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Meeting a Friend - The dangers of Meeting online friends IRL
I know there's so many warnings out there, don't meet anyone you meet online. They may be pedophiles, rapists, murderers ... and so on.
But what if you knew the person for years and trust that they're not. Would you still bear that warning in mind? Would you avoid meeting them at all costs? A friend I've known for a few years, though not always talking with because he used to be on tour with a skateboarding team. But now that he injured his ankle he can no longer do so and well his friends have been asses and he wants a change. So.. next year he plans to come up to Canada and the main reason was to meet me. I'm super excited about this, and the only reason I hate the time he's coming up is because I'm in school and it's around exam times he'll be coming. But I can't wait anyways.. Now I'm already contemplating where to take him to show him a good time.. My city is VERY boring so... I need to figure out places to take him. So far I only know one place... Now... Discuss anything above and maybe list some things you may do to make your friend enjoy your city if they've never been there before! |
Amazingly enough I seem to be in a similar situation!
Weird to say the least. While its true that there ARE many online predators, you get the few that are actually really great people who only want to be your friend and are exactly what they seem to be. Though they are few and far between. I personally think that if you have been "Speaking" to someone over a VERY long period of time, say a few years, then it might be alright to actually meet them. Granted you will feel a bit odd at first it might wear off and you could very well become great friends IRL as well as OL. <33333333 Though I do recommend taking the proper precautions. Make sure you are in a well known public place and have at least one friend and a cell phone on you. I wish you the best of luck with actually meeting your friend and I hope it goes as well as you plan! |
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<333333
Things like that make me feel a bit sick to my stomach. Things like that should NOT be legal, not if they are going to be used for something they should not be. I have not decided myself as to if I am going to meet this friend. We have been talking for well over 5 years and I still dont feel that comfort zone. Perhaps I might someday, but for now I play it safe. |
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Well, if you do go through with it, as you seem to be planning on.
I hope you are safe and I hope you too can have a great friendship offline. <3333333 Best of luck to you Kale, I really do hope things work out. |
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No problem, though I do have a bit of a weird question for you, and its off topic, but I cant resist.
Would you mind me using your avi for my shop art? I need samples of all kinds of avi's and yours is reallllyy cute. <333333 |
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<33333
Thank you! As a gesture of thanks, you can have the art once it is finished. And as to the avi changing? Autosave. It should be done along with two others in about three days. Stop by my shop in the art forum iffins you like, or I could PM it to you. Thank you thank you thank you!!! <33333 <333333 |
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Of course I can.
<33333333 Now I am off to start sketching! <3333333 I hope you enjoy it when it arrives! |
I'm far too paranoid too meet someone online in real life.
No matter how long I knew them... I did talk to a guy from Ireland for at least a year or so and he was talking about coming down to meet me.... I acted like I liked the idea, but I was cringing at it. Thankfully it blew over, and he never did some down here. He only knew I lived in NC not the city or anything like that anyways. |
I think I win o:
I almost met Gabriel last Thursday, but he said no D: ((We met on Gaia over a year ago and talk on the phone almost daily, just for reference. And I was about an hour away from where he lived while I was on vacation.)) He's been exhausted lately, so I don't blame him. I really really wanted to meet him IRL though. But he promised that he'd come and visit me by the end of the year, and I know he's a guy of his word so I'm not worried about it. All I need is a heads up and I can let him know if the dates are good or not. Also, there isn't really much to do up where he lives, whereas I can take him around the Bay Area to the beaches and boardwalks and we can shop or whatever. That way he'd know what REALLY goes down in Chinatown xDDD (Inside joke.) ((I'm about 30 minutes to an hour away from San Francisco, depending on traffic. And hopefully by then I can drive with anybody in the car so I don't have to worry about my parents hovering around.)) As for taking precautions with Gabe, I don't think I would. It'd be awkward if I brought one of my friends along and he didn't bring someone else. But if he wanted to bring a friend and he wanted me to bring one I'd understand :3 |
I'd only ever want to meet one person that i've met online. We've known each other for just over a year, from Gaia, and we now commune through msn. I don't think i ever will though, unless its by chance.
I think i would take somebody with me if ever i was to arrange a meeting with an online friend though. Mainly becasue i would feel more comfortable, as i'm never good at meeting new people, even if i speak to them often. |
I don't think that I'd want to meet any of my online friends who I've known for 1 year or more. xD But then again, I don't really talk to any of them anymore. However, if there was somebody who I was fairly close to and knew for at least one year plus, I wouldn't care about them coming to see me, although the city I live near is really boring, or meeting them if I was going to be near them. Although my boyfriend would prolly come along too, but that's because we do everything together. ^^"
For that matter, my boyfriend has some friends he met through a small cosplay forum he really likes and he's met them. They came to our area for a YuGiOh tournament a couple weekends ago. xD And his first relationship was internet only, and he met her twice in real life over a two year span. xp |
I understand the risk, and although I've never met a friend from online, an RL friend of mine has.
She knew this guy from Washington (we live in Canada) and he eventually took a plane trip up for a week. It was great fun :) although he did like Aqua Teen Hunger Force way too much. I don't know if I'd be comfortable enough online to give out my address and telephone number and whatnot. It's a lot of trust to put in someone you've never seen. |
Wow, a person you never met fly over to meet you? I heard of those before. Some were successful. I would never do such until I'm over 20. Of course behind my parents back still cause I'm sure they'll disapprove till I'm over 25 or so. But I would not like babysitting someone I don't know. xD
Fun places? Since I live in Ontario, there's amusement parks, musuems, etc and etc. I'll take my forgien friend to the famous places. :3 |
When I'm 18 and I've graduated school, I'm planning to move and go to college over in Wales while living with a friend I met online a year ago (so we'd have been talking over the internet for 5 years once I've gone over there XD I think that's a good amount of time). Many might think it's not so wise to do so but I'm taking the chance and putting all my trust in him. I may have a friend over in the east (I live in the Western US) who I'm going to take over there to live with us as well, but it all depends on her seeing as there's somewhat of a conflict going on currently between us...
But yeah. I hope you have fun Kale. :3 |
You can do it safely. I've met a friend from online, found out he only lived about 45 minutes from me so he drove down one day after awhile of asking and me saying no. XD We talked for a bit and then he went ahead and went home. It was pretty cool, and I'm thinking of asking him to come back down and hang out when the first break comes in classes kind of as a way to relax and unstress from starting school. (This was his first year, and I remember mine, I think he'll need it).
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I've met quite a few amazing people online in real life. I was glad I did, it actually took things from behind a screen and gave me a better look at them. Personalities perceived online are not always the same as off, so you have to keep at in mind. All of my meetings have gone off with a hitch, but of course I'm legal so things aren't as touchy. Always meet in a public place and bring a friend if you can.
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My friend is coming tomorrow at 9PM from California. I live in Toronto. XD She's gonna be staying with me for two weeks and we're gonna eat sushi, cake, and pho noodles the entire time. 8) Oh yeah and draw.
Lmao, I think it's pretty safe meeting one of my friends because it's highly unlikely they're an internet stalker/pedo who's been... stalking me for nearly 2 years now? That's a pretty big effort to invest in something like that. So I'm not really worried. |
I've had quite similar experience with this recently. Like, eerily similar. xD After about two years of talking and a year of romancing, I finally got to travel all the way to Canada to, eh, 'meet' my girlfriend. xP I don't think it was the least bit dangerous, nor do I think it would be so to visit most anyone I stay in regular contact with online, because I'm too savvy about picking up on whether people are the real deal or not. For her, we talked for, as I said, two years, through all means of internet, webcam, and phone. And really, if you get webcam involved, it's kinda easy to tell if you're dealing with a 300lb stalker, or a shy, beautiful girl. >> <3 Though if the stalker manages to fool me in that area, he kinda deserves to kill me, it's a good job on his part. x3x
As for the visit itself, after a little initial shyness on both our parts, going around to different places together and just enjoying ourselves, we loosened up and had a wonderful time. A lot of people warned about how different someone can be in person, but I have to say, I think we were both everything the other one knew they were... and happy to say, love more than flourished. After a week there, she came back with me to the states for another excessively lovely week together. Right now, we're just eagerly and a little painfully anticipating the next chance we'll get to visit each other. Hopefully this fall or Christmas (rather before then T-T; ). <333 So, bottom line, just talk to the person you're going to meet a lot, until you feel comfortable and have seen sufficient proof they're who they say they are. Know what you're in for, at least to some degree, when you commit to the visit, and just be ready for the unexpected. <3 |
I don't think I'd ever meet someone that I've met online...although the thought is horrible tempting. xD;
There's always the chance that they could be a rapist or a murderer...or both. o-o; and that fact scares me. A lot. ;w; it's painful, since I've made a lot of online friends. But I don't want to risk my life jut to meet someone that i can easily chat with online. xD; i once had a dream that I met a friend from Gaia in real life. xD; It was weird...I remember her face perfectly, and yet...it was a face that I had never seen before. o-o; Usually, people in my dreams don't have faces...which kind of freaked me out. xD; besides...my parents would never let me. xP So i guess that's that. xD; |
i ended up going to college with three people i met online. we were super duper friends all through school and it didn't feel weird at all.
i think depending on the case, it is really safe. i was stalked in hs by a girl i was nice to and everyone basically avoided, so i believe there's a higher chance of something happening to you from people you already know. there are more and more people going online everyday. it's becoming a lot more regular than it was 5 years ago. |
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