I've probably met about 50-60 people through Disney internet boards, starting with the old AOL boards back in the 90ties. Mostly females but a few males. Many of us became long time friends and I keep up with some of them. Some of our kids have become friends as they've grown up going to Disney!
Disney was the shared interest and it led to lots of meet ups, mostly over the food and wine festival. Personally I've only joined up in group situations, not one on one. I've had a lot of fun, and have enjoyed group dinners at many of the Disney restaurants. Once about 30 of us met for dinner at Boma. I used Simba's Cub house for my daughter that night and I'm not sure who had more fun, myself or my daughter as she absolutely loved it.
Of course, with any internet meet up, its important to be extremely careful, but for the most part, many of us are fairly normal.