How many internet friends do you have? A lot? Few? None? My understanding of this is that many folks correspond with many as friends, though they do not know those friends. I want to become involved, but am reluctant to reveal much to such friends. Do you do this? Is it dangerous? Frank
Facebook may refer to them as "friends" but unless I know them, I might have them on my friends list, but they are not friends. The Internet hasn't changed the definition of that word for me. Several of the people I have on my Facebook friends list are friends, some of whom I have known since grade school, others are relatives, former students, classmates, coworkers, and other acquaintances, while others are people whom I have known only online. Some people turn out to be who they seem to be online, others not so much. It's hard for me to consider someone a friend if I haven't met them though. A potential friend, maybe.
When I had Facebook all my friends were just that friends or family. I refused to have anyone I did not know personally. Forums again I would say not friends, Maybe internet buddies. To pass the time of day and chat and exchange views. Surely depending on circumstances your friends are in the real world. I just feel you don't really know who you are talking to these days. However, I did meet a friend of a friend in Malaysia a few years back. A delightful chap who I used as a guide in Kuala Lumpa. We are still friends. There are people I have known who have gone onto develop firm friendships via a forum. To meet up and have a coffee.
I don't have any friends that I met on forums anymore...NOT ONE. They're all blocked in some way, either on FB or phone number. It took years but I realized the games they play because I played them too. One minute you're the one that's talking about someone with the group, next minute you're the one they are talking about. You don't know these people at all and most are great liars. As a person who knows @Frank Sanoica ....I wouldn't get involved with anyone....trust me on this. I even offered Ken my password so he gets to understand what is really going on in PMs.. he refused it. Ive been guilty in them also but I was willing to let him see what I said too. Although I don't agree with Ken in everything, he's the only one I trust and I'd send him a friend request on Facebook but he has too many. Actually I'm just kidding because I'm down to just real people as friends on FB and pretty close to deleting my acct. I also regret losing friends that just because everyone disliked on another forum, I liked her at first. We had a lot in common except for politics. When she joined here I was sent in to attack her also...I think she deleted her acct here. Now I can just sit back and enjoy the show ....and since I know what was said, I find it funny that now They're kissing up to the same people that they made fun of earlier. The dynamics will soon shift again....they always do. So Frank, after reading all I said....I say, stay away from anybody on a forum. I hope Ken doesn't delete this because I didn't name names and spoke in generalities but it's the truth....and if anybody except some men say it's not true...that's a lie. You were banned on another forum and I never knew you there but I already heard things through the grapevine. I'll never PM on here again but I have your email and I think you had mine so I won't say anything else....I always get in trouble for being too open. In fact I have most people blocked on here from sending me a PM and I did send a happy birthday today to someone so I hope they got it. I do have a few true friends from forums but these go way back...like 10 years and they are ones I met in person or emailed or spoke on the phone too and the ones that I've spoken to on the phone were my Canadian friends. I have never called anyone on here but I have been called....
Don't understand this 'game playing' even though I've seen it many times Won't get involved with it, just irritates me Seems all forums are the same - very sad and a great pity Forums have taught me not to trust - again very sad Best to just have some fun with those that want the same, that way we can just forget our troubles for a while
Sadly even men play the game but there are a few on here that don't and that's all I have left. It is refreshing though to get away from it all unless you keep being hounded by people. I could write a book about the "Walter Mitty" character that started it all but I won't.
@Frank Sanoica , I believe that you can make good friends online. I went trough a very bad melt down when I lost my youngest son and my husband in the year 2014. If it had not been for several online friends, I don't know that I would have been able to pull myself out of the deep depression I had plummeted into. I've even traveled to other states to meet some of these wonderful people. They turned out to be such caring people that they will always be in my heart. If I fall back even a little into the old depression they are there for me. You are one of the people I feel that I can socialize online with, and I've learned that the majority of people are good at heart, if you just give them a chance. At our age it is hard to find others that share our feelings, thoughts, and dreams. No where else can I find so many people of my age group to share my day to day thoughts with. I've been harmed more by people that I've gotten to know in "real" life than anyone online. It's much harder to protect yourself from those that can put themselves in your face than those on a computer. I never wish to become so jaded that I close myself off to the possibility of meeting potential friends online. For every unkind person that I've come across online, I meet a dozen that were worth the effort to get to know.
We chose our online "friends" very carefully. Some we have "unfriended" because of their language. It use to be on FB, when a person was "unfriended", that person was aware of it, but not anymore. That's good because some people who got "unfriended" would get upset and wonder "why".
I totally agree with what @Ina I. Wonder wrote, and she is one friend that I found on the internet, and we have become close to each other in spirit and in our hearts, even though we live far apart in real life. She doesn't know it (or maybe she does?) but I was thinking of her when I chose my avatar. I have a lot of close friends in real life, many that I have known since childhood and school days; but I moved out here to Alabama, and no longer live close to anyone of my oldtime friends and family except for my daughter, Robin. Most of the people that I chat with on a daily basis are my good friends here online. Even though we won't be the kind of friends to go out yard-saling together, we still can share our little hapinesses, and even our sorrows with each other here on our special forum. There are other forums that I belong to, and enjoy mainly because they are about topics that I am interested in; but this is the place where I feel "at home" and come to sit and visit, because @Ken Anderson has made this the kind of place we can feel comfortable to do that, and @Joe Riley has always had the welcome mat out at his coffee shop and other ventures here. It is great that we have people from all around the different parts of the world here, and the pictures we share of what is local to us, are pictures of places that many of us would never get to see in person; so the virtual tours we get are also an awesome part of this forum. As Joe and Ken have said, not all of us will agree, but we can just ignore those people and let them find their own niche here, too. Finding the beautiful roses is worth chancing the thorns.
I'm done trusting anybody on a forum. You do everything they beg of you for years and then all turn on you in a blink of an eye. Be careful who you trust because the sweetest person isn't that sweet behind the scenes. I know you don't believe me and I really don't care anymore, it was hard if you were friends with someone and the group didn't approve of that person but that's all in my past and I don't own anybody any allegiance. Yes, even the nicest people say very ugly things behind your back. I've said them and so has most everybody on here but I don't care.
And with that lie I'm out of here...I haven't even told half the people what youve said about them. Ken can ban me now so I can speak freely.
Well its certainly not my style Chrissy, if I have something to say, I will do so to the person in question I can relate to what you say and even though we harden up a bit, it still hurts when you find you were wrong about someone Seems to go with forum life, so a different approach is needed if you want to share in a forum
It's just so frustrating when you see the bold faced lies....I really wish Ken would read the PMs....they're all still there...but in my email also because I had it set that way. And it was one of the supposed nicest people that dared harass me with a call that I declined then blocked. @Ken Anderson ..please delete my acct because I can't take the bs from so called Christians ....really not a good example.
I'm sorry to hear this Chrissy - can't you just ignore now, its not doing you any good Put it behind you and start afresh - would you do that Chrissy