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Looking for a link I have misplaced somewhere, I ran across this old thread and wondered if there might be any further interest.
I would like to ask Annie, for instance, just out of nosy curiosity, what is required to become a 'friend'. I wonder what criteria any of you use for who among those you 'meet' on line are safe to meet in real life?
A number of folks I used to enjoy interacting with here left USMB because they were so frustrated by or displeased with the new software. And I will confess to feeling unimportant, maybe even a little rejected, when that happens. I guess we all want to think we are as important to other people as they are to us. But then how loyal would I be to all of you to put up with a situation that was miserable for me here? I don't know and so far haven't had to find out.
I do know that we often forget stuff people say. But we never forget how somebody makes us feel. And we all need at least a bit of approval in our lives. It increases us, inspires us, helps us cope with what we have to do, while hatefulness, petty criticism, negativity will always decrease us and provokes less than our best.
Hello FF! I've found that I don't have 'friends' here, I'm just not invested enough. I don't particularly care for how threads devolve here, so I tend to look for topics I'm interested in, read a page or two, respond if I want. Then I tend to leave. Not conducive to much interactions with others. Very different than it used to be.
I have 'friends' at other sites, mostly from the 'old gang' here. We've been virtual friends long enough that they know some of the things that have happened in real life and I know their's. We may or may not share political views, but know about deaths, divorces, successes, new homes, new babies, etc.
I don't look for that type of interactions here, for the most part those on the right and left just want to 'win' something and I don't find much common decency between posters.
Not sure if that's what you were asking, but that's how I read it.
I'm not exactly sure what I am asking either. To steal Meg Ryan's line in "You've Got Mail": ". . .So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. . . ."
And I guess the cosmic question is whether true friendship is possible on the internet. . .on a message board. . .if there is no real life interpersonal connection? Or is it all pseudo friendship and easily shrugged off once you don't need or want it any more?