well im not sure if this shall be here or disscussion, so move if needed..

my question to u guys is, do u think people u met over the internet and u talk much to are "real" friends? or arent they because u never met them really, or never speaked with them?
can u even call them "friends"?

would u call a person, whith who u talked over years couple times a day, but never met in real life more a friend then a guy who u just met 2-3 days in real life and u talked to ?
well, i would say people u met over the internet and u talk very much to u can call them friends. cause "chatting" is like talking. u just dont see the guy who sits next to you. but u can never know who really sits there. u have to trust him what he says.. so.. whats your opinion about that?
im just interested, because most the people i know in "real" life say, that these people are not real friends.

Well what I think is that people that you meet online and been talking too for years is more a friend than someone you've met for 2-3 days, that's more of an acquaintance, but there is a certain sense of anonymity and coldness that you get from people online then people you can actually see, like their mannerisms, how they look, the way they talk. You can get so many false thoughts of a person from just text, you can never really know someone ti'll you have heard them or seen them, it's just not possible.

But on the other hand the text is more a window to a person than people think. You can still have a sense of who they are and what their mind set is on things if you have chatted long enough with this person. You can still call them your friend even though you have never actually seen them, sure you have to trust what they say but you will still develop a bond if you have interacted for that long, and any charade that they might have tried to keep up would eventually crumble after that amount of time.

Also by that amount you must be able to trust them for they have stayed by you side and if you trust what they say then they must trust with what you say if they keep coming back and you keep talking to them, its obvious if you have stayed that long then you see something good with that person's personality and in many ways the internet gives you a better experience because you can meet and interact with people that not only have the same interest as you to be on there but as well the only thing you can know from them is their personality since you have no idea what they look or sound like, you might have never seen them in real life because of the way they might look like or walk or talk since your mind automatically assumes certain things about a person.

And this was supposed to be a short answer :P

it really depends on the friendship you have with them... I like to say a group of people I've been talking to on the internet over the course of 2-3 years are real friends, regardless of the fact we've never met.

I consider the people that I talk to and be friendly to as 'friends' but not as my actual group of friends that I actually hang out with and do stuff with. They are fit in the definition of friends, just not my actual friends... If that makes sense.

well, u not really understood what i meant.
if u met a person on the internet, and talked alot to them, can u call them "Friend".. or not? or is it just a person which u know pretty good? but not ur "Friend"?

but actually the most of the people say what i think ye, that it is a friendshiep, but depending on the person.. if u talk to them very very much then they are. if theyre not. then simply, not.

but i also think there is a diffrence, between the people which use the internet not much/ only use facebook (or some other crap) with people they really know.
and the people which play games for the community, which talks alot to the people there etc. (dont have to be a game. but i think meeting people over games is the easiest way. because u actually got the same interest and u can talk about something.)

and chuck, this comic is godly!

Well, if you talk to them on skype alot, you can call them real friends since you can see them, hear them, and do shit toghter over a camera.

Even if I weren't to see them or specifically hear them even, I'd still call them friends.

I've never had a camera call with Uric, but through toribash - and facebook as an extension - I've become pretty close with him. Like sid and Bish, we share a lot of interests and frequently speak despite timezones. We've helped each other through some tough times too. Hell, I'd rank him among my best mates to be honest.
Take that with a pinch of salt, my social life isn't huge, but the point holds true.

I've skyped quite a few people; Numbers, Leilak, Uric(as mentioned), Notnoob, Slycooper, the list goes on (and Tamer0 on Numbers' stream show).
Even if i hadn't, I think I'd rank some of my fellow Urbanites among my good friends.

My point is that to say these people aren't your friends because you haven't seen their face or heard their voice is ridiculous.

I'm very much with sid on this.

absolutley disagree with this.

u can make the same experience just over another way.

in real life u go out and make some shit on the street, some pranks with people etc.

in the virtual, u just do shit in the internet? ull register at some funny websites and just sent links to each other and laugh about it.

i would even say, that i made more such experiences with virtual friends then with real friends. they were alot funnier.
yes, i did read your "wall of text" and i have to say. alot of crap stands there.

also, u asked "would u either talk to a person in irl or internet?" well, this is depending, but for me is there no diffrence. i would talk to people in irl the same way i would talk to them online.

"I can type like a grammatically incorrect dumb blonde slut, and make up things about my life. Then I can chat with people on the internet for a year. Do they actually know jack shit about me? Nope."
this is your fault then. there really some people outside, which are really the person theyre talking about. i know they could be another person but u have just to trust them, if u talk alot to them u will trust them.. so just dont mind about this and have fun with it.
i even would chat with someone who isnt hiself, as long i have fun with this guy. so there is absolutley no problem for me, or im just open to the world in that direction... so..


also why do people always complain skype with voice and camera chat?
id use skype since a few years and never used it really for voice or camera chat, just chatted as itself. but best prog. is still ICQ....

I have a brother though on the internet, we are who dat bros.
He knows who he is!

there is just no other term then "friend" for it, go find one and bring it over the internet world.
id know what u mean, but why are "friends" only people which apply to u?
so a friend is for u a person which u can meet etc.?
well a friend is for me more a person, which understands u and whith which u have the same interests... also anyone who u can go to if u have problem, all this can fill someone u met in the internet , or not?
i hope u understand what im meaning with this <.<