I can smell the desperation

Yesterday a friend and I were talking, and she was telling me about this internet site (eharmony) for singles that are looking to date. She told me a few co-workers told her about this site, and a few of them hooked up with people from this site. While I am totally against the idea of finding "the one" in cyberworld, by the end of our conversation, we both agreed to try it out...together. See how adventurous we can be with our girls! So, while we were talking, I walked over to my computer, logged on to AOL, and visited eharmony where I completed my "personality profile." While I was completing this survey about my values, interests, and other personality traits, I found myself quite annoyed. One, because some of the questions were redundant, and two, because this thing took me like 15 minutes to complete. While that may not seem like a long time to find someone, it was a hell of a long time to answer some questions I really wasn't in the mood to confront at the time. After completing this "free" survey, I found that "true love" really isn't free. Yes, I've gotten like six emails telling me about matches, but in order to communicate with any of these people, there is a cost:
1 month - $49.95
3 months - $99.95
6 months - $159.95
12 months - a whopping $249.95!
Now granted, I've spent all of these amounts in admissions to bars/clubs, drinks, outfits, makeup, and accessories, but even if I didn't find anyone on these nights, I at least had a good time. What is this going to get me? A decent conversation with someone who could be a complete sociopath? I'm just not feeling it. And should finding someone be as easy as filling out a 15minute survey, and then entering my credit card number into an unsecure site?

Or is this the new reality for dating? Find someone on the internet, and then live happily ever after? I don't feel like I'm desperate, and I really don't feel like that since I wasn't willing to pay for happiness (literally pay that is). So why would I even take the time to submit the survey? Is this the safe way to meeting someone, or is it all just scam?