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I've noticed that often, people will seem to treat internet friendships or relationships as less "real" or such than ones that occur personally.

I'm curious to see how many think that internet friendships are necesarily in some way "lesser", how many think they're actualy more, and how many think that knowing someone over the internet is the same as knowing them in person.

Personaly, I don't put so much value in knowing people personaly.
I don't care what they look like, their physical characteristics or such.
I don't care about the fact that they could be lieing about some aspect of themselves to me; someone could just as easily lie to me in person, albeit about a somewhat smaller variety of things.
Some people also seem to act like every other person out there that claims to be female is some perverted guy or teenager that finds humor in lieing to people. Of course, kindergarten would lead you to believe the same about strangers; every other stranger will kidnap you, then rape, kill, or send you off to slavery if they find you away from a grown-up! Beware!

I don't treat people I meet online as real friends. Simple as that, I expect the same back from them. My real friends are the people I meet and the people I know in real life. I don't even know what people online look or sound like. But of course that's just my opinion.

[center]I don't even know myself, how can I know anyone else?[/center]

The only thing shared in common with a Starcraft buddy is you both enjoy playing the same video game.

So if you suddenly became blind or deaf you would never have any friends again, because you wouldn't know what they look/sound like?


All I have in common with one of my school friends is a hatred for most of the other kids and many of the teachers at school, unusualy above-average test scores, and a liking of computer games. Have even less in common, unless you count such arbitrary things such as where we live, than some of my online friends. For example, he's about half a year older than me(not much, but as long as we care about what people look or sound like... >_>), has little to no interest in drawing, in intelligent debate, making mods/maps, and a vast difference in overall personality, far more than what I've noticed in a couple of my online friends.


Hardly easier than it is for anyone that you know in person. And just because it's easier doesn't mean that every other person is doing it. If I wanted to, I could more easily steal $10 worth of stuff from a conveniance store than several people I know that actualy do steal, unlike myself.

Obviously it is better if you are face to face and do things together. Internet "friends" are just someone you talk about online things about or when you are bored you talk about random things. You don't really talk more into things you might tell your friends you from non internet places.

I have internet friends who live in the same city as me.

Having internet friends shows that you suck at life and can't deal with people face to face; that you need to turn to a medium where you are able to lie and act tough because all that others see is the text you type.

Not really. I have real life friends and internet friends. Sometimes, it's much easier to talk to people you don't know since that really aren't biast towards you. Just someone to vent to over online, since you probably won't ever meet them. I add people I know from computer games to my MSN list, since I like talking to them, and we most often share the same interests and play the same games. I also talk to them alot. But then again, I don't talk to half my list.

So you're saying that because i'm a friendly guy and I can make friends in both the real world, and the net, I can't deal with people?

You are hillarious.

Maybe that is what YOU do. At least most people I know of have integrity.

Where I can lie? I haven't lied to any of my online friends about anything that I haven't lied to my "real" friends about.

Act tough? I don't act in a way that I consider to be "acting tough", online or in person, but if anything, I'm more rude and asking to be punched in the face in person then I am online. Atleast online I don't persistantly annoy people that are capable of carrying out their threats so I can amuse myself by their reactions. Only happens with the people that annoy me first, though, of course.

i have ONE real friend on the internet i even gave him my password.. for my acount just in case.. trust i think. u get the point. im thinking hes my BESt friend ever.. not sure though his name is kid101 .. us east.. sc whisper him

I consider the people I know on the internet "friends"... I disagree with you Ego, I have friends on the Internet and friends in real life, and my behavior on the Internet is the same as it is in real life.

We really didnt need to know his account..

Not what I said. I should pull a Kellimus and list the fallacies int that statement, but I'll abstain.

I'll reiterate:

If you turn to the internet for friendship, and actually put value in those "relationships", you are worthless. I actually thought that most people agreed with me on that.



Off topic.

What's wrong with having internet friends? Hell, I probably know them a little better than some of my tangible friends. SiLeNT, wesmic, are you saying that I'm not worth your attention?!

*Xenomaniac breaks out in tears.

Hmm.. Off topic? It is far from off topic. Maybe I should go into more detail for the feeble minded.

Integrity is what makes the world go round. By me saying, "At least most people I know of have integrity" means that I am only friends with people who are truthful (to my knowledge) and have high views of themselves.

Sure. I don't know if they are telling me the truth or not, but they have high views of themselves and they have integrity so more than likely, they are telling the truth.

Spelt out good enough for you? Or are you going to go off on how i'm wrong because I believe one of my internet friends has integrity?

Oh and also. I can tell when people are lieing by the tone of their voice. I have talked with a couple of my friends and their tones don't change frome the normal way they talk.

Anything else?

Fine, ignore most of my post and zero in on that 2-word sentence. It just makes you look silly.



Yes, and that is completely off topic. We are talking about whether having internet "friends" shows that you are bad at dealing with people in person, and you bring this up. To add to that obsurdity, you can't even tell whether people are telling the truth online.



Off topic again, and it's plain false. Just because people have high views of themselves doesn't mean they don't lie.





Off topic. Through an internet chat?



Off topic. That doesn't even help whatever the heck you're trying to argue!



I pray not.

Let's use some logic. What "70-year-old-boy-liking-pervert" or other such evildoer is going to on Battle.net to carry out his crimes? There's a million to one shot you'll ever meet face to face and know someone from Battle.net and recognizing the other person.

You're worth my attention.... or.... something along those lines.

Except, of course, that the way you worded your statement meant what he said.
If you had re-worded it to "turning to the internet for" before he replied, then he'd be in the wrong.


Off topic? He said that most people he knows have integrity. If people have integrity, they won't use the internet in the way that you said people do. If people don't do that, then you'd need to come up with a new argument against people online being friends. Completely on topic, so far as I can tell, with both your statement that using the internet for friends means you're pathetic(though in your original post it was "IF you HAVE friends on the internet").


Just because some people on the internet will pretend to act bigger and tougher than they do in real life doesn't mean that they're not friends.

It's not on topic because he would have to be talking about offline people. Online, you have no way of knowing whether or not someone is really honest.



If a dishonest loser like that is who you want to be your friend, then you really do suck.



Unless the word "friend" is meaningless: if you devote time to someone that you don't even know on the internet then that is a sad situation.

"have" to be talking about offline people? And why do you say that?
And the people online are people to; the same generalizations(yes, generalizations; one example could be that all humans of atleast 11 years of age have eaten sometime in their life) can be applied to people online as offline.


Not necesarily who one would want to be their friend, just not someone that is impossible to become friends with.
Read the thing I quoted directly before it, too.


Huh? How can you know him any way other than the internet and in person?

1. If you choose to read what I said, then you wouldn't be confused. He had to have been talking about online people because he wouldn't know whether people online are honest.

2. Just because people you meet online are people too does not mean the same generalizations apply to those offline. Do the same generalizations apply to criminals and non-criminals? No. Online, it's much easier to lie and you really never know who you are friends with.



I did read it (and wrote it...). Your response is still wrong, as is this one. You said:



My resonse made perfect sense: you are pathetic if you want to be friends with them.



Huh? What the heck are you saying? I'll rephrase what I wrote, I guess:

If you devote time to someone over the internet that you don't really know, you are a sad person.