Have you made any good friends? Here on the internet?

[Maniacal Engineer]

Why not both?

Fair enough. If the Internet is used to connect the world's Trolls, then it will effectively cause the massive Flame Wars that will destroy the planet.

I do have a few friends IRL, including my girlfriend and my best friend, but I am grateful to the Internet and this forum in particular for allowing me to settle down a bit and make friends online.

 

[Kit Chan]

My best friends all live overseas.
What I'm after in a friend just isn't found where I live.

 

[Jolty94]

In real life I like to keep a small circle, and be able to count the loyal people on my one hand. In the past when I lived in Cyprus (grew up there for 6 years, am half Greek), I became very involved and "known" so to speak. All the kids on the island that went to the different English private schools that were scattered around, all knew each other, or of each other, and we all hung out at the same places. This was either a great time, or a terrible time in most cases. Facebook was just becoming a massive thing, and we were all caught up in it as teens. Farmville was the place to be and if you didn't harvest your friends crops, they wouldn't talk to you for at least the first two hours of the day. Of course those are small problems, but there were bigger ones like fights, a few people actually lost their lives due to stupidity (we were exposed to clubbing, alcohol and all those things very early at the age of 13 for most of us, as in Cyprus it's generally safe and you don't need ID and things like that to enter a club, it was very free spirited and we had fun), and slowly but surely everyone went in different directions, leaving the island and going to colleges and universities all over the world. I still have most of these people on facebook, but we are never in conversation. When I moved back here to the UK, I was very closed off starting college, I didn't want to get to know people, which was ironic considering I studied Music & performance. Slowly I changed my tune and threw some of the greatest house parties of my time , people would hear of it the next week and ask why they weren't invited, I didn't realise it was such a big deal. Sure, I was considered somewhat popular but it was new to me (growing up in high school there were a few ignorant people who would bully me for "being gay", which at the time, even I had no idea what I was haha, of course now I do.

The point is, after college ended, I cut everyone off from that circle, got my facebook friends list down from 1,525 to 487 in a couple of months. This wasn't me being selfish and closing myself off, it was me weeding out the people who really mattered to me. I would have people who I hadn't spoken to for years, on my facebook, and I thought "why should they get to see what I'm doing with my life and how I enjoy it, they don't talk to me or have an interest", so why should I continue our "friendship" online? It opened my eyes, because now I have a very small circle, I care for them and am there for them whenever they need me, and vice-versa.

I'm not saying don't make lots of friends and expand your social experiences, I'm saying it's a rare thing to connect with someone in certain ways, so cherish the ones that make an impact on your soul and not the ones who will hold you up high when it suits them.
On the actual subject of this thread though ; I would love to make more friends on the internet, especially here on the forums. I only have one friend in real life who is Pokémon-obsessed like me and he lives quite far , so don't be afraid to message me for a potential friendship, I'm a nice guy and can talk about anything!

 

[Sunsette]

I've made lots of strong friendships online, some being people I've known for years now and still talk to almost every day. I've made some mistakes too, but I'd say most of my friendship experiences online have been good. I find it's a bit easier to be more open when you're talking to someone online than face to face (and easier to bail if the conversation goes south...).

 

[Revenge of the Boyega]

I have some really wonderful online friends. I have lost contact with a few, which sucks, but they're really cool, funny and excellent. I've made enemies, but that was fun.

 

[LowlyHumanCub]

I've made quite a few fond friends over the net and through gaming. A lot of them I've known going on like.... 5 years now, and we just kind of act like a big internet family. Like a couple dozen nerd-bros who still game, chat, and shoot the breeze on a regular basis :3

 

[Guzma]

Quite a few on another forum. I don't know anyone here well enough yet to say they're my good friend, but I'm sure it'll happen.

 

[Zexy]

I've made lots of friends, most from Bulbagarden. You all are really cool people
Some are really really close friends, too.

It's much easier for me to make friends online than offline, by the way.

 

[hartyguy]

The good thing about making friends online is that you get to present your ideal version more readily that in person. I can also take my time to articulate my thoughts.
However, I cant say I have made any real friends online since my teen years.

 

[PinkIceFox]

I only have two friends, both of which are online. I've known one since I was about 12, and the other since I was around 16. I'm 26 now, and dating the friend I've known the longest.

 

[Flower]

I've made tons and tons of internet friends! The majority, if not all, being good friends. I've had a bit of a bumpy time in the past with most, so the ones that have stuck with me through all of it are who I consider my good friends. =) I don't tend to stick to one place where the majority of my friends are either; my friends are from all around, like DeviantART, other forums, Skype, Showdown!, etc. <33

 

[Serpentsounds]

My first groups of close online friends came from my early days of using the Psypoke forums and chats, a whopping 10 years ago. Many of them I still talk to on a semi-daily basis. A few years ago, a large group of the staff crew all went on a group trip to Cedar Point. That was my first online meetup experience, and I really had a blast.

I have another close group of friends that consists of people I've met in different online games over the years. I kept in long term contact with some of them, and consequently became friends with some of their friends, and we eventually formed a (somewhat malleable) gaming circle, that was initially a Skype group and now bases its operations on my private Mumble server. I've known some of these people for over 5 years and would consider them as close, if not closer, than many of my local IRL friends.

Part of the reason for that is probably that as I'm pretty busy with work these days, and I work 2nd shift, I normally don't have time to just go out and spend time with people. When I do, there will normally be a scheduling conflict because of my hours. But I have a computer conveniently located in my room, and groups of people from various places who sleep at various times are just a touch away. It's much easier to jump in to an activity with them than it is to futilely attempt to make plans with people to physically hang out. So, I find myself spending considerably more time with my online friends than my IRL friends these days.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention, there are some losers on the Bulbagarden IRC chat that I sometimes talk at. They're tolerable, I guess...

 

[Rainami]

Literally all of the, like, six relevant friends I have are from bmgf. Well, one is from another forum. Would be two, but the other guy I don't talk to nearly as much as I'd like to any more...I have a few irl friends but I'm not currently seeing them at all, and I don't talk to them on skype that much. So they're more along the lines of acquaintances until further notice

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

Yeah, I used to make quite a few of them back when I was a teenager. I've never quite had real life friends. It's really difficult for someone for me to socialize. They were the only source of positivity that I had in my life. Sadly, those friendships fell by the wayside in various ways, most of them rather painful. I don't make friendships really anymore nowadays. Rarely leave the house and was never one to make real life friends, and I find the internet social landscape to be more and more incomprehensible to me the older I get with all these weird social media things that are the thing. (I've always been a forum girl.) Also, I pretty much have lost patience for the internet's penchant for immature teenage drama a lot of the time.

BUT! I have a more recent one I made back in 2012, who is my longest lasting friend so far and the only friend I have nowadays. Thankfully, I seriously I doubt he's going anywhere, because... well, he kind of moved in with me and we're married now. We've been living together for three years. So, yeah. :3 What a great guy, y'know? He drove all the way from Arizona to Florida just to be with me. I feel he's the only person who truly understands me. He's also my first and only positive and stable friendship in real life.

Of course, that sort of thing is really rare. Whether online or in real life. So I feel truly lucky. But I really am glad the internet exists or that would not have happened and I'd be way worse off.

 

[Pkm Trainer Lou]

I don't have many friends IRL, mostly because I'm VERY shy and prefer quality over quantity... funny thing is, I have only acquintences OL because of just that, like, I'm shy and introvert EVEN with people I can't see. Fallout wiki is where I have the most "friends", how silly is that?

 

[gentlefeather]

Most of my friends were made in real life. I've made a lot of friends online, but most of them don't come online anymore. I'd only say about 10 of them are good friends.

 

[Freesia]

I have a decent amount of online friends, and all it really takes to be a good friend is to talk often, and have at least a few similar interests. I have a few good friends on this forum and a few on other forums as well. I love having conversations, especially with people who know how to keep a discussion going for a long time. One of my biggest hobbies is to talk to my friends, and make new friends. IRL I'm a bit shy, so it's easier for me to make friends online than in person, but I have made plenty of friends in person as well especially during middle and high school.

 

[Giles]

I've made friends on the internet but I wouldn't say good friends

 

[Lylian]

I have a chat group I 'hang out' with pretty often. Those are friends.

 

[Stitsworth]

I've got two good friends IRL, none OL. I just recently got into the whole forum thing and being military it's hard to keep steady relationships with everyone constantly coming and going. But, like many of you have said before, I'm all about quality or quantity. I mostly lurk on here lol, I don't post a lot so if anyone ever wants to talk, just hit me up!