Dating someone new

Confucius say

Hello Gentlemen. I've been on quite a few dates over the last few months with girls I've met online, some great, some ok, none were disasters and I've met some nice people. I did start seeing someone exclusively for 2 months or so but it turned out we hadn't very much in common and I didn't actually fancy her that much. You know it's wrong when you're getting dressed the next morning as quick as you can when they leave the room so you don't have to have sex with them again.
Anyway I met someone new last week, who seems lovely and physically definitely my type. We kissed at the end and she asked me right there if I wanted to see her again, to which I replied yes, and we carried on speaking over whatsapp since. I think we're meeting on Friday again.
So I'm just wondering how you guys go about dating? Is it meeting in bars and drinking every time? Not that I have a problem with this but I tend to drink pretty fast and can put a few away, as it helps with the nerves and I find it lubricates me socially and I can talk the ears off them without any awkward silences. I just don't really want to have to rely on it this way, as it also can create a kind of false chemistry that may not exist beyond the booze.
What else do you guys do? What's the best way to get to know someone new? In the past, any relationships I've had were through meeting organically (i.e. not online) and we just seemed to hit it off right away, so it didn't really matter what we were doing. The online thing is a different ball game, to me anyway. I think it's a bit harder to get to know someone on the basis of a few dates.
I guess I'm wondering what I should be doing from now, to get to know this girl properly and see if it can go anywhere. I wouldn't be upset if nothing happened, as it seems to easy to get a date nowadays, but I don't want endless dates leading to nothing either!
Cheers for any responses and I'd love to hear your own experiences.

ancapailldorcha

I suggest that you start a thread in the Online Dating forum as discussion of this topic is not permitted here.