First off, the solicitation rule applies to things such as "Buying gf". It has nothing to do with real relationships. If it was, could you be reported for talking to your husband/wife online? I think not.
I have been in a online relationship through RS and I don't regret it as I've learnt a lot from it. I'm talking about a serious long distance and fairly long lasting relationship.
I find the concept has a lot of social stigma around it that is probably misplaced. The reality is that if you seriously commit to the relationship, nobody will care in a few years where you met your partner. If it's a non-serious relationship online then whatever, that's where the stigma comes from.
Yes a relationship which isn't long distance is definitely better, but the relationship I had was rather unique that I could both play a game I enjoy and spend time with someone I cared for. The whole situation required lots of openness and communication, along with a lot of trust that was built over time. There was never the issue of my friends feeling left out etc and in general they didn't mind about it - They found it unusual and asked questions but they were always supportive of my decisions.
I never told my parents as I planned to wait until I had moved out and was financially stable. They did have suspicions as they knew I talked to one person a lot for months on end and were clearly against the concept of long distance, but they did show interest in knowing a bit about the person, even if it was just trying to be polite.
So there's my story. So long as the relationship doesn't make you less sociable with other players, talk about private topics in public or turn you into an asshole (I've seen that happen plenty of times) it's fine IMO. Pretty much if you hate a certain couple's actions online they're not really any different to the annoying couple IRL.
or ya know, cyber-bullying at it's finest 
