Has anyone actually made a friend online?

This is going to sound incredibly clueless and old-persony: I was always an early tech adopter (erm, back when that meant something) and met my DH on flickr in 2007 through our both following a mutual friend. Since then I've had no experience of meeting anyone online, dating or otherwise, as I was married until three years ago and then widowed with no desire to date. I'm still not ready for dating but I'd love to meet friends, so I signed up for Bumble BFF - and goodness, the whole swipe right/left thing is a shock. Is it really expected that you'll decide whether you want to be friends with someone based only on their profile photo, first name and job title? It's like everything negative I've heard about dating apps, but even sillier when applied to potential friends. How does this work for anyone, and do we really make up our minds about everyone in our lives based purely on how they look? It kinda makes me feel dirty, plus I've been unable to move past the first candidate as I know she'll see that someone rejected her and I don't want her to feel bad. It's brutal out there in algorithm land!

Lots of friends! Not through friendship sites but on forums. Years ago I made a bunch of friends on a forum connected to a bbc programme (anyone remember How To Start Your Own Country?), we had regular meet ups and I went travelling around the UK for a while with one friend I met there. Also made friends on another forum.
And when I was pregnant with my youngest I joined a reddit due date group, then a Facebook group was made and I made a group of friends there that I talk to every day (we have a group chat on messenger)

I have recently become good friends with another woman via a FB women's forum. We have a lot of very similar interests. She has travelled widely & I have a little so lots of sharing our favourite places. I've invited her to some local - other interest- groups I'm involved in too in so he is getting to meet more NZ women here as well

Yes, but like many above it has been through a shared ‘interest’ (health condition) not a site for making friends. There’s about half a dozen of us who live all over the country and we meet up semi regularly, invited to each others weddings etc.

This, apart from not all being in the same area.

Some friends I met here in MN, too.

Another person with a load of forum friends of over 20 years. I've been all over visiting some of them.

I got chatting to someone on Bounty when our babies were tiny. Turned out she didn’t live a million miles from me and when we met at a group meet up, we just clicked and have been good friends for about 18 years now.

Yep, I ‘met’ an Australian guy in a student chatroom about 13 years ago. We’ve always kept in regular contact and it’s only ever been strictly friendly, nothing more, but we have always confided in one another about the biggest things in our lives and have recently seen one another become parents, which is a lovely new chapter as we FaceTime with our babies now

Still feels quite surreal sometimes to have such a dear friend that I have never actually met in person!

Like other posters I made several friends through hobby forums. Then forums went out of fashion a bit and to save money many went onto FB and I stopped using them and didn't meet any new ones.

So yes some friends I've met online, just not through Bumble etc. It's only the same as sharing an interest offline and finding people to share that interest with.

I have. I put an ad up online looking for a friend and I met someone who has been my friend for almost 20 years. We hang out about once a month now but it was a little more often the first few years.

Also my realtor who I found online became a good friend, I actually bought a house a few hoses fow the road from her. 😀

I made 2 very good friends through bumble bff. It’s defo worth a try!

Yes I met friends playing an online game about 10 years ago. I’ve met one in real life.

I made friends with a woman in Kentucky on a pet chat forum about 20 years ago, we used to chat most nights then after a year or so I went to stay with her and her husband for a week, I was mid 20's at the time and never flown before.
My Mum has since told me how much she worried about me and now I have kids of my own I can see why.
I did go and stay for another week a year later but over the years we've gradually lost touch.

I now have a group of online friends who I meet up with a few times a week in vr, they're a mixed bunch of adults from all around the world, we get together and play virtual paintball which is great fun.

Yes. Still an online friend of 15 years. Have never met in person

Yes, from various sites and we are real life friends too not just online.

Yes, many over the years through various penpal sites and apps- try the app called "Slowly"

Yes I met my friend on a book board of a particular writer, although it was mainly book discussions all the group posted about various stuff. We had both been through a cancer scare at a similar time, and this 'bonded' us and we just clicked.

We keep in touch by email FB, IG and facetime, We have visited each other several times, one memorable holiday we met up with a few of the other bb members in Atlanta and had an amazing couple of days.

I consider her one of my closest friends even though we met later in life, and if we don't see each other for a year or so, it's as though there isn't any distance at all.

Yes, through a local fb page designed for making friends.
Also I setup a few hobby/interest pages over Covid for people to meet up and have a few good friends from there.
All real life, face to face friends.

Not through 'meet up' sites, but 2 good friend from Mumsnet! Both on (different) long-standing specialist threads

One where now-friend and I ended up being witnesses at another mn-er's elopement wedding (another mn-er from same specialist threads). It was absoloutely fabulous.

Another where we discovered we lived quite close by, and have a lot in common.

Through a forum almost 20 years ago. Mostly online but I've met a few f2f and we have a lovely WhatsApp group that we share mundane stuff and all the catastrophes that befall middle aged women.

I have made friends online, though a fair few years ago now. Live very far apart but talk regularly. We met via social media though so not intended for making friends.

Yes, remember meet up?. I met my now best friend on there 14yrs ago. We were both new to the area and joined a mom's group. I went a few times to a small soft play type place. Didn't really 'click' with anyone but she came along one week and we really hit it off. Neither of us went again after that day. Luckily our husband's and other children got along and I would be lost without her and her family.

Yes, but not on sites that are intended for that purpose. I’ve met a couple of friends through interest groups on Facebook and a few through Twitter, which I was on in the early days, when it was easier to ‘meet’ people.

I wasn’t actually looking for friends; it just happened.

Yes. I've made a good friend through Twitter and we speak most days. I've also made friends through forums, where we phone each other.

Yes. Not dating online though. It's a weird story.

I wanted to get in touch with a guy I knew (and fancied) many years ago. He wasn't on any social media but I found a reference to him on a football forum so I asked the poster how he knew him. He was at university with him. I went to the same one but was three years behind them so we weren't there at the same time.

He wasn't in touch any longer and had moved to the other end of the country but we got on and continued chatting. That was in 2014 and we're still friends today and have been on holiday together. Nothing romantic ever happened but he's a special friend.

As for the guy I originally wanted to contact he was in a relationship anyway but he died last year.