How long have you known your oldest online friend?

[FriendsOnline]

I’ve been talking to the same person just about every day for 26 years and now they’re dying. They’ve been terminally ill for some time and are now in hospice.

They’re thousands of miles away and I can’t be there but they are surrounded by family and friends.

It’s so strange to think that we won’t ever chat again when we’ve talked for so long.

How long have you known your oldest online friends?

I got my first computer in 1998, joined a Yahoo group related to a singer and have met various members of the group in London over the years, including one from California and one from Germany, so coming up 28 years.

Thanks all for the condolences. It’s strange to think that we will never talk again. Our last talk was about a week ago and my friend has been too ill to talk since then, and I could tell that they were struggling then but a mutual friend is keeping me updated. I wish that I could be there but they have family present and that’s most important.

It’s making me smile to hear about all of your friends though so ty for that also.

I think lots of MN’ers of old ‘met’ online and became real friends via meet ups. Some of those friendships must be 20+ years old.
i can’t imagine having an online only friend I had never met or had intentions to meet? Feels ripe for scammers and liars.

So sorry about your friend. 30 years we met on a TV show bulletin board. I think we’ve spoken pretty much every day since. We’ve been through everything together, boyfriends, marriages, infertility, babies, elderly parents illnesses and our own. I wouldn’t be without her.

16 years. We met when we were both pregnant and due the same time. We talk everyday, meet up for dinner twice a year but drop everything to go to the other if one of us is in crisis. She's my best friend in the world

DH started out as an online friend! We met online probably just over 20 years ago, on The Student Room. There was no romance at all until we met IRL 19 years ago, got drunk and the rest is history!

He's probably the longest running close online friendship I've had; I have online acquaintances who I've known slightly longer, but don't regularly correspond with any of them.

I do have a WhatsApp group of MNers from when I was TTC, we've "known" each other 11+ years now. I've met a few of them in real life but not all.

I'm pals with someone in Canada as we "met" when I was thinking of emigrating 20+ years ago and she was on the expat forum, giving out advice and help.

We write all the time and I would really miss her. She's been ill, so it's a real possibility. Sorry about your friend, it's really hard.

25 years, I have met her once, another I have never met, but known him the same amount of time. Know them through a shared interest.

25+ years here too, there’s a whole group of them from the same online space that I’m still
in touch with via social media mostly. One I think has sadly passed away but her family wouldn’t have known us all to have let us know. It’s nice that you’re being kept updated OP, even at such a sad time.

Same here.
One online friend I met around 20 years ago. She is the only person I have ever given my phone number to. We live a couple of hundred miles apart, not sure if we will ever meet, but I enjoy her friendship.

I'm sorry that your friend is dying. It's a hard time and I hope she enriched your life.

I made a lot of online friends in late 2001 via a craft forum called Get Crafty. I've met quite a few of them, stayed with one in the US and met up with 8 others on the same trip. A couple I've had stay with me in the UK.
One of them died last year after having cancer for a couple of years. I miss her a lot and it's hard to explain to people who haven't had that experience. I'll have memories and things that I see that make me think of her, but it is a loss. I knew when her online journal entries were starting to not make sense she was close to the end and then her sister contacted her friends in the last weeks. Her death left a hole the same way the death of a friend from university would. I miss her a lot. My life is richer for having known her and I'll always think of her when I see certain shoes or a specific colour

I'm so sorry about your friend, that is really difficult.

I have a group of about 15 online friends now for about twenty years, I've met most of them in person.

I have several friends that I "met" on a forum when my middle child was born, so 23 years this year. I have met up with them all in real life but we still mainly communicate online as we don't live particularly close. I think online friendships can be just as important as real life ones, sometimes stronger in fact as you've often been brought together by shared experiences, interests or beliefs that are very important to you. I'm sorry to hear about your friend OP, that sounds like an important relationship to you and the distance doesn't make any it easier.

I made an online friend on MN about 23 years ago. We met up several years later, and have met regularly since then, and have been on holiday. We’ve both moved and now live a few minutes walk from each other.

I think that's because it was around the time most people got home internet. I got my first PC in 2000.

My online friends started with a self harm group I joined around 2000 and we splintered into a smaller group. We have seen each other through a lot over the years, one group marriage, 4 deaths including 2 suicides), relationships, kids, education etc.

We have also had a lot of fun, including several group meets.

Most have recovered from SH but sadly some have not and remain mentally unwell.