I wonder what people are thinking when they lie about their appearance, age, or other things on online dating profiles. Do they think they would lure the person in with their charm, wonderful personality, ect., that when the person to whom they are talking to does find out the truth, they will be able to overlook it? Most of the time it backfires and the person who was tricked feels cheated and angry. It is better to put your real self out there. Attraction is an important part of chemistry when dating. It would be much better to expose your real self on the internet and get fewer responses from those interested in the real you rather than get several people interested in a false illusion you create only to have them be disappointed when they do meet you.
Even with fairly recent pictures, it still is hard to get an exact idea of what somebody really does look like in person. Most people look a little different than I imagined them from their pictures, but the pictures definitely gave me a rough idea of what they looked like. People do tend to discriminate on looks when dating and I don't think it is shallow or makes anybody a bad person. Most people don't aim for perfection in looks, but need to have physical attraction with somebody in order to have a romantic relationship. Of course what is considered attractive is in the eye of the beholder. I also think physical attraction can develop over time (in least in women). The problem with that is I would rather not date somebody unless the attraction is there so if I don't feel physical attraction on the first date, I don't opt for a second.