Comments on: Thought: On the possiblity of treating online friends like offline friends

By: Question: Do you treat online people the same as offline people? at The Reasoner

Question: Do you treat online people the same as offline people? at The Reasoner — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:29:13 +0000

[...] talked about the possibility of treating online friends like offline friends earlier this year, and SP and Vera offered excellent views and opinions regarding the topic, like [...]

By: Bes

Bes — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:22:14 +0000

Wow, Vera, you will be going to Disneyland and San Francisco while being in California for 2 days? You must have a really good time schedule planned, heh!

Yes, snow is good! I think it should be warmer compared to where you are right now, while you are in California.

By: Vera

Vera — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 17:16:34 +0000

Bes, it actually snowed again after a few days of good weather. Weird eh? Seems like the cold won’t leave us, hope it will though! Hope it will be warm on the days that I’ll be visiting! Hehe, yes :). That sounds nice, we were thinking of going to Disneyland perhaps, not sure yet =)

By: Bes

Bes — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 23:10:16 +0000

Vera, no problem at all. I actually want to encourage people to bring up all my previous posts and read them and respond to them too, as I put a lot of effort writing them.
Also, I will not be busy, no worries. Wow, lucky you! I feel like freezing sometime. However, today and the last 3 days it has been considerably warmer compared to the past few weeks. We have to coordinate online, lol.

I wonder if I can find more online people in Bay Area who can get together also. That would be cool, I think.

By: Vera

Vera — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 22:50:24 +0000

Heh. Commenting again, in a while back post - hope you don’t mind ;)!

RE: Thanks for the quite detailed explanations! Would you be busy, because I don’t want to make you take out your time on me lol. I looked up the weather over there. It’s considerably hot since we live over here haha (thinking 15′C is quite hot already) haha.. only in the summer will we get (20′C ).. then that is really hot lol XD!

By: Bes

Bes — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 17:36:00 +0000

Thanks for the detailed comment Vera.
Yes, online friends can be very helpful even though they are not in front of us. You are right, both people are taking risks because of being strangers and having faith of some sort in each other.

I like your example of using the web to cite a similarity. That is so true. I think what you do is good; treating online and offline friends the same way, that is. Yay, my online family has one more confirmed member!
Also, regarding your trip, there are so many places you can visit while you are here! I mentioned some in another comment. There are also so many shopping places here. I would be more than happy/honored to meet you while you are here, lol. I can show you around if you like, lol. Be prepared, though: it’s really cold. Maybe you are used to the cold weather, but for me, it’s almost freezing!

By: Vera

Vera — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 21:07:13 +0000

I was also wondering about this issue too!
I actually found that online friends are very helpful in many ways even though I don’t physically see or know them. In fact, we both are taking risks since we don’t know eachother. I guess it’s okay to share a bit of your personal life to a stranger knowing that they can trust us as well. In other ways, for example, e-mail, they care just the same as online friends do. By taking a step in questioning how you feel or something shows that they have taken the time out to see how are you really doing. This ties into what I will be saying below.

There is an issue of trust like you said. But as you’ve also mentioned, if they bring out their hearts to help an individual, like I mentioned above, then you know who you can really trust, especially if they communicate with you on a regular basis. It’s good to have another friend out there that cares.

For one thing, we have the same interests: the web. Its like we are one big family that is scattered across the world. But what does it matter? I tend to treat everyone the same.. treating offline friends like online friends. Even though we aren’t face to face, you can still see their motives either way. For one thing, I’m glad that I can be a part of your “offline family” so-to-speak because I know that someone is out there that I can speak to openly when I have issues.

PS: regarding my trip to California, I will be going there on March 23, or should I say, arrive on this date. I will be leaving on March 25 so is there any places worth visiting during my stay? I’m not really familiar with the place there so I don’t really have any specific places I would like to visit hehe. I would love to go shopping though ahaha. Maybe any tourist sites I can visit? Perhaps I can visit you lol! XD no idea. Thanks for your help appreciated!

By: Simply-Precious

Simply-Precious — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 17:49:35 +0000

Yes! I was wondering the same thing!! Yeah, I do treat my online friends like my offline friends, actually… I do consider some of my close online friends as my friends, but it’s hard, because sometimes, online, someone can act like they’re your friend, but in reality, they’re not… So…

Heheh about interacting with a couple of online friends on a daily basis. Yep, I understand EXACTLY what you mean about how they act the same way as friends you’d have in real life.

Anyways, as for a comparison between online friends and offline friends… Well, it’s hard because online friends aren’t, and can’t, always be there for you, while offline friends should be there for you most of the time. BUT… There are some online friends whom I basically consider an “offline” friend because they’re always there for me! Hahahah… So I think it just depends on who it is for me to consider just an online friend, or if they’re a friend I can actually rely on in real life if we ever did meet.

By: Bes

Bes — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 17:43:09 +0000

SP, thanks for sharing your opinion. It’s nice to know that you treat your online friends like offline friends, since it seems you have thought over this a lot.

Hmmm, I wonder who you chat with on a daily basis? :p Yes, I like being a good person and a friend regardless of medium of communication [face to face or via typed messages], and I have seen some people including you being even better!

You are right about online friends not being able to be there in person. Also, many offline friends do tend act even more distant than online friends, which is interesting.

I am sure you can rely on your online friends, who are considered “offline” friends by you also, if you ever did meet.