I've made some good friends on Agnostic without meeting them. Hope to meet them someday Did meet one last month.

I think you got to meet really more so than a lover/partner

yes I have a friend in Germany

i have never met but we email each other

I don't think I would equate the term friend if we had never met in person. Interpretations of body language, facial expressions and more, contribute to attraction. If it was a textual only relationship, context and tonal inflection help describe, if not define a conveyance.

Yes I have online friends that have literally saved my life. One instance no more that weeks ago. Planned to post the story soon.

My late partner and I talked on the phone for two months, sometimes a couple of hours a day. She lived in Tex ass and I in Seatle and we did not meet until after 2 months. I think we both knew this was it and it was. That is why I keep harping on establishing a base first before meeting. It can make up for any "chemistry" errors.

I think this is absolutely possible. In our electronically connected world, we all have numerous "friends." Most of them, I think, could be classified more accurately as acquaintences, but sometimes you really connect. I have finally had some private conversations with folks here and who knows where that could lead. This site is an extremely fertile "friendship ground," I think. The common mindset helps everyone to relax and really talk to each other. I love this place (and I love your intelligent and thought-provoking posts too, BTW. Thanks!).

I had a really good friend for years whom I never met in person. We're not so close now, however. We had a misunderstanding at one point a couple of years ago and things just cooled between us. We don't confidence in each other anymore or keep in close contact. :/

Yes, I tend to connect with minds easier than meatsuits.

An internet friend, yes. If you have not met someone, you only have what you are told by that person to base anything on.

Yes, why not?

Absolutely. I have several online friends who I genuinely care about.

Although it's tough not having them close I have made at least 3 friends that are too far away. We don't talk everyday but we still make sure we keep in touch

Sure, people can be friends despite having never met - I’ve had a few long distance / internet based friendships over the years that were enjoyable and that didn’t end dramatically. I think the rub lies with people who try to make more of it than what it is - when they try to make something platonic romantic. Guess the same could be said for “real life” situations as well.

Yup some people spend their entire lives being friends by Letter, Phone, internet or other means of communication. If people have similer interests and sometimes ocupations or troubles they always seem to find one another.

It's possible, although not ideal. I have made some friends on-line who I have never met in person due to the Atlantic Ocean getting in the way ?

I have lots. I don't see why it would be less real. I still care way too much.

I understand real friend to be someone whom I have actually met or known for a considerable period of time during which we have met up many times. A frienship that has stood the test of time with the trials and tribulations of life. Words are cheap and cost nothing, like whispering sweet nothings.

I currently have three close friends who are from the USA. I've never met them in the flesh, but we talk every day and we know far too much about each other.

Absolutely! I actually know several people whom I've only ever met via the internet. We've Skyped but never shaken hands before. Still, we've spoke enugh and kept close enough communication that I totally consider them friends. I can't speak for them. Maybe they feel differently, but I'd like to think they feel the same.

Not that I would deject them, a lot can be seen with the words a person chooses. However, there are semantic cues put off by a person that would inherently on a subconscious level, that would tell you if you wanted to trust that person. Body language to be simpler.

For me the answer is no. I thought I could but after several (and I mean several) attempts spending lots of time writing and talking on the phone etc only to find out once we met that it didn’t work out. Now I am extremely cautious until we meet. Until you meet you only know what that person tells you. Many people are self deluded. Not trying to offend this is just my opinion/experience.

I don't think it's impossible to be a friend with someone you've never met in real life. Here's a philosophical way of looking at it. All one ever knows about another person is through their senses. Everything we have ever experienced in life is really just a simulation in our heads of the real world outside. So have we truly ever met anyone in real life or is it just data?

My point is this: there's no fundamental difference between being friends with someone online and being friends with someone in real life. Because in either case it's all in our head.

If you and that person enhoy the dialog, if they have been helpful and loyal to you in difficult situations -- even from a distance -- then they are friends.

I don't know, i suppose it's an individual thing based on definitions i.e. the difference between best friend(s), friends and mates. I'm making friends on here but it's different to lifelong friends with whom I have a shared history. Perhaps that definition is also unfair until I have an online friend of 50+ years with which to make a fair comparison.