Have you met some of your chatbuddies?

[Dudie]

in real life

One of the cool things about the internet is that you can 'meet' people from all over the world or just people from your own country you would not have met if it was in real life. Over the years I met quite a few people I chatted with from my own country in real life. But I also met someone from Sweden when she had a transfer at the airport in Amsterdam and yesterday I met a chatbuddy from Singapore because she's in Amsterdam for a few days.

So far it has all been so fun

Ofcourse I also know the dangers of meeting people you met online. That's why I don't meet up to fast or don't want a meeting if it doesn't feel right. And I always meet up at public places or public events and tell someone I'm having a meeting. I never had a negative experience yet, it was only a bit of a downer when a chatbuddy turned out to be extremely shy and hardly said a thing.

Some people find it weird when I meet people from online because they find it to dangerous and when I tell told them I had a meeting with people from an other country they found it totally weird because "How did you meet those people? How do you communicate? Can they speak English?".

Have you met people you chat with (or from a forum) in real life? What was your experience?

[Snowy-Nights]

I'm a little iffy on online meet ups but I'm not entirely opposed to it.  I would just apply the same precautions as you do.  I think it's fine if you're both adults.  I don't really approve of a 15 year old girl meeting up with a 21 year old guy.  Anyways, I used to think it was weird just to talk to a random stranger online, but I was being narrowed-minded in thinking that everyone online is a "lonely, perverted middle age man."  There are some interesting characters online though.     

[Guest Chocolate_Truffle]

One of my friends who lives in Spain I met online. She is originally from England so she speaks English. We talked for quite a few years and then in the summer of 2007 she stayed at my house for 2 weeks. She was 15/16 at the time and I just turned 20. I wouldn't recommend people to do that unless you talk to the person for a long time. We've talked on the phone and on web cam a bunch of times before she came over here. Also her mom and my mom talked on the phone. It went great and we had a lot of fun. I don't have many online friends but the ones I do have I have talked to for quite a few years so I would feel comfortable meeting them. I wouldn't go and just meet anyone though. Well maybe if they were from Soompi and from my area I would but it would be in a public place. But if yoi go to stay with someone you really do need to know them for a while.

[Dudie]

I don't really approve of a 15 year old girl meeting up with a 21 year old guy.    

Me neither unless you just know that guy doesn't have the wrong intentions. When I had my first meeting I was 19 and he was 25. But it was purely friendship and I chatted with people who met him aswell so it was ok. I also had planned that I would be 5 minutes late (so I could check from a distance) but his train had a delay.

One of my friends who lives in Spain I met online. She is originally from England so she speaks English. We talked for quite a few years and then in the summer of 2007 she stayed at my house for 2 weeks. She was 15/16 at the time and I just turned 20. I wouldn't recommend people to do that unless you talk to the person for a long time. We've talked on the phone and on web cam a bunch of times before she came over here. Also her mom and my mom talked on the phone. It went great and we had a lot of fun. I don't have many online friends but the ones I do have I have talked to for quite a few years so I would feel comfortable meeting them. I wouldn't go and just meet anyone though. Well maybe if they were from Soompi and from my area I would but it would be in a public place. But if yoi go to stay with someone you really do need to know them for a while.

True! When I have a 1 on 1 meeting I always want to chat a few months atleast but most of them I knew for atleast 1 year or sometimes even 4+ years. I did meet some chatbuddies after a week or 2 chatting aswel but then it wasn't a 1 on 1 meeting and on a event with other chatbuddies I did meet before. Ohh and I went on a weekendtrip twice with a bunch of people I met online. So much fun!

[Guest sus]

i have met a few

ermm i prob wont do it ne more

i was just going thru that phase

i use to have HEAPS of chat buddies but hardli ne now since im pre occupied with things

ive met about 4

first one- was a guy from sydney.. ive chatted to him for like over a year. umm i saw him as a good friend

i just went up to syd with my gfs and he took us around..

n then for my bday he flew down n stayed a few days.. i dun talk to him ne cos bf got jealous...

2. was a guy.. i talked to for a while,, he was older n i think he was interested in me.. neways i didnt like him .. n yeaaa lost contact after a while..

he was iffy... didnt feel secure around him...

3. was another guy who i have chatted to for like over a year... he had an interest in me n i did too..

he actually spotted me at a club LOL

neways we are still friends n we still chat online...

4 the last guy i met... is my current bf LOL 3 years and still goin ^^

but yea im too old to meet people online, takes too long to suss them out lol

[GOOMBA]

I have! Many of them, too.

Some have turned out to be my closest friends and some are just outright horrible people.

Be careful and stay safe!

[Guest SUMM3RxBABii]

I've always been one that's afraid to meet people from online...it's just weird to me imo. I have a friend who meets a lot of people from online and actually, she met this REALLY cute guy from Germany and he seemed really adorable and stuff. So he finally came here and spent a week at her place and they both liked each other, and she tried to avoid him as much as possible, but he 'stalked' her in a way. As soon as he got back, he was trolling around with e-mails and he was acting all crazy and stuff. It was really weird and she's like terrified of him.

One reason why I don't really like meeting people online that much.

[Guest RYUUSEi]

Yeah, I've met some friends, and most of the time it's cool. But it can also be disappointing when some people who were so hilarious and witty online turned out to be incredibly shy and hard to talk to in real life.

I think it's fun to meet up though, it's very interesting to see how people look and act in person.

[Guest nsterling]

No I don't because some of my friends or chat buddies are from other countries so there's no chance for me to meet them and vice versa.

[Guest Wingedbunny]

Yeah mostly girls my own age and i chatted with them for several years before meeting them in amsterdam. I met a guy irl a few times but it didn't really work out. Nowadays i don't meet a lot of people online that i'm able to meet. I don't really have any friends in this country who i have not met yet

[Guest HERMIT]

Interestingly, I have real friends that I've known since high school and I haven't even talked to them on a regular phone in 20 years. I find that to be even more profoundly impressive.

Anyway, as to chatbuddies/online acquaintances, I have met a few and I've found my experiences with them to be pretty enjoyable and without incident/discomfort. In fact, there's one guy that I met from another online forum over a decade ago and we've become pretty good friends over the years. To the point that I now realize we don't socialize online anymore - only to email each other about hanging out in person.