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for three years, but didn't meet them in real life? They told me things they would never tell anyone(stalker intentions and abuse). Yet since they trusted me to tell me that I would met them in real life just to hang out in a public place where its safe but not anything serious.
I don't understand the second half of the question, but as for the beginning, it's pretty normal to have longtime online-only friends - they provide a fantasy/incomplete relationship where you can fill in the gaps with what you wish or what they show you and you choose to believe, instead of dealing with reality and 3D flesh and blood people, for all their honest and unhideable faults. You contact them from the privacy of your own home, or from wherever when you choose to do so. You can share with a great degree of anonymity, therefore creating an incomplete/semi-false intimacy. Many people do it, so it's perfectly normal as long as you are aware of all that, and as long as you have other friends IRL and a balanced life where online friends and interaction aren't everything and taking away from the joys life and real interactions have to offer.
you didn't understand the second part because you only understand what you choose to. the OP give a realistic idea about the dangers of online friends(the OP wrote the online friends opened up about their stalker and abusive intentions) which fills in the fantasy you were talking about
Interesting perspective, but I understood what I *could* from the original post, not what I chose to. It was a bit ambiguous, kind of like your reply. I don't mean to be a grammar nazi, but I truly have problems understanding concepts and thoughts that are communicated without enough proper sentence structure and punctuation, and/or enough information presented to begin with to form a proper opinion. From what you said, there is a different perspective and, despite the initial assumption/declaration, I started to kind of understand it, but then the sentence ended without enough references to complete the picture. Sorry. I'd love to know the rest of your point.
Why not? I do the same thing since I'm a gamer who has played lots of MMOs and met some good friends. People sometimes forget that behind a screen name are real breathing people not unlike those walking the street, only they are using the internet. Sometimes they also forget that video chatting exists so you can see exactly how they look. Plus, what if you're in the US and your good friend is in the Netherlands? Do you really have the resources to casually visit? It would be great but most wouldn't try to do that without a good reason like filling up someone's...*cough*
I say its normal, people can be great friends on the WWW.
You make a good point, and I agree for the most part. It's just they can only be a great certain kind of friend (like the kind you can't physically hug or touch, or be in the same space/environment as, and you can never get to fully know even if they disclose everything about themselves, until you meet IRL, if you get the chance. It just completes the friendship. It doesn't negate it, and there are plenty of IRL relationships that suck compared to the dynamic of online ones, it just depends on the person and the situation. However, I feel if you personally do not physically ever have the person somewhere you can share a touch or at least look at/experience one another in 3D, without the distortion of technology, there's something missing, an element that anyone can use for deception if they chose to do so.