meeting people in real life that you've met online...done it?

who has? i never have but i've met some people online who i wish i could meet in person. if you've done it before what was your experience? are the people the same in person as you had imagined? are they different? is it best to keep an online relationship online?

edited to add..

also, where online did you meet? how old are you/were you? does that make a difference?

Original Post by clairelaine:

I've met some Calorie Count friends in person at a couple of meet-ups in Washington DC.  It was really great spending time with the people I'd gotten to know through CC.  I've seen couple of them, who live not too far from me, several times, one on one and it was really fun.  I think having a mutual interest in getting healthy was the key.  We had plenty to talk about, and still do. 

I don't know if I'd agree to a first time one on one meeting, but I was very comfortable with a small group.

 I met Clairelaine. And the other CC's at the meet-ups. I've hung out with some of them at non-meet-ups too. I look forward to meeting more CC'rs.

Original Post by cptbunny:

Edit: I've never met a friend online, I don't think anyone would wanna be my friend. Not saying I'm a bad friend or person or anything, nor am I being emo-ish, I'm just a recluse by nature and that seems to make friends disappear. I'm shy and not very socialable... I'm terrible at this stuff. I don't see how I could ever get a friend and if I did, manage to keep one.

Huh?  You seem to have lots of friends on here.  Did I read this wrong?

I met my wife 15+ years ago in IRC. She was a soon-to-be honors english post graduate living in Nova Scotia, chatting with people on the west coast about universities in BC. I was a young and somewhat geeky (yet devilishly handsome and well-endowed) man trying to work my way into the pants of a girl who needed help getting on IRC for... something, I don't remember.

We had a nice chat, I remembered her name, and later on when I was at home we got to talking. Ended up turning into a regular thing, a few minutes every night, she was a nice person to gab with who was safely 6000km+ away.

Then she actually flew out to Vancouver to check on schools and was staying at another IRC denizen's parent's place. That night, I drove over to say howdy, we were all "zomg hi finally we meet in person", and hugged...

Oh, what a hug. Poets could fell a forest for pages enough to describe the warmth of that embrace. It was as if we'd melted into each other for a brief but endless instant.

The next morning, she decided that my place was a much better place to stay... and stay she did, going on 14 years this labour day. 

Funny side-note: the day my future wife and I met, there was an op-ed in the newspaper claiming that everyone online was a "scammer, psychopath, or sexual predator". We amused ourselves endlessly trying to decide which one of us was which.

*sighs*

*nurses toothache from the sweetness*

so hata, what was the nature of the online conversations? The e-flirting that seems so prevalent and rather tiresome or more substantial gabbing? And did you have to overcome 'the friend zone' online first?

forgive me - the topic intrigues me -

there's a Broadway musical here somewhere.

I met my wife through livejournal.

Apparently a friend of ours told her about me "Oh, you've got so much patience with (other guy K was chasing). You should meet Howard!" :p

So apparently K took the suggestion seriously. She started 'stalking' my journal, reading all my public entries and try to get a feeling for who I was and whether or not I was decent material before she approached me.

Then she approached me, still on livejournal.

We talked about unimportant stuff, common interests mostly. Music, computers, stuff like that.

Then she sprung the trap on me. "Oh poor pitifiul me. I have to go into Buffalo to meet up with my family and I don't know who will ever rescue me." I was clueless and I was single so I agreed to meet her.

Then she came down to Buffalo for Father's Day. I 'rescued her' (yeah, I'm a shmuck. I was trapped. I admit it.) We went to IHOP, we went to X-Men 2, we made out. It wasn't precisely magic, but it was a special day to say the least.

And that's how I met my wife.

heh it's all magic, hk. when people connect with their brainwaves first, it's definitely all magic. :)

I met my husband on a personals site.  I was bored with people from my conservative hometown and he was scared of people from his town (his favorite way to describe them is "the odds are good, but the goods are odd". 

I also have a very good friend I met in an AOL chatroom a hundred years ago.  We talk weekly and I really consider him one of my closest friends.  However, we've never met in person.  We keep saying that one of us has to make the trip but for some reason we never do. 

Met a really good friend and my current boyfriend of 4 years online. Love it :)

Original Post by kathygator:

so hata, what was the nature of the online conversations? The e-flirting that seems so prevalent and rather tiresome or more substantial gabbing? And did you have to overcome 'the friend zone' online first?

forgive me - the topic intrigues me -

there's a Broadway musical here somewhere.

Honestly? Nothing. Inconsequential stuff. How her day was. How my day was. Thoughts on the latest movie or TV show (we were both biiiiiig X-files fans). Complaints about the retarded hoop-jumping required to schmooze the muckity-mucks to get a more favorable reading of her thesis when it came up to the review board. Complaints about my roommate, a 6'5" transgendered sex worker with a penchant for high drama and terrible wigs.

At my core I'm a pretty sexual person, so I suppose there was probably some reflexive flirting mixed in there, the odd innuendo made mostly for my own amusement, but there wasn't any e.sexxin' or anything like that going on. When she first told me she was coming out I was actually involved with a (complete freakshow of a) girl. We both thought we'd get along dandy and have fun hanging out, but the intense, overpowering wave of erotic warmth that swept us up on that first meeting was unlike anything either of us had ever experienced. We still pillow-talk about it sometimes.

I met my boyfriend (and future husband!) two and a half years ago online, on a dating site. Funny enough, we lived just a couple of blocks away from each other at the time, but likely never would have met had it not been for the world wide web.

Before him, I kissed a lot of frogs, most of them met online. I had varied experiences...some good, some great, some boring, only two or three creepy, and just one that was the stuff of Dates From Hell. You really have to use your radar, I think that helps a lot with lessening your chances of meeting creeps. I think for each of the bad experiences, there were red flags that I ignored...just like meeting anyone in real life. To me, it's really no different, it just provides a means of meeting a wider range of people than you encounter in day to day life. I'm not a terribly social person, and very shy when meeting new people,  so having a way to meet people and express myself in print really was a godsend.

People have different e-styles...some wanted to get together in person immediately after "meeting", some people just wanted to chat endlessly and didn't seem motivated to ever meet in person...I was somewhere in the middle. I liked to get to know someone a little, get a feel for what they were like, get a sense of how dependable and serious they were, see how they talked about family and friends, see if they could laugh at themselves, stuff like that. One of the early conversations that my bf and I had was about sexuality and the double standard in our society....when he was passionate about the topic but didn't use that as an excuse to start a sex chat, I knew he was the guy for me!

Original Post by tynersgirl:

Well I am coming in on this one a little late but I have met 3 girls here on CC and since 1 of them was not very impressed...I can at least say I have made two very good friendships out of it.

We meet up for Happy hours and go on walks, hikes and things like that:) I feel very blessed to have met them and think the support we all are able to give eachother is  great:)

that was NOT directed towards you guys, I have met some guys while living in ny and hoped to ATLEAST be friends with them but they were not as cool as they seemed to be while talking back and forth on email, one of my friends in ny got married to a guy from chatting online and then meeting. so congrats to all who have gotten married! 

Chrissy,  I'm in LA almost every weekend, let's go for coffee sometime. 

I've met one CC person in NYC (safina is awesome!).  I've met numerous folks through online dating.  It's about the same as meeting them in person, you get creeps, you get nice people, and occasionally someone clicks.

smwhipple...we totally should. will you be here this weekend? we could have coffee on saturday or fro-yo. i live in westwood so right near ucla...that would be so fun!! where do you live?

I'm in Santa Barbara, but I go down almost every Saturday and Sunday for dancing.  Saturday 101@405, Sunday Burbank...anywhere within about 1/2 hour is easy enough for me. 

ahhh. So it does exist.

suddenly all my writing is validated.

I met mcderin -- the first person I ever met from an online situation, and she was great, wish I had more time to be a better friend.  Since that time I have met several men in dating situations -- none with disastrous results.  Actually, all the guys I have met have been great guys, currently seeing one I met online in June.  Sometimes I have extensive phonecons with them first, other times, just online chats.  Either way, I have always met in well-lit, crowded venues -- and have never had a problem.  I could be friends with all the people I met, if they weren't really looking for more than just friends....

Original Post by rosieblue:

Original Post by cptbunny:

Edit: I've never met a friend online, I don't think anyone would wanna be my friend. Not saying I'm a bad friend or person or anything, nor am I being emo-ish, I'm just a recluse by nature and that seems to make friends disappear. I'm shy and not very socialable... I'm terrible at this stuff. I don't see how I could ever get a friend and if I did, manage to keep one.

Huh?  You seem to have lots of friends on here.  Did I read this wrong?

In person! ;D

I got lots on here. :D

Been to two CC meetups and have visited CCers outside of them.

Doesn't suck.

Original Post by cptbunny:

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

Married it.

Ditto.

 Ditto