How do you make online friends

[madhouse]

I wanna know....

 

[MoniqueNS]

I've made a lot recently just on forums like these and through my blog. People just private message me and we begin conversations from there, then we add eachother on msn or just email alot. Its been really nice cause these people all have SA so we can candidly talk about things.

 

[kihira]

Share more about yourself so that people can relate and respond. Reply to questions and comments. Participate in the fun threads.

 

[Nanita]

I made a friend on another forum. The forum was really empty and slow, but she started writing to me and commenting on stuff I had told about myself. Then we fund out we live in the same place, and we met several times.

 

[FriendYourFear]

I wanna know....

Have you tried joining PlentyOfFish or FriendFinder.com? I know they're dating sites, but there are a lot of people on there who are excited to meet someone and talk online.

 

[bitingthepea]

Same iv made loads of close friends online and have great convos, but when it comes to reality i find the talking vry hard to do and dont seem as fun

 

[Lanciao37]

I made a friend on Ebay once, Just those things that happen. Forums are the best way though,If you find people that share your ideas or something PM them for a while and if it goes well use MSN messenger to take it further, If you can get a few people added. Usually their friends come along and do the same, You will have a whole bunch of guys on there in no time.
You do need to get your contact info out there though and I know I found that weird to begin with. You can register a new email on Hotmail for free and just use it for MSN messenger and nothing else, Then you can feel more secure.

 

[CosmicNeurotica]

I've made some online friends by accident, through Facebook groups and other places. But every time I purposely sought out friends, I never got them :/ Life seems to work that way a lot of the time.

I find that the case as well.
There's almost no point in trying, because anytime something works out it just fell in my lap.
I can try to make 50 friends, work at the conversations, overcome fears, try hard at it, and get 0 friends.
But if I'm minding my own business doing nothing, a friend just walks up, and we get to know each other.
Seems a little backwards if you ask me, but that's been my experience.

 

[coyote]

I find that the case as well.
There's almost no point in trying, because anytime something works out it just fell in my lap.
I can try to make 50 friends, work at the conversations, overcome fears, try hard at it, and get 0 friends.
But if I'm minding my own business doing nothing, a friend just walks up, and we get to know each other.
Seems a little backwards if you ask me, but that's been my experience.

yep - story of my life

 

[shybutsexy]

Online friends are quite easy... offline friends are the hard ones. Wich sucks because you cant live without offline friends, and online friedns will only cheer you up for a little while, one day you will wake up and realize that no matter how many online friends you got, you do need to get of your room and hang out with some friends, have fun outside, its imposible to survive your entire life in front a computer. Im telling you cause ive had online friends for long time now, even had an online gf, and my life is still fcking pathetic.

 

[paye]

go outside, make friends, when you are not seeing each other face to face, talk them on the internet.

"a real friend is worth a thousand online friends."

 

[caringsoul]

i rarely have online friends, but i used to had so many that i met from this other site, everyone i met was just like me, a youngster, curious about this online chat thing, well i manage to kept a few till this very age. but the sad thing is i have never met them, but the interesting thing is, they know people that i know in real life. that how close i was to them. but never met them. 1 of my bestfriend was an online friend. i never met him tho, but had arrange before, but never met cos of my sa. he doesnt know about it, bcos it doesnt show online. but hes very smart, because he can tell if i am pretending to be happy or genuinely happy, and i know him so well even if i wasnt having any face-2-face contact with him. I think at the end communication is important in making friends. Meeting up only makes u a real life friend. But the feeling u have from having a friend online can still feel warm.

but then, its better to have a real friend, online is just a form of communication. if you can be good friends online, then being friends offline can be easier, and your likely be more open and comfortable around that person.

start of being comfy online, it helps.

 

[paye]

There's a reason this person wants to make "online" friends....

This IS a site for SA.

yes.

but "the cure" in the outside.

"online friends" makes you feel comfortable for a week. then you feel back.
again and again.
(if you wanna be a part of that circle, i say go for it, make online friends.)

if you wanna kick SA out, answer is outside.

no pain, no gain.

so sad to say.

 

[Deus_Ex_Lemur]

yes.

but "the cure" in the outside.

"online friends" makes you feel comfortable for a week. then you feel back.
again and again.
(if you wanna be a part of that circle, i say go for it, make online friends.)

if you wanna kick SA out, answer is outside.

no pain, no gain.

so sad to say.

It's not a black or white thing dude. You can hve good online friends, and sometimes they even meet one day. Any social support is good, there's no reason you can't have both. Certainly RL is really important and the way to beat SA, but that doesnt mean you cant have online friends at all.

 

[Memory]

I had a fair few friends from a teen chatroom, but I'm only friends with a couple of them now. Even online, I never really found anyone I clicked with, and those that I did we'd end up being friends for a bit and then they'd just stop talking to me or disappear from the internet. But that is one thing you have got to bear in mind with online friends, and it's easy to just drift apart.

I have met two online friends, one of which I still regularly talk to and the other I talk to about three times a year. It was so nervous for me to meet them, but I bit the bullet and went.

The best places are probably forums because they'll share your interests, but you could also ask for a penpal (there are sites for that) or go to an online chatroom, or play online computer games.

 

[shybutsexy]

It's not a black or white thing dude. You can hve good online friends, and sometimes they even meet one day. Any social support is good, there's no reason you can't have both. Certainly RL is really important and the way to beat SA, but that doesnt mean you cant have online friends at all.

Is not that you cant have online friends, if you wanna make friends online go for it, but it doesnt solve anything, the fact that you had to search all around the world through the internet to find someone who is EXACTLY like you to be friends with, shows that you have a socializing problem that will affect every aspect of your life, and making online friends wont solve that, they will only cheer you up a few days and then you will be back on depression, maybe you cant see this if you do have both online and offline friends, but someone who has online friends and no real life friends, will realize how they are totally useless to your life.

 

[Feathers]

With a big smile hand it hand you can be everybody's friend

Some great advice in this thread already!

Oh, it helps to tell people if you really like what they wrote/said or did, maybe give compliments (genuine!! and believable, ideally for characteristics you really admire, not just appearance), thank them for any help or advice or insightful posts/comments, be nice to them and sympathize if they've had a bad day or wish them well... Cheer them up if they're sad.. by challenging their negative thoughts and assumptions and pointing out what you DO like about them (even if they may think negative about themselves) it has to be genuine though... Some humor can help too, as long as it's kind and nice, or mutually shared (so that ideally both/all people think it's funny!! )..

If you have a problem, it's good to find someone who has the same or similar problem or common interests, so you can sympathize and understand each other better... Be supportive and a good friend.. (Easier online than in RL sometimes )
People without this problem can sometimes shed different light on it and be helpful too!!

This works both in RL and online...

It's good to have both 'real' and online friends.. Remember internet people are people too..
Some people turn internet friendship into RL too... It's good to find people locally also, so you can go for a walk together etc.

RL you have to watch and adapt body language too.. And maybe speed of talking etc, and some other factors.. But communication-wise, the basic principles of good communication are pretty much the same...

 

[Rose_Red]

I find that the case as well.
There's almost no point in trying, because anytime something works out it just fell in my lap.
I can try to make 50 friends, work at the conversations, overcome fears, try hard at it, and get 0 friends.
But if I'm minding my own business doing nothing, a friend just walks up, and we get to know each other.
Seems a little backwards if you ask me, but that's been my experience.

That's the same as for me.
If I try to make friends online, I find it just as difficult as trying to make friends in person. I have the same problems, except that I have time to figure out what to say.
But someone seems to come along and sometimes a friendship starts from that.
It doesn't always work for me, but my online friend, who happens to be my only real friend, never gave up on me.

 

[nikkixo]

i wanna know too, i have never made an online friend. i don't think i'm funny or special enough for anyone to want to talk to me online

 

[decadeOfSA]

Multiplayer games are good for this, especially MMORPGS. Clans too.

Forums are pretty good too, but aim for the smaller, tight-knit ones.

Get Steam and get some games, add some friends you play with and start some conversations with them.