As a developer and frequent user of this site, I've started numerous projects and used the awesome Help Wanted forums to get a team together. However, I've still always been searching for some people that I know in person to develop a game.

Herein lies my problem. While I have friends who would be willing to help develop a game, they have little to no experience with game development and would probably end up as designers or writers (no offense to those who are actually competant/experienced designers or writers). However, I could use the Help Wanted forums here to setup an online team with people who may be more experienced or more focused on game dev but won't get the 'in-person' side of the process.

What do you guys think, would you rather form an online team or an in-person team depending on their levels of experience vs ease of access (people in-person are typically much easier to get in contact with)?

I would choose those who are passionate about their field.

Lots of people want to make games. Few of them are skilled in their field.

I would also question their ability or drive to make a finished game. This is something you would need to verify on your own by interviewing them.

And, given my background, I would also require legal rights assignment forms and other legal documentation which would also tend to scare off those who are afraid to commit. Without them you cannot ever hope to sell or make money off your game, and you will be limited in your ability to release it under any terms, F/OSS or otherwise.