http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6158935.stm

I find this article rather interesting. Many of my 'rl' friends cannot even start to understand why I 'waste' my time in Lusternia, nor can they understand the validity of the friendships I've formed here.

Ok... firefox sucks. I had like four paragraphs of stuff written here... and somehow the stupid firefox decided to refresh the stupid page and I lost it all.



Anyway, to sum up. Yes. I value my online friends as much as my RL ones.

Stupid freaking idiot browser...

Good thing too.

Which? That all my writing had been wasted or that I value my online friends?

Uh...neither. Don't worry.

I mean that it's being recognised! I'm in a pretty lame situation (which is entirely my own fault) with respect to all that, but those friends I do have online are definitely "valid" or whatever. More so than friends I had at school were.

Try http://www.opera.com/ - my online friend o-o

I wish you were my friend

Ah! Sorry.

Online friends are completely valid! In fact, I've several online friends I feel closer to than friends I can physically poke with my finger. Several of my 'RL' friends started out as online friends and then we met and continue to get together and hang out. Some of my online friends I'll prolly never meet in person cause they live in other countries, but that doesn't change the fact that they're my friend.

Yeah, that's the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Some of my online friends are more important than real life friends.

I am curious.

Do online friends help you in really tough times the way real friends do?

For example, my friend got into a fight with his parents way back when, and stayed at my house for a few days cause he couldn't stand staying in his own place.

what about borrowing money?

I know I have heard a of a few people who flew across the world to live with people who they knew from achaea or whatever, but those stories always seem to involve the opposite sex.

And a more relevant question perhaps.

How many of your online friends would you let stay with you while they visited the area you lived in, with the expressed purpose of visiting other people. (I've been doing that for my friends quite a lot lately now that people are getting married and what not.)

I've had an online friend wire me money when I was in a rather dire financial snafu before.

And when my mother passed away, I sat up all night chatting on AIM with another of my online friends cause at the time it 'hit me' it was the middle of the night and I didn't want to call anyone and wake them up and my friend had to get up and go to work the next day but she stayed up chatting with me all night anyway and wouldn't let me convince her to go to bed instead. I've never actually met her in person either.

I think online friends are every bit as 'there for you' as non-online friends can be. It just depends on the person. I mean, some friends are willing to do that sort of thing and some aren't. That's true for friends you know in person and friends you know online, I think.

I've flown to meet online friends before too... And the friend I moved to Arkansas to work with, I'd first met her online and then flew up to meet her and her family twice before on Memorial Day weekends.

1. Might not be able to stay at someone's place, but sometimes when others don't, someone who happens to be an online friend can be more than willing to listen to your problems.
2. Money probaby is a no, but people lend money bought credits here all the time
3. Well, I might fly in to bug Noola when I really feel like tormenting and stalking her

Wonder why though "Pen pals" are considered more valid friends than online friends... it's just a different method of communication.

And I wish I was Aiakon's friend, too :,(

Ooooh! If you do, wait till after the New Year. I'll have furniture then!



Me three!

I never found pen pals to be a valid relationship to replace "friends." I always thought they were just exercises in diversity training

I think of online friends like vitamin supplements. They are good for you, but can't replace real food.

I'm not good with people in reality (have a fear of people actually, due to a bad past) so an online medium where I'm not seeing people but can still interact has been very helpful for me.

If I've ever been tight for money, online friends have offered to wire me some. I never borrowed any, but the offer was made.

My online friends have helped me with depression and suicide, while my RL friends at the time abandoned me because I was too depressing to be around. I have a couple friends online that I've kept for over a decade, while in reality they don't usually seem to last longer then a year.

It's probably my own fault, I will admit that, but I find online friendships to be more valid then real ones due to personal experiences.

I don't think you can compare them, and online friends can't make up for real life friends. My oppinion used to be different, and I admit because of online friends I've changed as a person, but real life friends are the most important to me in the end. It is however nice when someone you meet online becomes a real life friend! And to not sound all bad, some of my online friends I'd never want to lose because I enjoy talking to and playing with them.

May seem a little weird but at times my Internet Friends are more caring towards me, and understanding of me than my Real Life Friends. Only really two exceptions to this, a friend that plays Lusternia now and Narid.

And I personally hope to meet a few of them, if they ever care to meet me.

Just for clarification, I'm going based off the article, where an online friend is somebody who is your friend in a virtual world.

I find "suddenly disappearing" friends to be an issue in the online world that I never really had to deal with in reality And to me, that issue leads to an inherently lower level of trust, that sometimes is overcome, but more often isn't.

Like Noola said, you can have money wired to you from pretty much anywhere, although it might be somewhat more involved when it comes to transferring money internationally.

As for staying at someone else's place, there is actually a whole community of people who meet through the Internet just to stay at each other's places while visiting other cities.