Internet Buddies

mystic

Can anyone help?

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

Victor

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

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.

kaimera

From experience...

definatly.

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...

claire h

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

Macker

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

Macker

LegacyUser

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

GUI

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

DMC

Yes, you can, and I would count madman as one of them. (€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.

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
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
Just be careful if u do meet up with someone, bring somebody with u as confidence/protection

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

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

Molly

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