Stratus,
Welcome to the site. I'm pretty new here as well, relatively speaking. But I can tell you that you couldn't have found a better place to get advice and some inside views about what you'll be dealing with, whether you remain at chnlove or go outside to some of the other sites you can meet these ladies at. You'll find a lot of divergent views, which represent the equally diverse experiences of the members here.
The brotherhood here has been a big help to me so far, even when they felt the need to slap me around a bit, lol. You CAN meet real ladies through chnlove, as many of the members here who have met and married ladies through there can (and will) tell you. You can also get scammed by agencies and translators, as others here will attest. Just ask questions, and read what's already in the archives, and trust your instincts as well once you learn some of what to look out for. And you'll find the guys here always willing to answer your questions as a newby, even if they've already answered them for others many times before. I can't say enough about these guys, from my own experience here so far.
My small piece of advice would be to ask your lady how she receives and responds to your letters. that will give you some clue about how much of her personalty is coming through in the letters. If you are getting answers to your questions, that's a good sign, although not definitive. Real pics are also good. Getting to personal, direct contact is important though, as has already been mentioned here by David E.
Also, I've come to suspect that some of the bad experiences some have had with certain agencies might be representative of the ladies themselves more than the agencies. Some are far more serious about this than others, it seems. Some just let the agencies respond to your letters. Most get contacted by phone about your letters, and will have them read to them over the phone, and respond the same way. Many live quite a distance from the agency they are using, so this is a logical way for them to function, especially since it seems to be a small percentage that have personal access to a computer and the internet.
For myself, I was lucky to find this place before I started writing anyone, so I was able to get some insights on how to get started and what to watch out for. I put a lot of this down on the 'Baby steps' thread on this newbies forum. I am far from being an expert here, just still a newbie myself, and the very best advice I can give is to do what you're doing-ask the brothers here your questions, and glean as much as you can from them, because there is a WEALTH of experiences here it would be foolish not to take advantage of if you're serious about doing this.
