Internet friendships: are they different?

[Superpredator]

What I mean is... do you consider your internet friends different from your "real life" friends?

I don't. Just like with my every day, "real-life" friends, I have friends that are closer and ones that are more "acquaintances". But the good friends I made online are in the same league as the ones I made in person... Some I'm even closer to than the real-life ones. :D

What are your thoughts on this?

[purplehairedwonder]

There are a few of my internet friends that I consider close friends while there are others that I'm not as close with. I talk with some of them enough to consider them good friends. I talk to many of my online friends more than many of my real life friends anymore >.<

I think the fact that I've never met any of my online friends makes it a little harder to classify them, but I feel like I know some of my internet buds well enough that it doesn't matter.

[Sandoz]

Yes, I believe there's a difference between my "real friends" and my "e-friends". That's not to say that internet relationships are meaningless--I have a few online buddies that I've known for years--but at the end of the day I don't think that exchanging text through a computer screen is really the same thing as seeing, speaking, or interacting with a "live" person.

Maybe I'm just incredibly jaded, but I always keep in mind that I'm only seeing one side of the person I'm talking to online--the side they want me to see. I'm not saying that behind everyone on the internet there lurks a liar, fraud, potential rapist and/or psychopath, but even in less severe cases it's often difficult to really "know" that online friend.

[One Radical Dude]

It depends on how well you know these people, and if you get an opportunity to meet any of them. If you get to know them well enough and maybe meet them, it may be just as good as any solid local or offline friend. You have good friends and bad ones, both online and offline. Some of my closest friends are people I met from the Internet.

[PRdude]

There are internet friends, both past and present, that I'm too close to, to consider my friendships with them different than if they weren't friends I knew from the internet. Especially when you've even met some of them in person.

[Tash]

I can't say I've ever known anyone online whom I consider to be my freind. (I don't use e-mail for anything other than registering, and I havn't used an IM program in years)

Unless MMORPGs count. In that case, I have quite a few people I value as freinds, but they don't seem to consider online freindships to be of much value, so it's hard to call them freinds. I'm beginning to question if freindship can really exist online.

[Kaoru]

No. Internet friends are not real friends and they don't really care about you (unless you're talking about internet boy/girlfriends, but even then it's different). You don't know and can't tell how they feel or are they bluffing etc. Focus on making friends in real world if you need them. The only time it could work on the net would be if you meet in person and continue meeting up like that.

[MahouShoujo13]

Well, somehow, in a way, they are different, in a way that you can't talk to them face to face, see them almost every other day, hear their voice and their tone, and their facial expressions and body language. In the internet it's hard to say whether or not they mean something, that they mean what they say, or just bluffing and lying to you.
Considering my internet friends as "close friends" to me really depends on the person. Out of the friends I made on the internet, there is only very few of them I consider as close friends and in league with my real-life friends. And even then, I'm closer to my internet friends sometimes. -_-

[J'onn J'onzz]

What are "real life friends?"

Edit: And how is the poster of this banned already?

[Zeonic Freak]

Yes, I believe there's a difference between my "real friends" and my "e-friends". That's not to say that internet relationships are meaningless--I have a few online buddies that I've known for years--but at the end of the day I don't think that exchanging text through a computer screen is really the same thing as seeing, speaking, or interacting with a "live" person.
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Same, its kinda like "oh hey im going out with some of my friends for a while, ill see you later" and you run upstairs only to log into your AIM and talk to people for that time. I like the fact that you can chill and hang at the mall or see a movie than being cramped in your room talking to someone you dont "really" know.

Its a much better experiance to physicly socalize with someone...

Ive accually know a few people i have been friends with for a long time on the internet, and my longest friendship is with this girl ive knows since i was 13, and we meet on the net, and i went to see her a few summers ago in Conn, i think were planning on her coming to see me when i have the local Animazement convention in my area.

I think the only people i know on TZ is Joshwaka and Duelist, and Jonn when we have those TZ chats every now and then...

[Kagetsu]

(Not sure about posting in a thread with a Banned starter, but seems ok)

Taking forums as what they are, people of similar interests stating opinion and sharing online "finds". Yes there are friends. It's not hard to notice other members that often quote and add to my comments. (PM's are even stronger indicators) I often consider them forum friends and look for their posts above others. It doesn't take long to stop reading other posts when your own go totally unnoticed.

I enjoy the happy response from newbies when they get their first pm. It not only tells them they are noticed, it gives them more posting security that they are becoming part of the group.

I've moved three times as people I liked reading have left forums, and am currently checking to see if I like people at two new ones.

Of course I'm not likely to say online "I'm going to the mall, meet me". I don't even tell people who know me my online screen name.

On the flip side of the idea, it doesn't take more than one or two verbal attacks to discourage someone, and often takes the support of another member to keep them around.

[J'onn J'onzz]

(Not sure about posting in a thread with a Banned starter, but seems ok)

Taking forums as what they are, people of similar interests stating opinion and sharing online "finds". Yes there are friends. It's not hard to notice other members that often quote and add to my comments. (PM's are even stronger indicators) I often consider them forum friends and look for their posts above others. It doesn't take long to stop reading other posts when your own go totally unnoticed.

I enjoy the happy response from newbies when they get their first pm. It not only tells them they are noticed, it gives them more posting security that they are becoming part of the group.

I've moved three times as people I liked reading have left forums, and am currently checking to see if I like people at two new ones.

On the flip side of the idea, it doesn't take more than one or two verbal attacks to discourage someone, and often takes the support of another member to keep them around.

My first PM was a warning.

[HellCat]

No. Internet friends are not real friends and they don't really care about you (unless you're talking about internet boy/girlfriends, but even then it's different). You don't know and can't tell how they feel or are they bluffing etc. Focus on making friends in real world if you need them. The only time it could work on the net would be if you meet in person and continue meeting up like that.

Wow...you're a loveable bundle of cynicism, aren't ya?

[Mr. Manager]

Edit: And how is the poster of this banned already?His user name is "Superpredator" and he made a thread about "internet friends".

[Juu-kuchi]

His user name is "Superpredator" and he made a thread about "internet friends". Check and mate.

He probably then started to PM people who responded to this thread by asking A/S/L questions and offering them Mallowmars and back massages. :evil: