The Depth of Online Friendship?

First, i can't find any depth in online frindship, you only like the part of personality that appearson the chat window, but if you met the real person, live or stayed longer time face to face, you will find that many other parts of his or her personality is bad, and you will not call it friendship. Second, most of people on the internet who make friendships, are likely to be a net-worm (not a book-worm) about the second question: ofcourse there are many of them but you must choose the friend as they are the mirror of you, don't say they are childhood friendship, but say is this personality is (kind, creative, lovely,......) that i can live with him/her if anything happened (hard situations) if you can withstand the livivng with this person "in your mind" you can make him a friend, other than that (persons that only friends to get out together, party together,....) they can't be real friends........ thats for me! about the third question, yes, but i feel that i must help the online friend when he consults me or tell me about his problems, and i also like to advice them, that doesn't mean that i am only advicing ;p but i have feelings and emotions towards them also! but the true emotions are for the real "flesh" friends !!!

i was called a silly and a fool for to write mails regularly to online friends who are as far away as in china. but wht i liked most of these online friends was that we shared good rapport. and we allways gave nice and relevant advices to each other. and allways i feel proud to have friends in each nook and corner of the world though i have not seen them. matter of fact we are allways in touch and line.most of them are like an extended family.

I wonder if 30 years ago, people laughed if somebody had a penpal? I don't think they did because it was nice to exchange culture and your lives. It's just because there is so much junk and so many creeps on the internet that people don't give it much credit. Your friends are wrong! Lets be friends! Kumiko xo

I've had this debate many a time & I believe you can connect with people by the mind on here. Another analogy is, think back to the past wars, how many love story have you heard, where people become pen friends & correspond by pen & paper, develop a friendship, even end up getting married? The internet is the digital version of that too me, it makes the world much smaller & people can meet friends that without this technology they never would have :)

I have lots of offline friends and some of them are quite close to me,meaning we share secrets and ask advices when we have problems..sometimes i am much more open with my online friends than the real ones i have.

i don think you need to meet sumone to validate the frenship. more over i think one can make out who is a real friend ,you just need to observe the person. I have many online friends who are very dear to me, who have supported me in thick and thin. I love my online friends.

well then I must be silly too because I have many really good friends online some have even been to visit my home , I can chat for ages to them and feel verry close to some of them I have never met yet but hope to some day , be careful but enjoy xx

Friendship can change anything in this world. The online friends in chatting may cheat you because they dont have the reality to say the truth. So becareful while your are chatting with them.

Yes, my dear, and I am an old woman. I do care about online people. I love them while I have them, and I miss them when they are gone. Some of them I have addresses for and I write to them. Some of them I have phone numbers for and we chat (it's always great to put a voice with a person). I have never had the fortune to meet an online friend though. Attachments are not silly. People come into our lives for a reason; and I don't think the manner in which they enter makes a difference ~Donna

I have online friend for almost 12 years, with some of them I met/see in reality later, with some of - I didn't meet yet, but they are a part of my life. I love them, I trust them and we help each other. Yes, I was called 'silly' or 'childish', heard the questions 'how can you trust them?' and so on. YES! I am childish but I have them and I am happy I met so great, interesting people in my life, people from the over the world. I am lucky.:)

I think anybody can be anybody's best friend. It's all in the feeling. It doesn't matter if you've met online, in a bar or even on the telephone. I remember speaking on the telephone with my best friend's girlfriend. I liked her very much and we are friends to this day. I think that sometimes, online relationships are even stronger than real life ones, because you don't judge the person by his looks, just by his character and words.

I know what you mean so well. I have 2 or 3 online friends to whom i have confessed things that i have never told anybody irl, including my close friends here where i live. Each friend plays a role in your life, no matter if it's online or irl, and each person is able to help you one way or another, listening, inviting you out when u're down etc....those who simply say "online is not the same" simply don't know what true friendship here is....obviously online has physical limitations, but feelings are not limited like our bodies so i think it's perfectly possible to have a great serious friendship online.

i'm going to tell you something that a psychologist told me a while back. Blood does not make someone "family". Your family is made up of the people that love you and care about you and what happens to you. If they are online, it makes them no less your family. Sometimes, they can be closer and care more than people that share the same blood. i was getting harassed, well, cussed a lot because of my online friendships. Love is Love. It does not make a difference to your heart whether they are in front of you or a name on the computer screen. Friends are too valuable to give up so don't let anyone discourage you from your online friends

I have over 8 years made many very good friends on the internet, i use my pc to a conection to the outside woeld i am a single mum with 2 kids and my kids come first so i rarely go out, my online friends are always there for me quite a few i have had the luck to met and they are exactly how i expected them to do, you carry on huni

I don't think it invalidates it. I think it can limit it to some degree - you can't know the person as well becuase you only know them from how they present themselves. That doesn't make the friendship less real, however.

you need not meet someone to become friends. i think its better to make online friends. why? one, they cant harm you, nor object ever so often on what you do. two, online friends rarely require "maintenance". i mena, they dont demmand too much attention. three, they dont get to know your bad sides, and vice versa. theres more to this you know... ^__^ what do you think? ^__^

i totally feel it is great to have an online friendship and i feel it is not necessary to know someone in the flesh to know them.there are so many things we learn from friends online .Like for instance we can make friends almost over any part of the world and learn their culture and lifestyle.people may call me crazy but i do indeed know the value of our friendship online and how much i mean to them or they to me.so i would just ignore anyone who ridicules me of my online friends.

no. they are wrong.. sometimes online friends are much true and cares for you than friends who are always around but didn't cares for yoo at all.

I have met several online friends and they've become great friends, I also met a lot in my groups within the paranormal community. Online friends can be a blessing,but watch out for the few nuts as there are some in need of mental help!

Everyone around me calls me just that. Silly and childish and overinvolved in the computer. But I feel that friendships can sometimes be better online since we are not judged by our looks. Things said are more from the heart rather than any other external motivation.