People are naturally drawn to each other. So it's no surprise that people on the TFP are able to form friendly and sometimes romantic relationships. There is a huge melting pot of people on this board and there's pretty much something for everyone and plenty of people who share similar intrests with others.
I don't think that not having actually seen people face to face makes them less of a friend. A friend is much more than a physical trait. People help each other out weather it's a simple hello, or they give someone some adivce. This is made easier via the internet. While I don't take alot of what I find on the internet seriously, there are people that I've "met" on tfp that I enjoy talking to and consider to be friends. This is due to the fact that there are alot of genuine people on this board.
With the WWW growing in leaps and bounds every day, people are realizing that it is more than just an information highway. They are realizing that it's a way to contact a member of humanity and engage in hearty discussion and also a way to find people with similar interests. It takes some of the work out of the real world. For example, you go to a club or bar (or whatever your scene is) and you see people that seem like they would be cool or have the same interests. Now you have to figure out a way to contact them. On the internet, it's easier to make contact. Push a few plastic buttons that transform your thoughts into visible words and voila! you've made some sort of contact. So to make a long story short. I take people on TFP and the TFP itself very seriously, and I think that the WWW as well as TFP are going to only grow in popularity as a form of human contact.
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