Have you ever made close online friends?

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1-Man-on_A-mission@reddit

I met someone from Gaza a few years ago, he was a sound guy.

Younger than me, loved his music. I even video called his family etc, young man with younger sisters etc. His mum passed a while ago and his dad was old. His older brother got killed years ago.

He would message me sometimes randomly, how I'm getting on etc. He was a friend, and never asked me for charity etc. The smallest simplest things in life gave him joy, like feeding a cat - in a way I envied him but in a way I hated myself for complaining about shit when I should in fact be so grateful.

Still I sent him a bit of money sometimes, usually on his birthday etc or Eid.

Nothing major, just £20/£30 here and there but it meant the world to him.

I've had radio silence from him since the recent genocide. I spoke with him until around 6 weeks into the conflict, and after that. Nothing.

I've tried his Facebook, his email. I tried to find someone from his neighbourhood - but his neighbourhood doesn't even exist anymore.

I think he's dead.

His last conversation with me was how he just wants his little sister's to grow up without the sounds of bombs, tanks and airstrikes. He couldn't sleep, no1 could. Charging his phone was becoming a problem and yeah - not heard from him since.

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Sea-Nail-2292@reddit

honestly my gaming buddies know me better than most people i see irl every day

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Immediate_Machine_92@reddit

I was close friends for several years with someone I met online. It was slightly contrived - I deliberately searched for local people - but it was a genuine friendship, no sneaky wannabe romantic undertones, and it came to a natural end. I wouldn't go to their funeral now but that's because we're no longer on speaking terms.

The furthest I've gone to meet an online friend in person was from the UK to the USA. We organised it in a very safe way, met in a public place until we were comfortable with each other etc, and I had alternative plans in case they didn't show up for any reason, but it all went really well.

I have other online friends who I'm very close with, who I've met in person once or twice. I don't make a big distinction between people who matter to me online and 'real-life' friends, except that I'm more likely to meet for coffee with someone 3 miles away than someone 3,000 miles away.

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HirsuteHacker@reddit

I struggled a lot with depression and social anxiety as a teenager, so I made a few really close online friends when I was about 15. I've spent thousands of hours doing shit with them over the years. A few months ago a bunch of them came over for my wedding. Meant a lot to me to have them there.

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ZeldaFan158@reddit

Maybe not to the point of traveling abroad just yet, but I was able to make a lot of meaningful friendships online during my teens. At first, it was just me bonding with a mutual friend of my real life best friend, then I got introduced to his friends, and eventually started branching out into further online communities. Might seem cliche, but a lot of those interactions turned me into the person I am today.

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chindilani@reddit

Yeah, I have three online friends I’ve known for 20+ years who I consider as close as irl friends.

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BoysenberrySevere224@reddit

Yes but when I met her IRL kinda gave far-right vibes 😅😅😅😂😂😂 I don’t think you can truly know someone until you’ve met them in person

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Optimal_Collection77@reddit

I once pulled a girl who worked on the AOL helpline. Turns out she was in Ireland and I was in the UK.

Eventually we met

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LegendEater@reddit

I made some friends nearly 10 years ago via speedrunning Pokémon that, other than COVID, have met up at least once a year every since. There are 15 of us who meet, and hundreds more online that we're friends with.

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Majick_L@reddit

Not as close as that but I’m a music producer and none of my friends in real life here are into music like I am, so I have a couple of collaborators in Canada and London who I made albums with, and they have become friends and my go to guys for discussing hip hop news with etc. One of them sent me a hoodie and we talked about meeting up in London, the other guy in Canada has lent me money before when I was in a bind, and is sending me a vinyl of his new album next week for free, and we chat all the time

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GianantonioRandone@reddit

Yeah quite a few. One of them gave me a tour of something cool af that wouldn't be normally open to the public.

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JC3896@reddit

Many. I was part of a gaming group for around 11 years on and off, at it's peak there was about 200 active members (this was a regiment in the Napoleonic wars DLC for mount and blade warband). Some of those guys I was very close with.

More recently a bunch of people from a discord server I am in came to my wedding.

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glowworn@reddit

Next month I’m going to the wedding of a close friend I made from tumblr when I was in college, way back in the day

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Iamblaine1983@reddit

To be honest, I wouldn't be the person I am today without the random people I met online.

Back in the day when Internet forums where popular and it wasn't all just Facebook groups, there was this Glasgow based forum that was really popular in Scotland.

Without that forum I wouldn't have met the people that encouraged me to take the train to Glasgow and go out in the city.

Wouldn't have met the woman that became one of my closest friends.

Wouldn't have met the people that encouraged me to start a band, hell, wouldn't have met my band mates.

I was just a guy into alternative music living in a shit hole town where being different meant you were a target.

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Bazzlekry@reddit

Yes, quite a lot of my friend group I met online in 1996. Been in a relationship with one of them since 1997, and married to him since 2003.

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Jacks_Journey@reddit

Yes I’ve made a few from YouTube

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serpentandivy@reddit

yeah i met my ex on twitter and still talk to a lot of people i’ve followed on there for like 15 years.

just last year i met a pal on a facebook group.

considering the rise of technology, it’s not surprising these days to form close relationships in online spaces.

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mellymeep@reddit

Yes the two most important people in my life, my wife and my best friend I met online near enough 20 years ago. That was when it was viewed as kind of weird to have online relationships but now we all date via apps.

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AnonymousTimewaster@reddit

I did when I was the only person in my friend group to have Xbox Live

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PhantomFairy@reddit

One. 'Met' on an early pre-forum kind of chat group in 1995. Turned out they used to live half an hour from me.

We were online friends until about 2005, when he went travelling. Then picked up again around 2010 and became fairly close friends until 2023. When he completely cut me dead - blocked me on every platform without ever telling me why. It hurt like hell.

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Significant-Key-762@reddit

Yes. I've been "online" for 30+ years and made many real-life friends in that time, and I sadly went to a funeral for one of those friends a few years ago.

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Scarred_fish@reddit

Yes, back in the early days when the Internet was more social, some I've spoken to for 30 plus years now.

It's important to remember though, they are never real. Even if you have met them you have no idea what they are actually like in the same way you with proper friends, so there can never be any real connection.

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Sad-Peace@reddit

I have made a lot of online turned offline friends over the past 15 years, although due to distance we still mainly talk online. I have been invited to their weddings but no funerals fortunately.

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Accomplished-Map1727@reddit

Yes, through work.

We started speaking every day on the phone about work. We became friends through our chats. We both live at either end of the country (UK).

We became really good friends and eventually met up after 5 years. We've just been away on a holiday together.

Both of us are male and in our mid 40s. We both have our own families.

Sounds really weird, but if you told me the 2 older guys could meet on the Internet and become great friends, go on holiday together, I'd of thought it was really odd.

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Bigglez1995@reddit

Most of my friends are friends I met online. Also met my ex through World of Warcraft. I've met some of them in person, even attended a wedding and been to their home.

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BaseballFuryThurman@reddit

Quite a few. Was very introverted as a teenager. In fact introverted probably doesn't quite cover it. Made some friends through Xbox Live and various forums, Facebook groups etc that I still chat to now.

Actually one of my best friends in the world who I see in person regularly was initially met online. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, I think we had a mutual friend about 15 years ago and we ended up both commenting on something on Facebook and then adding each other. We became really close and despite living in the same city we never met until a few years ago. Now we go out and do things quite often and it's easy to forget we went so long only ever sending each other texts.

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