The answer to both of those questions is yes. I could leave it at that, but that wouldn't be a very interesting entry.

I have had good and bad experiences with people online. Actually, mostly good. I had one extremely bad experience, which soured me on meeting anyone ever again. I'm not a fan of talking about it, but suffice it to say this girl, Sara, and I do not have any contact any more, and it's more than a little bit my fault. That's not to say I was a stalker, or super creepy when I met this girl, or vice versa. We actually had a very nice weekend together. But when you have a friendship online, it can go in a number of ways. She and I had a very intense relationship online that just couldn't be matched in person. We both portrayed ourselves in a manner that wasn't 100% accurate (which is easy to do in online world) and we both put a LOT of pressure on ourselves that weekend to have that same kind of intensity and chemistry that we had online. We did not have it.

That's the difference between online friendships and in-person relationships. Because you don't see the person in real life, you are free to portray yourself as you wish. You can downplay your faults as they appear in real life and you can magnify what you wish. In the same vein, because there are so many holes in an online friendship, you are also free to fill them in how you want about the other person. You don't know the other person's mannerisms and quirks, so you can create this person who is sitting on the other side of the computer. And forget about sarcasm. Body language is impossible to portray and tone is very difficult to interpret. Akward silences don't exist because even if the other person is uncomfortable and trying to think of some response to something you meant with dry humor but they interpreted as rude and bigoted, you think they just went to get a soda.

After my bad experience meeting up with someone online, I vowed I would never do it again. And I never did, until IndigoGirl7 came along. I think the reason she and I got on so well is because we weren't really expecting anything. Unlike when I met Sara, Martha and I had not any long, passion filled conversations. We didn't talk to each other several times a day for a period of many months. We just enjoyed each others diaries and seemed to have similiar opinions and some of the same taste in music. There was no pressure. And we had a fantastic time together. So there you go.

I consider myself to currently have several online friends. Mostly from a message board that I've been frequently for about seven years. I also consider diarylanders my online friends, especially Clarity25 and IndigoGirl7. I feel especially connected to those two, because I communicate with them the most I guess.

In short, God Bless the Internet.