I read the story of someone’s final days this morning in a discussion forum while listening on YouTube to the song that was played at his funeral.

This was someone I had never met but we had interacted via the forums as we discussed the programs we were testing and using.
I was moved to hear of his passing and also by all the comments from others in the forums, words of support and offers of prayers.

There are those who say that on-line friends are not “real” friends, perhaps because there are those who boast of having thousands of on-line “friends”.
After what I read this morning I disagree.

One of the dictionary definitions that I like is “A friend is someone who is on your side”.

Through the media of Facebook and other internet forums we get to interact with people who we may never ever actually meet.
There is no reason that we cannot be real friends with those we interact with regularly, simply by being on their side, by being encouraging, by being supportive, by taking a genuine interest and sharing a bit about ourselves.

It is also a reminder that we are not just interacting with forum or website but with real people, most of whom deserve our respect.

Originally posted August 26, 2011