How Useful Have "Online Friends" Been to You?

Lately it's been VERY useful on my end. :biggrin: I have been online for about 14 years now (first got on in Dec '96.) In all that time I've been on countless chats, forums, social network sites, etc. and had many online friends....some who I never meet nor even knew what they looked like. Online friends come and go....but oddly enough you CAN get attached to them and they can be quite beneficial.

Many online friends have saved me money and shared inside inside info with me, given me tips, life advice, etc.

For example, one female I talked to told me how to make my whites whiter when doing laundry. Another time when I called myself "cleaning" my hard drive, I made a mistake and deleted an important system file and as a result 50% of my PC wouldn't work (ironically I was still able to get online).....I didn't have my original boot disk....and so one of my msg board buddies (who I never met in person) who had the same system uploaded a copy of the file and emailed it to me.

So basically what I'm asking is....how beneficial/important has the Internet been to you when it comes to making new friends?

I've been friends with one woman for over 4 years now, we met because we both write fanfiction stories and we reviewed each other's work. 'Meeting' her has been a big relief to me because unlike most people who say you can talk to them about anything, she actually is someone you can bring up any subject and she doesn't snipe you because it's the 'wrong' thing or whatever. She's the only friend I do have who I never feel I have to watch what I say for any reason, and I think everybody needs a friend they can be that open with.

I have online friends that have been very helpful to me in the computer area, a lot of times when I got stuck with something, they had the knowledge to help me through a lot of dilemas, especially when I got my new computer. Some of them we just talk about things in general and share some life experiences with. We joke around and its like we know each other for years and have never actually met! One online friend I have recently been able to talk about personal things that I have never been able to share with IRL friends and its great!! I really enjoy my online friends and I have learned a lot about people from just being online and on message boards.

I have a small handful of Internet friends who I have been talking to for over a decade. A few who live out of town, who I have met when they either come to this area or I go to theirs. Even though you have to be careful, the Internet has become so much a part of daily life that you sometimes have to consider it as just as legitimate live communication. Some of my online friends are a bit more genuine than some of the friends I have in, terrible as that may sound.

Other than the general discussions that I have with people on the forums or boards that I post or have posted on, I can't really say that I have any reliable 'online' friends whom I just go to whenever I have a problem. I've met some people from here......CoNsC1EnCe from the old AOL boards is actually a good friend of mine now (I should invite her to the forum) and the other ones that I have met have become pretty good friends of mine as well. So they're reliable because I've actually met, know and talk to them. But any folks that I just chat with strictly online and I have never met? Nah. Don't have any of those.

I think that my online friendships have been so valuable. What I like best is that I "meet" people who are different than I and so often I see things in a different way when people share their perspectives. But just in general, I have been helped out by just asking general questions or even personal advice.

I'm sometime weary of the REALNESS of people online and who they say they are, but that's just something you gotta accept. The best thing about online "friends" is the perspective they give is usually less bias and more frank because no one is worrying about live confrontation.