Playboys who think joining a dating website is proof that they are miserable failures with ladies can rest easy as times have changed and there is no longer this stigma attached to finding love on the internet.

Mo Kurimbokus, a counsellor at Relate, says that, for many, the web is the best way of meeting people, especially for those of working age who have left school or university and have fewer opportunities to socialise.

Due to the growing numbers of singles joining online dating websites, the jibes about them being meeting places for ugly and unsuccessful people have pretty much died away.

"The initial stigma that it first had, that people were concerned about how desperate they were in having to resort to the internet [has gone], now it is becoming just another way of being able to do something," Mr Kurimbokus claims.

Recent data compiled by Senior Dating UK showed that the over 50s are the fastest-growing group of online daters.

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