Can you be friends, or close friends, with someone when you haven't met?

[Wolfpack]

Online friends can be just as real in their own way as friends in ' real life'. As long as you make a connection with someone and enjoy chatting with them it does not matter if you have or never will meet them you can still consider them friends. I met and made some friends on here that I have come to care about and I may never meet them in real life but I still consider them dear and true friends.

[Miles]

Hmm, missed this thread completely the first time around.

I have often heard the criticism that people online can say anything they want and it may or may not be true and my thought about that...the same thing happens face to face. LOL. I know...I worked in a bar and heard a lot of "stuff"....

This, this, so much this. There have always been two-faced liars and exaggerators and there always will be...I know quite a few of them...

[Hardheaded1]

There are penpals, and there are running buddies. The two are different kinds of friendship.

Online friendships offer a certain bond, and it is not to be pooh-poohed or discounted. It is not inferior to in-person bonds as meridiannight is trying to assert. The comparison is only relevant if you share his set of priorities.

I wouldn't encourage any man to create online circles in lieu of in-person relationships, but that is not what the OP proposed. Additionally, some men man not now nor ever realize successful in-person friendships. In those cases, online friendships may be much more meaningful that in-person and validly so, as it may suit their personalities better.

Friendship isn't one-size-fits-all. Different men need different things.

Good question.