BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Latter Day Saints Friends Online

Do you get involved in close online friendships (not romances, but actual friendships?) How do you decide if the friendship is safe enough to exchange real addresses and phone numbers? What do you think is important in making these friendships really work? Can these friendships be as close as friendships in the "real world?"

Hi Terrie!
I would have to say YES, I have met many wonderful people here at Bella who I call friends. I have exchanged real addresses and phone numbers with only a few of you, though. For one thing, usually people we meet online live so far away it isn't practical to visit.

I have only first met in person with people who I have met only online at a neutral location like a restaurant. Once, my husband and I arranged to meet my online friend and his family at Legoland and then we invited them over to BBQ afterwards. Once I have spent some time in person with someone, then I can determine if they are trustworthy to have my address or not.

I have one really close online friend who lives in another state and who I won't likely ever meet in person. We met in an online game called Ultima Online and we played other online games together as a team. What was important in allowing our teamwork was we would keep a private chat open between us all the time we played. We used ICQ, but there are many other private chat programs available. This one friend and I have drifted apart these last few years because I have gotten bored with online games. We still e-mail each other but only once in awhile. I think that's OK.

As for online friendships being as close as in person friendships, of course they can be! If anything, online friendships build faster, because there is more communication and there are typically fewer distractions to the communication.

This is slightly off topic but you'll see it is related: My husband and I were long distance phone friends for almost a year before we started dating, and that made a world of difference because we got far better aquainted than I had with any other man I ever dated.

Cherise Kelley

Hi Cherise!

I was very skeptical of online friendships until I met Terrie. Now I don't know what I'd do without her!

Like you, I'm not one to go about giving personal info. I've enjoyed being a Bella Host and meeting the other hosts online. You do feel, to a degree, that you get to know their personalities just through the almost daily communication. Just like you would at work or school, you find yourself gravitating toward like personalities. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Cherise! I'm so glad to see you again! You were the first online friend I met in person for no special reason other than because I wanted to, although I met some of the Bella people on business before that. Are you coming back to write for us?

Having written for the net, I've made a lot of online friends, mostly through the work I've done here and on the Suite. Most have stayed fairly casual, although some have become very special. Some I've met, some I haven't...and some I'm going to figure out how to meet whatever it takes <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Being a writer and shy, I'm more comfortable chatting online anyway. The nice thing about the net is that it gives you a whole world in which to search for like souls. Since certain people refuse to move from their home states to live in California....how else would I have met them?

Patricia, I don't know what I'd do without you either....let's not find out!