That's right. I don't care if your dog is your best friend or your whole social circle is only made up of people online that you hang out with - the friendships are legit.

Sorry this got long lol.
This issue was bothering the crap out of me:

I have long distance relatives up visiting and one of them was making conversation she asked me about my career future...which there wasn't much to say because I'm just starting back working at a part time boring place after a 5 year hiatus.

And then she starts asking me about my friends and social life and who I was talking to on my PDA because a message popped up on screen. I told her it was a friend of mine telling me about her day. So she asks me about her I tell her this friend lives in another state, and I have another friend that lives down south in TX who we are planning on getting together etc.

Well my relative then gives me this attitude and a dirty look telling me those aren't any real friends, and then asks, what about anybody from around here? I said no, it's going to take a while to build friendships in this local area because people around here are pretty tough and closed off to their own groups socially.

So she continues her jerk opinionated quest to dis my online social connections to me, and tells me that "my feelings" toward building social life with people around here are false and that it's easier and better to make "real" friends locally.

Yeah right okay, like I can just run out right now, grab a stranger and make them my friend. Lol. Whatever.

That really pissed me off. Hardcore. People don't need to walk into your stuff and tell you what you do is wrong and fake because it's not a local connection. That would be like me telling her that her business dealing with international clients is all fake. WTF!!!!

People don't realize how damn hard it can be to rebuild social connections, especially if you tend to be a little different or are a little awkward more than usual. Any kind of friendship is legit, and just as wonderful