Internet Friends

[Nexus]

I was reading a thread here where people were talking about 'mates' and the internet and thought I'd make this topic.

 

How many of you have people you consider good friends that you've met on the internet? What qualifies them as your mates?

 

I make this topic mainly due to the fact I'm going to a forum meetup tomorrow, in London, for six days. I've met some of them before, when we went to a cabin in the woods over Easter, and some I haven't met before.

 

Hopefully I won't get stabbed.

 

I've also met people who I consider close friends on the internet who I won't ever meet. Doesn't mean that they aren't my friend though. When I was growing up (read: 16-21), I had more interaction with people on the internet than I did outside of my room. This may seem odd to some people, but I had horrific social anxiety and it helped me get the social interaction without the face to face bit.

 

I've manned up a bit now, and am much better socially, but the old insecurities are still there!

 

I also remember meeting up with a girl that I met on the internet when I was about 14. She was a girl, but it wasn't that fun.

[Frankie Crisp]

Good little subject.

 

A few years ago I'd have perceived anyone who had internet friends as a bit of a lunctic or sad case. But in recent years, pretty much because of this place, I can totally relate to this subject.

 

I feel I'm very lucky to have a great gang of friends, all of whom I see regularly and a handful are great to talk to when needed. But sometimes it's good to know that there are people who I can talk bollocks to or, more importantly, open up to. I trust my mates implicitly but it can sometimes take someone who you trust but don't see/'know' to get things off your chest without that awkwardness of doing it face-to-face.

 

There are a handful of people on here who I now consider mates, even though I've never met them and in some cases, don't know what they look like. Most of them have helped me more then are probably aware and for that, they hold this weird state of being a good friend for simply listening and/or offering advice.

[Thunderplex]

Good point. The fact that you may never meet these people can liberate the fact that you can be perfectly honest and not really worry about what they may or may not think of you. The anonimity is a really powerfull thing, especially if you have social issues. I have met the occasional person who I have become internet buddies with, and it has varied from becoming real friends to very awkward silences.

[Maverick]

It's somewhat different on here as we don't have people trying to get themselves over with wierd gimmicks or internet personalities so much anymore like the old days, as we've all got older and not many new members have become prominent over the last few years we're mostly just a bunch of 20-35 year olds chatting shite with some wrestling thrown in. Half the people on here probably don't even like wrestling anymore.

[Kookoocachu]

Some of my best friends I've met through the internet. The kind I consider my family. The only thing that sucks about it is when they're far away

[SteelEdge]

Met my first proper girlfriend through the internet. Lived on opposite sides of London (North/South) and lasted nearly 2 years.

 

Made some other proper good friends as well. Some I've met, some I haven't.

[Surf Digby]

I (sort of) met my current girlfriend through the internet. We both took part in one of Spencer Tunick's projects in 2010, but didn't encounter each other, but started talking through the FB page of the event. When a bunch of us met up for a reunion a few months later, we finally met in person, and it evolved from there. There's another dozen or so people from that event that I see several times a year.

 

Likewise, there's a large number of BritWres guys that I was talking to on the internet before meeting them in person.

[PowerButchi]

I've a lot of very good friends from around here (as in my hometown), but I'd consider a lot of people I talk to on here (as in, well, here) very good friends. We talk off the forum, look after each other in times of need. Crikey, only today I was organising drinks with someone from here, and doing the same yesterday. Since I've had some shitpants news recently the outpouring of empathy from people I talk to on here makes it clear to me they're mates. It's not like 1996 when the internet is paedophile grooming central, the internet is now like the pub. And I'm happy that I've met some very good friends on this here forum.

 

And that's what they are. Real friends.

[Chest Rockwell]

Yeah. I guess the difference for me is apart from some chat on twitter there's no one whom I speak to off the forum. A whole lot of stand up motherfuckers though, who I would happily meet for a drink. But I don't think I would described them as 'friends' just now.

[RudoReels]

I've got a few "internet friends" whom I've never met in person before in my life. My best friends "in real life" fall out of touch quite easily but I feel a lot closer to the internet friends. One's on this board and will probably see this, we've been friends for nearly two years or so and quite honestly I feel I can trust him more than I can trust most of my family members. There's a big pond in the way, but I do hope one day I'll make it out to the UK to hang out at a concert or wrestling show with him, or if he makes it over here for WrestleMania or something.

[wrestlescotland]

First met my wife through a wresting forum 9 years ago. Met a few folk that I've originally got to know online and their generally decent folk.

[Magnum Milano]

I've got a few "internet friends" whom I've never met in person before in my life. My best friends "in real life" fall out of touch quite easily but I feel a lot closer to the internet friends. One's on this board and will probably see this, we've been friends for nearly two years or so and quite honestly I feel I can trust him more than I can trust most of my family members.

I'm a bit similar to RudoReels in that I've got one 'internet friend' who I probably trust more than friends who I've known for years. We've never met (though I'm sure one day we will), it's just that we're in completely different parts of the country and she especially lives a pretty busy life. We chat on twitter or by text daily and I was on the phone with her yesterday for well over half an hour. I think the anonymity of the internet does make things easier (especially at first), but she's the one person who I know I can talk about anything with and it's vice versa with her.

[Forrest]

I met the best man for my upcoming wedding on a Metallica forum like 6/7 years ago now, and made a lot of other good friends off it. Also, most of the people I speak to on a day-to-day basis are from Facebook interactions, trying to put them on gigs or putting gigs on with them. I would eventually make most of my contact through face-to-face meetings, but without Facebook, I wouldn't have met any of them. I know one person off this forum in real life and even though he's wrong about everything wrestling, he's still a good pal. The rest of you I regard as that group in school that you'd hang on the fringes of who were mega-cool and occasionally acknowledged you when they needed snout or the rest of their pals were away getting off with girls.

 

I think the thing about the internet is that most of your pals are always there to speak to, so you don't feel the need to speak to them all the time. They're there when you need them, and that's what matters.

[David]

Does anyone else find it weird when you actually hear someone from the forum speaking in "real life"? Someone from here posted a video on their Facebook page and it was strange hearing them talking! They didn't sound at all as I'd expected!

[Surf Digby]

It depends on whether I'm familiar with the accent of where they're from. Guys like Raphly and Lantern sounded pretty much like I expected them too, and Kooks in her vlog isn't too far from what I imagined.

For some reason I always read Richie's posts with a Southern accent in my head, which I know cannot be. I visited Littlehampton earlier this year and found that the local accent was different to how I imagined it, and while it hasn't affected how I read Woy's posts on here, it did make a difference to the dialogue in the 2012 Beach Diaries.