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Internet Buddies

  • 08-09-2002 5:04pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 248 ✭✭


    Can anyone help?

    Can you have a 'real' friendship with someone without ever meeting them? Dunno........all mixed up here!!


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 78,580 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    Yes, but you really need to meet them, otherwise that friendship only has one facet.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 55,572 ✭✭✭✭Mr E


    I dunno.... define 'real friendship' ?? I'm friends with a girl in Australia. We've been friends for a couple of years now. We email each other a couple of times a week, and talk on messenger/IRC. However, we'll probably never meet (not any time soon, anyway) due to the distance.

    - Dave.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,396 ✭✭✭✭kaimera


    From experience...

    definatly.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,275 ✭✭✭Shinji


    Absolutely, yes.

    Of course, until you meet up with the person in question, you'll never be 100% sure that they are what they claim they are - but with that caveat, there is absolutely nothing to stop you from forming friendships online that are as serious and important to you as your offline friendships.

    It's just a different mechanism of communication. In some ways its easier to lie, but if you assume truth on both sites, in ways it's a "truer" medium, since you don't base your friendship on physical appearance, where a person lives, how they speak etc...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭claire h


    Yep, absolutely. You don't necessarily have to have met the person in real life to have a 'real' friendship.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 920 ✭✭✭Macker


    Sure you can ,meeting up can be part of it but not necessary if you don't feel inclined to.

    Macker


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    I talk to more people online than I do in real life. Is that sad? I don't care.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,237 ✭✭✭GUI


    Meet my girlfriend online..
    and shes a stunner :-)
    meeting her for the first time was fun i thought
    but i was PURE nervous


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,237 ✭✭✭GUI


    that was years back though,
    4..
    before internet became full
    of hopeful women who wished to find their "dream guy"
    online..

    now its filled with them and normal great gals


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,286 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    Glad that someone is convinced internet dating works- I'm not.
    Too many people pretend to be people that they blatantly are not online, and next to no-one can trip them up. Use the internet as you like, and sure you can have friends there- but hell, open your eyes- look around you- there are hundreds of people waiting to be asked out to coffee or whatever.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,389 ✭✭✭✭Saruman


    Your online personality can be very different to your real one! I met a girl i was emailing for years from Canada and we got on well by email but were very different in person and not that we did not get on but there was nothing to base a real friendship on and so we went our seperate ways.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,237 ✭✭✭GUI


    I agree with u..
    i was just saying it can work.
    its not all doom and gloom!
    but essential you meet the person in real life at early stage i think..
    otherwise its just stupid and fantasy based


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,984 ✭✭✭Venom


    Untill i meet the person in real life I consider them to look like Bubbles.

    The so called hot females i consider to look like Bubbles in drag.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,025 ✭✭✭yellum


    Yes it can work, but it can only blossom properly with real life interaction. Its really good for keeping in touch with old friends and renewing friendships with people you haven't seen in ages.

    Thanks to the net the amount of people we communicate on a regular basis is going up while the rate of attrition is low.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 26 ohgratuitous


    i think that there is something pure and unaffected about getting to know someone online. it calls for an effort to be made and thought to be put into every sentence. and it’s a whole lot of fun because it’s really novel. also, if it’s a potential partner, you can get to know each other without the confusion of physical issues which makes things easier. i got to know my boyfriend on line (although he wasn’t a stranger) and it was so good that way. it does need to be complemented by meeting eventually (for the frustration factor if nothing else), but as an introduction to a potential relationship, all senses intact, of course, it’s really worth it. :)


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Originally posted by mystic
    Can anyone help?

    Can you have a 'real' friendship with someone without ever meeting them? Dunno........all mixed up here!!

    Well from experience, yes, but obviously it depends on your definition of friendship.
    I've made friends on these boards with people I've never met, including people I've crossed swords with.
    It can be banter in threads or a hows it going few lines in a pm.

    mm


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,726 ✭✭✭✭DMC


    Yes, you can, and I would count madman as one of them. :D (€10 now mate!)

    Over the last 6 years on the interweb, I have met a lot of folk in person I have first had conversations in mailing lists and boards like these and some of these friends are better mates than even some old friends that I've known for years.

    The first step is that you have summat in common, so if you are friendly with them here, say on a sci/fi or gaming board, for example, you have a shared interest and it most definately a toipic of conversation that will keep it going for a while.

    It can be a leap of faith the first time, God knows, but brilliant if it works out.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,992 ✭✭✭✭gurramok


    Originally posted by mystic

    Can you have a 'real' friendship with someone without ever meeting them? Dunno........all mixed up here!!

    Well, i have met about 6 ppl in real life(all from holland/germany) from irc over the years.
    We all had similar interests that brought us together
    You never get to know the real person behind the computer until you meet them in real life.
    Of those 6, 2 are now good friends....sorta penpal friendship :)
    The other 4 sorta drifted away and got a life :D
    Still not the same as dating, but i did netmeeting with a few wimmin, some turned out to be dead sound chicks....others the obsessive types who might be problems in the future.
    The separated housewives are the bunch to avoid :D
    Just be careful if u do meet up with someone, bring somebody with u as confidence/protection :)


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Originally posted by DamoDMC
    Yes, you can, and I would count madman as one of them. :D (€10 now mate!)

    Only €10:D
    Bargain...:p (and I thought I'd have to hand over a pedigree friesan or summat:D )
    mm


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,256 ✭✭✭Molly


    Yes they can, but when you meet them in person if all parties have been honest with each other the friendship grows.


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