Around 2001 or so I got involved in a StarCraft modding community, and a good dozen or so of those folks are swell dudes who I'm still close friends with to this day. We've had something of a resurgence in this last year too thanks to Discord, where we've again got a central place to all hang out and yap collectively rather than individually as we had after our old forums fizzled out. I've even made some new friends lately through random folks we've tried to bring into the fold. It's good times, and can confidently say that a lot of my best friends were made on the Internet!
It does feel like it's harder - even if not impossible - to make those kinds of connections these days though. But is that really a The Internet Has Changed thing? Or is it a No Longer Being a Kid thing? I'm inclined to believe the latter, because it's not like I'm making a lot of new IRL friends either. I'm an adult and I'm busy and kinda already doing the things I'm doing and seeing the people I see. I'm also naturally more reserved and less likely to impose my presence on someone else and seek attention, as a child most definitely would, online or offline.
If it's only about dating, I'm doing it completely wrong since I've never once used it for that....
I think to make friends on the internet you gotta be more assertive than you would be irl. Nice people will generally leave you alone unless you make it clear you'd like to hang out. There aren't the same visual/body language cues and such that subtly clue us in that "this duder wants to hang" etc. So if you want it to happen, you gotta be direct.
I dunno, most of my best friends were ones I met on the internet. I've met pretty much all of them in person since then, and have had a few of them as roommates. The friendships that didn't last were ones I made IN THE FLESH, namely at school or at work. I barely know any of those people anymore. And I haven't made a friend of anyone who's lived in my neighborhood since I was 10.
So yeah, I think the internet makes it way easier to meet and stay in touch with people of my ilk. You kind of have to talk to them though, that's pretty essential. It's not just them not talking to you.
@hamst3r: true! you can't show the full power of awkwardness that flows in your veins when you meet them face to face but socializing or having fun via internet. its nothing.
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