How many people would you vouch for?

[robvalue]

I've found online relationships (including friendly ones), when done well, can be a kind of turbocharged version of a real life relationship. Of course, you have to be very careful it is not an insular one. One person can lead you up the garden path. The more people they also interact with, that you also interact with, the less likey it becomes that this is all some sort of act. It becomes absurd, after a point, to think that.

Of course there is always room for doubt, but that's just as true in real life. Online relationships present many opportunities to demonstrate being trustworthy and reliable. As long as you keep your wits about you and have a healthy amount of scepticism, there's really nothing holding you back. Things like video calls add even more, because it obviously removes the possibility of them being someone totally unlike they describe. Group chats add yet another dimension. And so on.

It just depends. I spend way more time with online friends than I do offline. For people who are the other way round, they're much more likely to vouch for people they know in person instead. In my experience, those I've known in person have let me down continually. As I said, I have only one blood relative on the list and it's not an immediate one; and only one other person from the first 30-ish years of my life.

I feel I've been astronomically lucky with the quality of people I have met on this forum, who have accepted me as a friend.