By Anna Brooker, England

Some would argue that an email pen pal, or e-pal as they are sometimes referred to, is not the same as a good old-fashioned pen pal. Although the venue is different, the premiss is basically the same. You connect with someone you whose ad you?ve read that you believe has things in common with you.

Correspondence in the age of computers is, however, a whole different world; one that has unlimited opportunities for worldwide friendship. Cyberspace is a fascinating collage of anything and everything in all categories and you are assured of finding as many pals as you would like to write to.

Striking up an email friendship is certainly easy with the multitude of sites that cater to listings for on-line pals. A generic search just on the term "pen pal" will give thousands of hits for you to choose from. A bit of patience is required, though, as sorting through them all is a challenge within itself.

You will discover soon enough that on-line, the term "pen pal ad" is synonymous with "personal ad." Many sites that claim to be pen pal friendly are actually matchmaking and singles groups, so it can be an arduous task wading through them all in your search for an on-line friend. You just have to persevere and you will discover plenty of sites worth looking at that are committed to pen pals and friendship.

Once you do find some web sites you are comfortable dealing with; browsing through the ads can be just as challenging. If you are over the age of 30 the options for finding pals are greatly diminished as you?ll find the majority of listings are for teens and 20-somethings. Don?t be discouraged, though, as there are some very helpful web pages out there for the 30 and 40-somethings as well as the 50 and 60ish e-paller.

Emailing pals gives you the opportunity to be cautious with your personal information. You have the luxury of revealing only what you feel comfortable with. It sounds comforting and it is to an extent, but you must also take on board the fact that anyone you write to may be withholding information - or worse yet, being untruthful. There is opportunity for deceit in on-line correspondence so you must always proceed carefully.

That being said, you should keep the personal information you choose to divulge in any pen pal ad you post to a minimum and for Heavens sake don't post your postal address. As you will find when you put an ad for pals on-line, you will get some unexpected responses. Emails from those who claim to love you, others saying you're the lost heir to some fortune. On-line scams have become the stuff of urban legends; they can be obvious and they can also be very well thought out and leave you guessing.

It's a good practice to get a free email from a site like Yahoo that is reserved specifically for getting on-line pals. This will make it easy to weed out the frauds.

It pays to be cautious, but don't be put off. There are some very nice people out there just waiting to strike up a conversation with you.

There are many advantages to computer correspondence. Writing to e-pals is a bit more immediate in that you can have a response in no time. You aren't dependent on the post either as you can send and receive letters at any time. In a weekend, you may get to know your pal better than a snail-mailer would in a couple of months time. What's more, there's no postage to contend with and you don't have to shop for stationery or embellishments.

Another plus of email correspondence is that you can chat live; some sites have even upgraded their instant message vehicles to include voice, so it can be just like a phone call even when your pal is on the other side of the world.

In all, email correspondence is an innovative approach to letter writing, with vast opportunities. It's one you should certainly consider if you are looking for pen pals.

Start here and subscribe to our E-newsletter. Its free and we'll send online email pals to your email box, and you can write to anyone listed!