Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

How do you know when to start dating someone? We've been talking for a couple months and right now we're super long distance (opposite sides of the country) and I feel like we could be dating but A) I don't know how it's any different from what we have now and B) I don't even know if it's worth it at the moment. This would be my first relationship so I'm obviously pretty clueless so I would love some advice...

I just became officially dating M even though it was long distance. Our logic was that we both feel committed and we know where we want it to go. It helps that we've dated in person before though.