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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is this odd?

33 replies

Myturntobringthemilk · 18/02/2021 10:54

Back when fb was new and people (well at least i didnt as a teen) think about who they were adding/accepting i accepted a request from a lady who lives in another country, i have no clue who she is, no mutual friends etc. Obvioulsy now i am older i do not accept random requests and have long since gotten rid of random people on my friends list as you can never be too careful.

However me and this lady who i have been friends for well over 10 years now seem to be best friends despite the fact i have no clue who she is and im sure she can't know who on earth i am.
We interact all the time, she likes alot of my posts, i do the same with hers, we say happy birthday, merry christmas etc (never on messenger just through fb posts) to the outside world it looks like we are good friends, i only have questioned it as my DP asked who she was once and i said i have no idea and he seemed to think it was odd.

Is it odd that i interact so much with somebody on fb that i have no idea who they are??

OP posts:
GiveMyRegardsToYourLizard · 18/02/2021 10:59

Yeah but I'm interacting with you right now and I've no idea who you are, so it's not that odd I guess.

Pandamumium · 18/02/2021 11:02

It’s just the modern version of Pen Pals. You obviously have something in common if you have stayed friends all these years.

OhMsBeliever · 18/02/2021 11:04

Have you ever asked her why she added you? Maybe she thinks you're some long lost childhood friend and you've never let her think otherwise. She might have spent all these years thinking you're someone you're not!

I might have a tendency to overthink things. Grin

FuckyouCovid21 · 18/02/2021 11:04

I think it's strange that you accepted a friend request from someone you didn't know in the first place.

I've never had any friend requests from strangers until yesterday when I received 4, all blokes in the marines obviously in the US. I'm in the UK, Manchester Confused

FuckyouCovid21 · 18/02/2021 11:05

I didn't accept them by the way!

HilaryBriss · 18/02/2021 11:05

I've got one similar. I originally added him as we both played a particular game on FB and we both needed neighbours. I no longer play the game and have got rid of all the other people added for similar reasons but this one is still here.

longtompot · 18/02/2021 11:08

I have had people change names so could that have happened? I have friends which I added from an online forum, some have different names now. Could you have met through a craft or hobby?

You could ask in a roundabout way, gosh we've known each other so long how did we meet? But not that direct if you don't want to.

SleepingStandingUp · 18/02/2021 11:10

Do one of those comment on how we meet posts

FelicityPike · 18/02/2021 11:11

I still communicate with people I met in Yahoo Chat way way back when (talking 20 years). Never met either of them, but they’re still my friends.

MyLittleOrangutan · 18/02/2021 11:14

No, interacting with strangers is exactly how we make friends. And now we are so involved in social media we dont need really need to know people in person to know them.

Myturntobringthemilk · 18/02/2021 11:15

@ohmsbeliever i have thought about asking then as more time goes by it feels like it would be strange to suddenly ask who the heck are you lol.

We don't have conversations on messenger or anything its mostly just liking posts and she'll often post gifs saying cute or whatever on pics of my pets and ill like pics of her dogs.

She'll post on my wall for birthday and xmas and ill do the same for her bday.

She is about 10 years older than me so we can't have been childhood friends but maybe i do resemble somebody she knows! I have a very unusual name so she can't have mixed me up with somebody in that way haha.

OP posts:
Loopyloututu · 18/02/2021 11:18

Haha, I’m not on social media but I actually think that’s kind of nice. Could she have just friend requested random people because she was lonely to see who responded?

CounsellorTroi · 18/02/2021 11:21

@FuckyouCovid21

I think it's strange that you accepted a friend request from someone you didn't know in the first place.

I've never had any friend requests from strangers until yesterday when I received 4, all blokes in the marines obviously in the US. I'm in the UK, Manchester Confused

Yes these are romance scammers. They are always widowers, and always doctors or military and use fake photos.
SylviaPlath1984 · 18/02/2021 11:23

I think it's rather lovely! It seems a lot of strangers online like to be awful for no reason, rather than nice. I'd take it as a win

Allyo19 · 18/02/2021 11:24

My first thought was that it is unusual by today's standards on Facebook but was not so much 10 years ago. I think it's similar to Instagram followers.

Givemeabreak88 · 18/02/2021 12:27

I think that's really nice actually!

GreenlandTheMovie · 18/02/2021 12:28

I think its nice. Its kind of like penpals really so not a new thing at all. Why wouldn't anyone want to know new people from a different country?

Wavey123 · 18/02/2021 13:46

When facebook first started, young people’s popularity was measured by how many friends they had on there, especially if still at school. Maybe she was just padding for the stats, but ended up with a friend at the end of it

Nearlythere1 · 18/02/2021 14:35

I think it's funny and sweet!

StillCoughingandLaughing · 18/02/2021 14:38

As others have said, this wasn’t uncommon in the early days of Facebook. I suppose the way to look at it is, is it doing any harm having her on your friend list? Hopefully you’re not sharing information on your profile that would put you at risk in any way.

I never understand it when I see people on here saying they delete old work colleagues or uni friends because ‘We never talk, so what’s the point?’ Surely the point is that you CAN see what’s going on with people from your past that you wouldn’t necessarily physically see in real life; a way of casually keeping in touch. Facebook friends are free and, as far as I know, unlimited - it’s not like you have to get rid of one you’re ambivalent about to replace them with someone you like better.

horridhorrid · 18/02/2021 14:39

Odd, but lovely.

FortunesFave · 18/02/2021 14:43

I belong to some specialist collector's groups on FB and we all chat like best mates and do what you've said.

StCharlotte · 18/02/2021 14:53

My nephew married an American. I was fully expecting to go to the wedding (can't actually remember why we didn't). Her grandmother (she looks so young I assumed it was her mother!) sent me a friend request. I think it would have been a great way to get to know a bit about each other and would have been a good icebreaker at the wedding had we gone.

Anyway, five years on, we're still "friends" and like the OP, we like each other's posts etc. It's nice.

PamelaCake · 18/02/2021 16:05

I have one of these

I joined Facebook 12 years ago and I have no idea where he appeared from! A random add I assume

Anyway I've seen him and his wife have three kids over the years so that's nice Grin

Tehmina23 · 18/02/2021 16:22

I've got several FB friends like this.