The majority NEVER meet in person. Thinking back to the forums I've been on, I have met one person, we met for lunch, she came to my house a couple times and to this day we are email friends.and talk on phone now and then..This was a friend I met on a CFS/FM forum and she lives not far from me. That was over 15 yrs ago.

Ya its really very sad..........

It reminds me of the poem about new friends and old friends ..........

MAKE NEW FRIENDS, BUT KEEP THE OLD; THOSE ARE SILVER, THESE ARE GOLD.

Internet friends can be silver and friends you have off the internet can be gold!:)

Not sad at all, I think it's cool to have online friends , people from all over the country, even all over the world!;) Even if you never meet them in person, most you don't but they are your internet pals like Pen Pals in the old days !:)

I get together with online friends once every couple of years; I even did two meetups in 2013. My first meet-up happened in 2001, and it did not go well. But later meetings were, in general, excellent. I've met over 30 friends I first got to meet online, starting with people I met online in 1997. I'm still friends with several of them, including some from Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Austria, and Finland.

My Internet friends are better than the ones I had in real life; we have more in common. Okay, maybe this is because they haven't met me in person.

My Internet friends are better than the ones I had in real life; we have more in common. Okay, maybe this is because they haven't met me in person.

Oh I can't say that, my in person friends are "friends" and some have a lot in common, a little in common and I can't think of any that we don't have anything in common, our biggest commonality with my friends are seeking and managing good health.

I actually think that is one of the strengths of the internet. If I want to interact, I can...and when I don't I can log-off...and no one disturbs my quiet enjoyment. No "pals" showing up whenever they need to borrow money....no "friends" expecting me to drop whatever I am in the middle of just to cater to their personal priorities...it's kinda better this way.

Well, we all have our comforts with friends, mine don't show up asking for money. Many of mine show up when I call them and ask them for help as I need help in my life now.

I was always the guy with the job, the guy with the car that always ran, the guy with the extra couch in his basement. And you want to be liked...I was raised to not be selfish...so being generous seems like the right thing to do. etc

But, in looking at the truly big picture, one day I noticed I was surrounded by people playing my kindness as a weakness. So I "took stock" of all the generosity I had put forth the 30 previous years, and put it on a balance sheet along side what I had gotten back out of it. And realized that a new master plan was in order.
I think the catalyst for me was one day, I had just barely been getting by for a few months, out of work and succeeding only as the result of very careful budgeting.. And a buddy comes by and pitches his hard luck story.....asking for help'

And even though I didn't have any money to spare, I still offered him $20.00 And he acted insulted, like "what good is $20 gonna do anybody?"

So, I gave him the $20 as a gift, told him he need not pay me back, to hold onto it, so that the NEXT TIME he needed money, he wouldn't have to come ask me again.

That's probably the BEST $20 that I ever spent. And it really changed my outlook.