# Do you have actual online friends?



## estse (Nov 18, 2003)

*I was wondering if people here and elsewhere actually make friends online, or are we all just dwindling and dwelling in cyberspace.*

_I personally have made one online friend, whom I met at a depression-related forum about 3 years ago. It's wonderful to have someone to talk about anything with, beautiful and/or disgusting, without regret or embarrassment. I've promised to go west to meet her in 2012._


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## weatherman (Apr 19, 2006)

No friends.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

Ive have many online friends, but the only one ive met is my gf.


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## James of Maine (Sep 8, 2005)

I have one real online-only friend that I keep in touch with on a regular basis.


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## ColdFury (Nov 6, 2003)

I talk to people online, I don't know if they'd be considered my friends.


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## Bon (Dec 24, 2005)

Yes, doing a mental calculation, most of my real life friends I met on line.

I think OLFS, are just as important as RLF (getting good at the abbr;-D)

I met one women, on e-Bay, actually, I sent her a note, she really irked me, (I'm competetive) we went back and forth, she turned out to be the best friend I could ever ask for. 
When I was going through my divorce, she was on vacation in Denmark, at this time, we still hadn't met face to face, my car was giving me fits, there was no way I could afford to get the work done, she had her house sitter bring me her Jeep, she wasn't going to be using it for a couple months......That was the sweetest thing on earth. When she was having a hard time, I would send her money, when I was having a hard time, she would send me money, neither one of us had major bucks, but sometimes $20.00 can make a difference. 

Never underestimate the power of OLFS;-)


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## Scrub-Zero (Feb 9, 2004)

I have two good friends.


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## Zephyr (Nov 8, 2003)

No, I have none. I don't know how to go about getting them...


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## mystica24 (Jun 15, 2006)

weatherman said:


> No friends.


awww I thought I was your friend *sobs*

Ok i'm over it.

:banana


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## mystica24 (Jun 15, 2006)

I have an Israeli friend I met in a chatroom 10 years ago and we are close to this day. Never met before but he's since moved to the states and we call each other and write often. I have another close friend that I met in a Creed chat room about 6 years ago that I am close with as well. I also found a person on here that I find is a great friend and someone I hope will be around as long as the previous two. I guess you gotta just look for similar interests / personalities and say to heck with the SA fear.


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## Amande (Feb 5, 2005)

One online friend, from SAS actually, haven't met them yet.


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## Vincenzo (Sep 24, 2005)

I don't have any exclusively online friendships


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## odun (Nov 9, 2003)

no, of course not.

im a recluse online as i am in real life. i just prefered to be left alone.


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## cakesniffer (Nov 11, 2003)

I have a number of friends online, from SAS and other places, and have met a total of 4.


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## OneIsALonelyNumber (Mar 28, 2005)

No, I don't have online friends. I don't spend time in chat rooms.


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## clenched_fist (Jan 4, 2004)

_Just one good online friend...we haven't met._


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## clenched_fist (Jan 4, 2004)

OneIsALonelyNumber said:


> I don't spend time in chat rooms.


_Neither do I.

My friend and I communicate through emails._


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## Paul (Sep 26, 2005)

Four online friends (or maybe three depending on how strict a definition I take), and have met one of them several times. Unlikely I'll ever meet the others, given the different continents involved. All of them are people I met on forums over the past six years, which progressed to PMs and IMs.


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## mayblue (Oct 1, 2005)

None.  I've been on lots of forums over the years and exchanged a few pms or emails here and there but never made a friend.


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## archaic (Jan 16, 2006)

I have several really close friends that I talk to only online, some good online friends I've hung out with, and I met my boyfriend online. I don't have any close friends from SAS, but I'm always up for some.


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## Catarina (May 3, 2006)

No I do not.


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## nothing to fear (Mar 23, 2005)

No...it's still pretty difficult to make fans online as it is in real life. ops :?


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## Paul (Sep 26, 2005)

Yes if it's close-to-mutual and they just have a slightly different criteria for labeling friends. Otherwise you can probably still have involuntary friends if you're persistent but it's easier if they don't hate you, so that incidents of friendy behavior between you less often involve careful instructions and loaded guns.


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## Zephyr (Nov 8, 2003)

mayblue said:


> None.  I've been on lots of forums over the years and exchanged a few pms or emails here and there but never made a friend.


Same here. I've tried a few emails and pms and whatnot but it always just sort of dies away.


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## GraceLikeRain (Nov 9, 2003)

I have a few I have chatted with for two years or so. They have proved to me that I can trust them, and I can pretty much tell them anything. Some others I am not as close to anymore, but I try to keep in contact with them through e-mails.


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## allalone9863 (May 25, 2006)

I have one. We started talking like 4 years ago, practically daily. I found it all really weird at first, then he started wanting to meet (2 years ago) and I constantly made excuses. Finally he just gave up! So now we just talk every now and then. Nice guy, though. Too bad I have SA.


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## leppardess (Nov 8, 2003)

I have a handful of on line friends that I've made over the years. I've met some people from SAS too, that I am still friends with to this day. I also met my best friend on line, here at SAS and we visit in real life as often as we can. 

There are others that I don't keep close contact with (as far as regular emails and such) but they're no less important to me than the ones that I keep closer contact with.


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## Thunder (Nov 5, 2003)

I'm a hard person to get to know, most people just give up before they do. :stu


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## meggiehamilton (Nov 12, 2003)

I have an online friend that I have been in contact with for oh going on three years.


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## Maseur Shado (Jun 7, 2005)

I only have online enemies. 

See, part of the problem is that you Internet folk cost too much to buy as friends. The other part...well, I have nothing in common with anyone online that would create conversations that actually last and contain some meaning.

I had enough of an accquaintanceship with someone from a website that she let me stay at her house in London when I was there for a week. But if you want to say that was a gesture of friendship, then you would be mistaken. She generally did that with those she found non-threatening. She was a good hostess, nothing more than that.


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## Argo (May 1, 2005)

Not really friends, though on forums I do tend to drift into a circle of allies, respectful adversaries, and people with whom I share a few interests. But there's no PMing or anything going on that everybody else can't see.


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## Melusine (Jun 19, 2004)

yeah, i have a few online that i talk to every now and then.


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## daphne (Dec 4, 2004)

I have many online friends, it's so much easier to talk to people over the computer than in person. A lot of the pressure is taken off that way.


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## Nyx (Nov 17, 2003)

I have some online friends  I haven't met any though.


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## Zephyr (Nov 8, 2003)

> I have many online friends, it's so much easier to talk to people over the computer than in person.


I wish I found that to be true...


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## archaic (Jan 16, 2006)

daphne said:


> I have many online friends, it's so much easier to talk to people over the computer than in person. A lot of the pressure is taken off that way.


I'm the same way. I can actually err on the side of interesting online, even though I'm dull as heck in person. I think I'm disappointing.


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## BeNice (Jan 2, 2004)

I guess my closest relationships with anyone came out of talking online. I travelled across the country with someone that I knew from this board (she also had contact me off hotornot.com and nolongerlonely.com). Then in CA I met another friend from this board. The time difference and her schedule and her stressful life sort of gets in the way of us talking as much, though. If ya'll remember MeganInYourHeadlights. 

I wish I knew more people. I've been getting bored. I don't enjoy talking on IM much, though. I'm more of an e-mail or phone person, I guess. It depends.


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## Maslow (Dec 24, 2003)

I don't have any online friends. Or offline friends, for that matter.


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## kikachuck (Nov 10, 2003)

I have a funny relationship with one of my friends. We've known each other almost all of our lives and went to school together until high school (she was my walking parter at graduation). Since then though, our relationship has been exclusively online despite that fact that we are both in town often and we live less than a block from each other! So I guess you can say it's both a real and an online friendship :lol


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## dazeerae (Apr 29, 2006)

I put no, but I should have said yes, strictly online. I think, because of my SA, I have a hard time judging who is a friend, or merely an acquaintence.


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## infinite_time (Jul 18, 2005)

I only have one friend offline... well... I had another but she moved to another state  But we talk a lot on the phone. I have several online friends  A lot of them I meet through livejournal. I suffer from chronic loneliness... thank goodness for online friends. It really helps to at least talk with people online.


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## ghostgurl (Sep 20, 2004)

Two strictly online friends.


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## LastChild (Jul 27, 2006)

"Yes: A FEW, strictly online"


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## Neptunus (Oct 29, 2007)

Yes, quite a few on this forum. Haven't met any of them... yet.


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## estse (Nov 18, 2003)

Yay! I have a few! They eat and breathe just like me!


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## jayjaythejetplane (May 13, 2011)

On a another board yes. Hope to make a few on here too. Guess i should fill in my profile information so people can see if they share my interests.


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## Revenwyn (Apr 11, 2011)

I don't have friends online or offline. Just my husband and one other person (offline)


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## heyJude (Aug 1, 2009)

Yeah, I have a few online friends. One is from Hungary, one is from Scotland and the other one is from Portugal. I "e-met" all of them from some chat site back in 2005. They come online sometimes, but not as often as they used to. I used to be online friends with this guy who was from Canada, but it looks like he blocked me for some odd reason a couple of years back.


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## mrbojangles (Oct 8, 2009)




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## foodie (Apr 27, 2010)

.


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## Neptunus (Oct 29, 2007)

anymouse said:


> <3


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## anonymid (Oct 16, 2005)

All of my friendships are online ones these days. And they're all with people from this site.


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## wmw87 (Apr 20, 2011)

I have one online contact that I consider a "friend." He lives in another country, unfortunately. We've been talking a very long time.


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## bsd3355 (Nov 30, 2005)

I talk to one guy on facebook and that's about it. We talk on the phone sometimes...


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## i just want luv (Feb 13, 2011)

Yes.


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## Miss Apprehensive (Jul 17, 2009)

I don't have any friends, online or off.


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## Diacetylmorphine (Mar 9, 2011)

Not right now, had them in the past but we always lose contact.


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## papaSmurf (Jun 16, 2008)

Nope! I'm not good at friends.


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## Paul (Sep 26, 2005)

I seem to add about one a year lately (and lose another to maintain equilibrium). Haven't made one yet this year. Feel free to submit applications.


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## Squirrelevant (Jul 27, 2008)

It's hard for me to distinguish between friends and people who might just like me a little. I don't feel at ease talking to anyone online, have a hard time joking around and feel very reluctant to contact most of these people, plus they don't really contact me. I think it is my fault for being so socially retarded. So by my standards, I don't really feel like I have friends online (there are definitely a few people here who I'd like to consider friends though). Kinda depressing when that has been my motivation for spending most of my days online for the last decade and it's pretty much what I've been living for all this time.


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## Pam (Feb 14, 2009)

Yes, a few. Email & regular mail, but no phone, chat, or in person meetings yet. I hope to win the lottery so I can travel around the country to meet everyone. Yeah right.


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## Perkins (Dec 14, 2010)

I have made quite a few online friends over the years, but like everyone else, they came and gone. 

As of right now I have one online friend that I met on Tumblr that I speak to sometimes on AIM. And one friend I've known for almost 2 years that I met on a forum, but unfortunately, as of right now, I do not know if we are still friends.  

It's been pretty lonely.


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## ohgodits2014 (Mar 18, 2011)

Had one, once, who I'd consider the best friend I've ever had even though we never even met in person.

Which just goes to show how pathetic my life really is.


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## Spindrift (Mar 3, 2011)

Aye, and they rock.


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## Christa25 (Oct 2, 2010)

I'm in love with someone I met online.


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## papaSmurf (Jun 16, 2008)

pointy said:


> It's hard for me to distinguish between friends and people who might just like me a little. I don't feel at ease talking to anyone online, have a hard time joking around and feel very reluctant to contact most of these people, plus they don't really contact me. I think it is my fault for being so socially retarded. So by my standards, I don't really feel like I have friends online (there are definitely a few people here who I'd like to consider friends though). Kinda depressing when that has been my motivation for spending most of my days online for the last decade and it's pretty much what I've been living for all this time.


For what it's worth Points, I think you're a super cool dude!


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## dustbunnies (May 18, 2011)

I've had a few before... but I've alienated most of them by now.


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## Perkins (Dec 14, 2010)

rednosereindeer said:


> Had one, once, who I'd consider the best friend I've ever had even though we never even met in person.
> 
> Which just goes to show how pathetic my life really is.


Same boat.

Sadly, the only real friend(s) I've ever had have been through a computer screen.

I did manage to meet one of them in person, fortunately. It was without a doubt one of the most memorable days of my life. And amazing. I will *never* forget it. Even though he and I no longer speak.


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## skygazer (Dec 26, 2010)

I've had a few close online friends and most of them I met through games. It starts out as gaming buddies or guild members then often we would add each other on messenger. Almost always it just ends once we stop playing together, but sometimes one or two stays to be friends.


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## PickleNose (Jul 11, 2009)

There are a few people I've posted alongside on forums for so long that I guess I'd say we're acquaintances. They know more about me than my own mother does so you could stretch it far enough to call them friends. But I don't get along with all of them all that well.


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## Lasair (Jan 25, 2010)

I have one good one after that just a lot of conversation for now


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## Cyrus (Oct 25, 2009)

A couple. Then a couple of acquaintances.


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## Toad Licker (Nov 2, 2007)

I only have online friends, two of them and I met one of them several years ago.


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## luctus (Mar 31, 2011)

Yeah, I have several online friends. I've already met one before, who became my boyfriend for a year (didn't work out, though). I'm going to meet a second online friend later next month, who is thus far strictly platonic.


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## 4realguy (Mar 11, 2010)

no none, anyone want to be friends?


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## cybernaut (Jul 30, 2010)

I have several online acquaintances over facebook and two people who I consider online friends. One lives in another country and the other lives in another state. I would love to meet both of them someday .


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## purplefruit (Jan 11, 2011)

I _had_ one, we talked on a forum, MSN, then Facebook, but we lost contact.


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## Glue (Oct 26, 2010)

I used to have one. She got a boyfriend and a job, on top of going to school, and I eventually stopped hearing from her. I recently got an email from her, after almost a year, asking how I'm doing. I'm not going to reply.

I miss talking to her. I miss waking up everyday and seeing her email saying "good morning!" She made me feel like a human being, even after I told her about all my sh*t. She liked my sense of humor and she made me laugh. She was great.


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## estse (Nov 18, 2003)

Glue said:


> I used to have one. She got a boyfriend and a job, on top of going to school, and I eventually stopped hearing from her. I recently got an email from her, after almost a year, asking how I'm doing. I'm not going to reply.
> 
> I miss talking to her. I miss waking up everyday and seeing her email saying "good morning!" She made me feel like a human being, even after I told her about all my sh*t. She liked my sense of humor and she made me laugh. She was great.


You should email her back.


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## estse (Nov 18, 2003)

I miss one email friend, who I lost contact with when she joined the Navy. She was a SASer, years ago.


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## kindasorta (Apr 20, 2009)

I've met lots of people through the interwebs and I consider several of them my friends.


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## Glue (Oct 26, 2010)

Mercurochrome said:


> You should email her back.


I have nothing positive/new to say. She seems happy with her life, I don't want to be a buzz kill.


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## Choci Loni (May 12, 2011)

Glue said:


> I have nothing positive/new to say. She seems happy with her life, I don't want to be a buzz kill.


I don't think she contacted you solely out of bad consciousness about not keeping in touch or anything. I think you should at least try to reestablish the contact. But of course, you know best.


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## NobodysPerfect (May 22, 2011)

I have online ones I haven't met and ones I have met online and met in person and still speak to either meeting up with them occasionally (mainly people with sa that I've met off forums) or at least speak to them online/keep in contact via phone from time to time. I open up to those ive met online more then acquaintances or friends I've made offline in normal situations like through school/college. The closest friend I've ever had I met online. We have met a couple of times over the years but mostly talk online due to them living reasonably far away. We first met when I was 17 so known each other years now and can talk about anything, just a shame we don't live nearer to each other. The online friends I haven't met, I probably never will mainly due to living far apart\having different lives etc but if we don't meet it doesn't matter, I'd still consider them a friend If we talked a lot/shared a lot with each other etc.


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