Do people who we meet through internet reliable?

JackRoy, Just like meeting someone for the first time offline or real life, you just cannot really tell as they just come all wrapped up where you will just have to let time reveal who the other party really is. I feel that you just have to be logical and prudent with the way you deal with people online or offline - virtual or real. I am sure you will have to agree with me that there is just an equal amount of risk and possibility for people to be who they are, where it could be bad or unfavorable. It is just really dependent on the other party and as for you, you just have to be on your guard on all times. Take care and hope your friend online really turns out to be a real friend indeed.

I can never trust those people that I meet online. Even friends in the real world where we can set our eyes on them can never be trusted 100%. Though they are real people on the other end of the line but we have to use our common sense to judge whether what they say is true. They can say anything to capture our attention and believing them can lead us to disaster. Know that the cyberworld is polluted with rubbish and there is no where we can differentiate a true or false words spoken from someone in the chatroom.

Are people we meet in any situation reliable? I don't think meeting someone through the net makes them any less trustworthy then those we meet in other ways. And you say "real friend", but what really is a "real friend"? Interaction is still interaction no matter which method we use.

Well , i guess they cannot be termed exactly as reliable , simply because friends are friends . We actually should expect nothing more than moral or emotional support ( coz thats the only thing which will not involve money!). I had a few exceptions though. I have this one guy who became a good online friend of mine via a chat station.Remember , he's a guy and me a guy too . Nah .. we are not gays ! However, the first time we met was for me to borrow money from him ! ( we reside in the same city) . Due to some reasons i couldn't return his money since then , but he has not even asked for the money even once. This is called as a realistic friendship ... expect nothing more than friendship.

We're all the same here. We're all the same people as we are ourselves in the real world. We interact with each other on a virtual level but this doesn't mean that we're not all real people. In the real world, mean people can be mean, and nice people can be really nice to talk to even if it's online. Unless of course if they have a secret identity, but people who are like that only do that to escape. Generally, I say that they can be trustworthy. You can't just trust them overnight, like most relationships we have and developed in the real world :)

Virtual like in real-life, there are both trust and untrustworthy friends. It is perfectly fine to share information but not personal stuff like credit card number etc. Having said that, it is also dangerous to feel for a person online.

Hi Jack, I trust almost everyone around me. Reason - I believe that no stranger would hurt me as I have not done anything wrong to him/her and also I believe that I do not expect anything from strangers. So where comes the question of trustworthiness? When you expect something (you expect from those whom you know) chances of getting cheated or deceived happen. When there are no expectations involved, what harm is there to trust? I understand that these days it is not that easy to trust strangers but then you should always hope that the stranger is not a bully. Humans by default are peaceful and we all are? Aren't We? Cheers, theSids.

Of course not. Even more so when you're on the internet, since what you get are lines of Unicode or html, and voice/video if you're lucky. Just think of it this way... are the people we meet on the street reliable? Sometimes even the people you take the time to build a relationship with in the real world end up betraying your trust. So yeah, keep your guards up but don't be too cynical or rude. There are a lot of wonderful people on the internet too...you just to learn how to sift through all the snuff.

Hi Jack, Of course, people we meet on the net can be trustworthy.We only develop friendly relations with people with whom we feel we share something akin.But one rotten apple can make all the others rot. Therefore, it is generally not advisable to (my theory only) make any attempts to turn these friendships from virtual to real.It's a pity but it's the truth. I'd rather walk away from friendships with 5 "Dr Jekyll"'s if there is the slightest possibility of meeting an "Edward Hyde" on the way. Ciao