I prefer offline friends.

I just see too big a window for cyber friends to not be entirely honest. What I mean is that there is not the same vested interest in the relationship with people online as there is off. You can say things you would never say to a real life friend. It is easier to do so because that vested interest and bond isn't there. One is more free over the internet. I think too people have a tendancy to become more attached to these 'relationships' too - they take over a life of their own. Again, a cyber relationship is easier than the real thing.

Here's a few litmus tests:

- Would you find this okay (especially if these associations were of the opposite sex) for your significant other?
- Have you talked about or said things to these cyper friends you wouldn't your real friends?
- Would ending an online relationship cause the same grief as an offline chum?

I've been there and it nearly ruined my life. I wouldn't talk to a real friend everyday for hours a day, would I? Yet I would move heaven and earth to do so with online friends.

Now I stick to the real thing. Only one friend on my list is someone I have never met in person and I don't talk to them other than to give them updates on their family member in crisis. Life seems to be a lot easier that way.