That without the soul and subtlety of a physical tangible presence, it isn't true love for the person, but love for something in one's own imagination.
To call the feelings of an internet relationship "love" is sad because it is lacking these important parts of love. It's a expression used by a person who either doesn't really know what love is, or who craves the idea of being in love so much, that this approximation they choose to believe is equal in merit and credibility to true love.
I agree with you. Almost five years ago when I was doing my bachelors degree I was a member of a website which had various different groups on it, and my main group on that site had about 15-20 regular posters who didn't talk about anything serious and focused on joking and nonsense. But one day two of the regulars, people I considered friends, revealed that they had been communicating through email for weeks and had developed some sort of connection, and even though they hadn't met they were in love and were committed to one another.
On the face of things I congratulated them and had no problems with their decision so long as they were happy, but secretly I was thinking how dumb they were being because what they were feeling wasn't real love and when they met they would probably have no chemistry. And they weren't even going to meet up for a long time because she lived in Israel and he lived on the west coast of America, and neither one of them had enough money for the trip. I thought they were fools.
But if there's one thing in this universe that possibly suggests the presence of god it is the pervasion of irony in every facet of existence. Six months later I received an email from a female friend from that same group which triggered something in me. I knew her from that website for two years, we talked through email but never anything serious, we only ever joked and discussed our interests; I didn't know what she looked like, what her voice sounded like, I only knew her real name because it was on the header of the emails. In two years I had learned almost nothing factual about her, but I knew almost everything about who she was inside. And though I tried to deny it to myself for weeks, I had somehow fallen in love with her.
The story is complicated by the fact that she had started seeing someone, but long story short is that over the following three months I confessed to how I felt, turns out she felt the same way, we met, and even though she wasn't exactly the same on the surface the core of her being was almost a perfect match. We were in a relationship for almost two years, and though we're not together now that's got to do with a series of stupid mistakes that couples in their early 20s are prone to making.
As for that other couple, I don't keep in contact with them anymore but the status updates on the gmail accounts suggest that they're still going after almost five years.
So I agree with you, claiming to be in love with someone you never actually met is sad, until it happens to you and you realise that it's not so impossible at all. Then it's sad because you're stuck halfway around the world from the most important person in your life. Now that's sad.
Bah, I need a humbug!