I think I'm a very good judge of character (so far)
I do trust my instincts about people, as they have proven very accurate over the years. I think this stands me in good stead in both my personal and professional life.
As for the physical aspect - the thing that fascinates and delights me about online relationships, platonic or otherwise,is that you get to know people from the inside out. In that strange place outside OTz I've heard they call 'The Real World', we automatically scan and subconsciously pre-vet people based on their physicality within a split second of meeting them. Even if we don't mean to.....its just human nature and an opinion forms without us even realizing. Maybe sometimes, we miss out on potentially good interactions or friendships, because we have subconsciously discounted someone on the basis of their physical presence.
I don't care what people look like really. Its what's inside that counts and sometimes the loveliest looking people can be the ugliest inside, and vice versa.