Wow, that"s a serious one for your first proper thread.
Ummmm, not sure where to start with this one, there are lots of conspiracy theories regarding online sites. I"ve been playing for nearly five years on numerous sites and I have to be honest, I think most are well run and have very good security and audited processes.
That"s not to say that recent stories surrounding Absolute and Ultimate can tarnish the reputation of online poker.
I"d like to think that the big sites such as Pokerstars, FullTilt and Ipoker have very little interest in rigging their software. They would have far too much to lose should anything happen.
When playing online, it is important to remember that you see a much higher number of hands per hour than playing live, and to that extent, you will experience higher variance, more badbeats and suckouts.
That"s just one of those things and I don"t think any site is worse of better than the next. As far as your game goes, you really should look at the type of games on offer and the type of player playing on the sites, and based on that choose your tournaments.
Good Luck.
Leigh