don't get them)?  I suppose it doesn't matter because the relationship ended after a couple of months, but if it hadn't ended....would it have been a lie for me to go into a committed relationship with him whilst he was under the illusion he was getting a person he was not?  If I told him the truth and he didn't care, then it would be okay.

Now take that to the extreme.  After a certain amount of time, is it a lie to not tell someone about major health, addiction, or mental issues? 

I have never personally experienced someone withholding information like this from me, but events in others' lives have caused me to wonder.

I want to know what you all think about this.