Help

Years and years ago, I was really active on a forum, and one of the members did this world trip, couch surfing with different members of the forum and seeing the world. She and I weren't good friends. In fact, she irritated me a bit, nothing in particular, just... Didn't vibe. At all. But a leg of her trip was taking through my state, and she needed a place to crash, so I said fuck it, sure.
She stayed with her best friend from the forum in Boston, and it was a complete bust. They didn't get along, Boston friend found her irritating, grating, and overwhelmingly boring.
Then she got to my place, and I made a new best friend. We got along so well she stayed an extra 2 days, and we had a fucking blast.
Irl/online can be a major difference, one from the other
- Most people hate me both online and in person.
  
  Count me in, you fucker
  
  I feel ya. Same way
  
  You must be very consistent across the board. Can I ask what people hate about you?
  
  I don't even know you.
- Very true. I had someone I was friends with IRL who I would talk about my online roleplay community with. I asked if she was interested in joining and she said sure. She was... insufferable. Did not get along with anyone else. I found her online presence incredibly grating. It was crazy, it was a completely different person.
  
  I've got a good friend who played D&D with us a couple times and found out real quick that not all friend groups are okay with overlapping. It was awful
  
  My writing words and my speaking words are very different. Writing is much better. All but one of my girlfriends over the last 20 years were chatted up online/email/sms first. IRL, they'd probably have been put off by my verbal hesitation, and my glancing at their knockers ever 10 seconds (a habit I find it impossible to break without intense concentration on not doing it)
- I was once really excited to meet a forum friend on whom I'd been crushing on a little as we were going to attend the same event, and she brought along a forum newbie who lived near her and who I didn't really know all that well.
  It turned out my crush and I had just platonically friendly vibes in person, but her friend and I had an immediate major connection and ended up dating seriously for a year.

I met my internet best friend this summer and I think that's how she felt about me.
We had an okay time together but our friendship doesn't feel the same anymore (in a bad way) and it's 100% my fault because I was agressively insecure all the time. I was meeting someone from the internet for the very first time and it was also the very first time I left my country completely on my own.
However, that trip and meetup changed me a lot for the better. I feel like I matured a lot after that.
I hope she will forgive me and give me a second chance. I will also very much understand if she doesn't.
- Have you talked to her about how you feel?
  
  No, I haven't.
  I know that I should but I'm having a hard time getting myself to talk about it.

Wait I don't understand, is that instant pizza brand mid?
- I think there is no deeper meaning to this. It just do be like dat sometimes, people are different irl than online.
  
  yes, feels like the pic is only meant to situate, like "I'm here in this situation"
- I think it might be the way her fingers are holding that box
  
  it’s a video so I think that like said it’s just situating that it’s who’s she’s with rn and she hates the IRL version of her online best friend. Itdoes go with the argument that could be made, that online human interaction aren’t a 100% “real”.
  
  CRAB PEOPLE CRAB PEOPLE

Completely unrelatable, but I’m really sorry for anyone this happens to.
- Going to meet an internet friend abroad in three days, and I am petrified 🥲
  
  Counterexample. Over the pandemic I met some people as a d&d group. Two years later we all met up for a vacation together and had a blast (ok one woman didn't vibe great but the rest did). This past year at one's wedding we met each others' partners and everyone had an amazing time. In fact we had such a good time that when my wife and I were deciding what blue city to flee our red state to we picked the home city of one of those friends, and we're going to crash with her for a little while while we look for an apartment. In addition to being closer to her, the whole friend group will be on the west coast making trips together easier, which we're all excited for

This is why I haven’t seen my online friend yet despite the fact that we live in the same city now lol

How do people even have online friends, I only have occasional chats with strangers on Reddit or Lemmy but I wouldn't call anyone a friend let alone meet them in real life
- I think the easiest answer is to play online games with a mic until you meet someone you click with then make a discord and grow it. That's what I did when I had online friends at least.
  
  Yeah that sounds good, but English isn't my first language and I'm not that good at any games. Still worth a shot
- I have a solid squad of 6 that have been playing Xbox together for 15 years. We're all friends scattered across the country and have never met IRL.
- We are bros though
  Edit: my best friend met his now wife while playing LOL.
  
  My best friend met his now wife because one of our (IRL) friends met her while playing Roblox...
- How do you call someone you have known thru irc, skype and now discord, for 20+years, but never met in life? Those strangers probably knows things my family does not