Real friendships in a virtual world

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I saw this on Facebook and adapted it for The Border. I like what it says. So many think you can't have real friends in a virtual world, people that you have only met online, and that just isn't true. Many of my FB friends have proved that's not true and here on this forum it's definitely proven to not be true.

Our guys have enriched our lives with their wonderful music, and thanks to them we've all found this place and found each other. Here's to friends in a virtual world!! :cheers:

http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb328/vernakrose/misc/friendsontheborder.jpg

[Tiffanny Twisted]

Oh VA, I couldnt have said it better myself.

The Border makes the world seem a whole lot smaller when you really think about it.It still amazes me that I can speak to people all over the world who are just a lot like me.
I give thanks everyday for some of the wonderful friends I have met her.
Blessings to you all who have made my world a better place by your kindess and friendships.
tt

[TimothyBFan]

That is wonderful!! And from all across the world!

[Topkat]

VA, I love that! Yes, I too an very grateful for the friends I have met through the Border...We may not always agree on things, but we all have a love for our guys, so we try to understand the others point of view!

Some of you, I have met in person, & some I may never meet, but we are a tight group with a common ground & It's always a pleasure to see what my friends on the Border are up to & I am grateful that I have this little place to go to share the love of the Eagles!!!:grouphug: Love you guys!

[Prettymaid]

I've told the story before about when Hubby and I went to the September 2008 Eagles show in Chicago. I had found The Border just a month before. When I told him I wanted us to have dinner before the show with some members of the board, he was very reluctant. But I persisted, and we met Soda and TBF and her husband Larry for the first time. Since then both of us have forged deeper friendships with them. Now he's much more open to meeting my online friends.

[Troubadour]

So true! Thanks for posting that, VA.

[prayfordaylight]

It's funny how your online friends can become longer and truer friends than those you're surrounded by on a daily basis.

I'm still very close with people I met on one of the main Fleetwood Mac message boards starting in 1997 and yet I barely keep in contact with anyone I went to high school with.

Just yesterday I ran into someone who was one of my best friends in high school and yet, I hadn't seen him in almost 10 years. It's funny how those people fall away but the Internet keeps fandom friends together.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

That is lovely, VA. Thanks for posting it. VA and I were just talking last night about this and then, after I hung up from talking to her, Soda called me not long after. It is amazing indeed that we have managed to forge such great friendships that started online. It was 2005 when Soda and I met at our first Eagles concert and we were actually talking last night about how well we travel together after all these many years and trips. Long live The Border!!! :thumbsup:

Ali - I have to tell you that I lost touch with many of my high school friends over the years, but several years ago, after a class reunion, several of us reconnected and now meet several times a year for lunch or dinner to catch up with one another. But the thing that keeps us connected and able to communicate is that we set up a Facebook account for our class.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

This past summer, when I was going through the trauma and drama of a supposedly good friend of mine of over 20 years turning out to not be such a good friend, I got a lot of posts in that thread that said people were thinking of me and/or praying for me. Beyond that, I was surprised and pleased at how many phone calls, emails, private messages, Facebook messages, texts, and cards in the mail I got, just asking if I was OK or offering general support. I can't tell you all how needed that was, especially as it was evident I was losing (or already lost) what I had thought was a good friend. It was one of those things where I didn't realize how much I needed the support until I got it.

[Brooke]

VA, thanks for posting this and I wholeheartedly agree. It's so true!

I've been here since 2006, have never met most of you, and yet, I feel like I've known some of you forever and I think of you as very good friends! I so hope to meet more of you in the coming years! :cheers:

[Freypower]

Well, it's ironic. My Border friends are also my Facebook friends. I did 'friend' a couple of high school people & one old workmate there but they hardly ever post so it is my Border friends' posts I see. It is interesting to get more perspective on people's personal lives there (I don't know what people here think about my stuff there. They see a lot of travel photos because in an ideal world that is what I would be doing. Travelling).

I still hope that one day someone from here will visit me but I realise that will probably not happen. That's another reason why it was such a privilege to meet Soda, GA, GL, HH, Dreamer, TF, PLS & spouses in 2010 and then Soda & GA again last year. Unfortunately I can't see that happening again so I'll just enjoy people's company here & on Facebook.

[lizzyplays]

I totally agree with everyone. There's really nothing else that can be added. The best part about it is, I might need a friend at 4am but wouldnt dare wake anyone with a call or text, but I can always find someone in another time zone, there, willing to lend an ear. I try to make myself available as much as possible too. Sometimes, a few short simple words can turn someone's day around. I live by that motto!

[Tiffanny Twisted]

TK...
"we all stand on common ground"---Glenn Frye

We all started together on the border cause we stand on common ground when it comes to the band...

I feel very lucky....some people on this board have become very good friends to me...I only hope and pray that I am half the friend to others that they have been to me.

Common ground.........

[Freypower]

TK...
"we all stand on common ground"---Glenn Frye

We all started together on the border cause we stand on common ground when it comes to the band...

I feel very lucky....some people on this board have become very good friends to me...I only hope and pray that I am half the friend to others that they have been to me.

Common ground.........

I think TBF corrected you on your spelling of Schmit elsewhere. I am sorry to do this, but I have to do the same. It's 'Frey'.

[Tiffanny Twisted]

I thiink TBF corrected you on your spelling of Schmit elsewhere. I am sorry to do this, but I have to do the same. It's 'Frey'.
Sorry sometimes I just shouldnt typow when I am tired....
are y ou and english teahcer ??
just wondering?? cause I do suck at spelling and typing/.....same thing
just shoudnt do things when I am tired...usually its my tyoping that gets me everythime.....

[Freypower]

Sorry sometimes I just shouldnt typow when I am tired....
are y ou and english teahcer ??
just wondering?? cause I do suck at spelling and typing/.....same thing
just shoudnt do things when I am tired...usually its my tyoping that gets me everythime.....

No, I am the daughter of an English teacher. I didn't mean to sound judgmental & I wouldn't have mentioned it if it hadn't been mentioned elsewhere re the spelling of 'Schmit'.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I know I have to be careful. I have two devices that change Frey to Frye each and every time and I have to go back and correct it and tap again before using the space bar to keep it from doing that. Does the same with Schmit. Yeah, there's a way to add it to the dictionary, but I'm not about to do that much research. I hope no one jumps all over me when the contacts fail me and I miss it. Those who text with me know I seldom proof anything on a mobile device!

[Glennsallnighter]

Well, getting back on topic, and throwing my tuppence in, I was 'playing around' with glennfreyonline.com way back nearly 6 years ago when I came across the Border, and I joined merely to be able to answer a post about the first album I had bought! lol!

Its a decision that has changed my life completely, and I have made so many friends on the Border who to me are every bit as real as the people I come into physical contact with on a daily or weekly basis!

When I joined the first thing I was struck with was the plethora of welcomes and good wishes that came my way, and I got the impression that people were genuinely pleased that there was another fan on the Border.

Since I joined I have even had the privilidge of meeting quite a number of my fellow Borderers, something I would never have dreamed possible. They include Mrs Frey from South Africa and glenneaglesfan from the UK who I met in 2008 at the opening LROOE concert, then StepsUK in Belfast the following year.

In 2011 my dream of seeing Glenn :heart: Frey do not one, but 2 live shows in Niagara Falls came true. But as well as seeing him it was so wonderful to meet Soda, Dreamer, PLS, Timfan, Henley Honey Glennlover and of course, and unbeliveably the person located as far away from me geographically as could happen, Freypower!

Then again I was lucky enough to meet Soda and FP in May last year for the final performance of Glenn :heart:'s 'After Hours' tour! And less than a month later in a totally unrelated to Eagles experience I met Soda when she was visiting my own city Dublin last summer.

There are other people who I have yet to meet 'physically' such as Troub, but I am in contact with on a daily basis! And of course just because I haven't 'met' everybody here I still feel no different towards them as I do towards those that I have.

OK! So I've gone on a bit! Didn't mean to, but I just wanted to point out that I would probably never have met these wonderful people, had not the virtual friendships been so strong.

This Border community is a very special one and I feel when I log on that I am in the company of true friends - I have been on other social forums in my time including Facebook, and Myspace, but I never feel as 'at home' on those ones as I do on this one. On the Border our joys are mutiplied and our burdens are shared! Thats what friends do for each other at the end of the day.

And I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that all of our friendships are very real, even if they did originate in a virtual world!

(Woah! I feel like I've written an English Essay!)

[Witchy Woman]

I haven't been here very long but you are all so nice and caring, and you don't see that everyday. I hope I have the chance to meet you all at some point, be it at a solo or group show.

[sodascouts]

It's true that online friendships often last longer than the people you meet in real life, and because of my online friendships I almost never feel lonely. I feel like I have benefitted the most from creating this forum because of all the wonderful people who have been there for me, and that number increases every year as great people continue to join. The stigma often associated with such relationships is totally unwarranted. In fact my sisters, who are totally uninvolved in any kind of online fandoms, said to me after meeting some of you, "wow, they're all so nice and normal." lol

[Troubadour]

Good to know, Soda. ;) I honestly think the stigma isn't as bad as it used to be. The internet is used for so much now - online banking, business networking, online dating, house-searching, shopping - and so it's a pretty big part of the lives of most people. There's a forum for everything, and it's getting more local - for example, connecting mums or students in a particular area - so I think that people aren't as scared of crossing that line between virtual and "real life" meetings and friendships. It has its dangers (as does meeting someone in a bar or coffee shop), but it is a great resource and an amazing way of broadening your horizons and connecting with people you probably wouldn't otherwise. It's given me so many fantastic opportunities and it's fun to hear about everyone else's experiences and feelings, too.

[Brooke]

Soda, you mean she didn't catch on that we are all just slightly 'obsessed'? :hilarious:

[Tiffanny Twisted]

It's true that online friendships often last longer than the people you meet in real life, and because of my online friendships I almost never feel lonely. I feel like I have benefitted the most from creating this forum because of all the wonderful people who have been there for me, and that number increases every year as great people continue to join. The stigma often associated with such relationships is totally unwarranted. In fact my sisters, who are totally uninvolved in any kind of online fandoms, said to me after meeting some of you, "wow, they're all so nice and normal." lol

Thanks for making me laugh Nancy....
I think everyone I have physically met here from the border is so normal it isnt funny..lol we all just have so much of hte same things in common....