Do you think that people can have emotional affairs on the internet?

I chatted with the same man in two different time blocks. The first time we chatted and flirted for about 4 months. Then he just disappeared--no instant messages, no email, not communication at all. Two and a half years later he reappeared and the same thing happened for 5 months. He is now gone. He flirted, told me that someday we'd get together and thinking of me was a turn on, etc. Now, though some investigation, I know he has found one or two other women, probably giving them the same lines. I think these are emotional affairs, but he never lets them get to the physical stage because that might be more difficult to hide from his wife. I don't think he knows that I know he is married.