Hey, my oldest friend is a man named Vegard from Denmark whom I met on the Internet. I met him on mIRC in 1995 (or maybe 94). We are not especially close, but we exchange emails faithfully (every six months or so) and we'll always be friends as long as we each have internet access.

We haven't been through the trials that my IRL best friend and I have been through, but that friendship is definitely real. He is more well-read than I am, and I often bring up his views in book discussions with other people.

I also often repeat to Mike amusing or interesting things which the people on Rinkworks or my other frequented websites bring up.

I'm not much of a chatroom person, so my relationships with you all aren't as deep or complex as the ones forged in that type of interaction. But even with my forum-only policy, I still consider you friends.

Put it this way--- if a major event (such as getting engaged, or the less-hypothetical "father has cancer" issue) came up, I'd post the news here the day it happened.