How Have You Made Friends on TBT/Other Websites?

[-Blue-]

TBT is honestly one of the few forums that I feel like the community is pretty close-knit and friendly towards each other and it creates a calm environment for the most part. It's what I like about this forum.

There are only two other forums that I can say that I cherish just as much even though the forum and members are long gone (and I do miss them) I have connected well with a lot of people on those forums and here. Still, I am pretty I could be vaporized by some strange forum glitch (that only affected my account) and few, if any, would probably notice lol. Maybe Jeremy, but he would be too afraid to admit it because he spilled his coffee on the server at 3am during a coding binge rush.

 

[ZeldaCrossing64]

I joined this forum 2 years ago, and I've managed to make a number of friends and acquaintances on TBT. Most of it had to do with having the same interests (for example, liking the same games or TV shows), but I still talk with certain users even if we don't have much in common. TBT is a warm and friendly forum community, so it's relatively easy to open up and chat with people here. Like others have already mentioned, I think it boils down to consistent positive interactions (quotes/replies, profile posts, like/love reacts, shared interests, etc.) and the overall friendliness of the userbase.

 

[-Blue-]

I joined this forum 2 years ago, and I've managed to make a number of friends and acquaintances on TBT. Most of it had to do with having the same interests (for example, liking the same games or TV shows), but I still talk with certain users even if we don't have much in common. TBT is a warm and friendly forum community, so it's relatively easy to open up and chat with people here. Like others have already mentioned, I think it boils down to consistent positive interactions (quotes/replies, profile posts, like/love reacts, shared interests, etc.) and the overall friendliness of the userbase.

The events definitely help to. It wasn't until during my first event, Bell Tree Championship (or whatever) that I really got to start to know a lot of the members on the forum.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I don't know if I did. Its hard to say. Guess maybe @oak when I was done in the dumps and @Airysuit when she made a fanart of Molly for me. Credit goes to her by the way. I (sigh)..... I suck at making friends since I've been broken too many times.

 

[Suguri]

I like to find dead threads and post on there. This one's an interesting discussion... bringing this thread up.

When I was in the second grade I was really active on this website called Scratch. My explanation is not the best but it's where you can drag blocks to make things. (speaking of which, today's the 8th anniversary of me creating my first account on there!) I actually formed two online friendships there and they are still maintained to this day. This one guy in particular went on to become a digital artist on DeviantArt and an animator. I remember when years ago he made this elimation series thing and one of my OCs was in it. He's not on Scratch anymore but I discovered his Discord while browsing YouTube and I managed to reunite with him this way. The other friend I met while we were both editors on this drama-filled wiki which I won't speak more about. We have Scratch accounts too and somehow we hit it off. We even became Discord friends right away.

The one thing we have in common is that we are autistic, so that kind of played a role in those connections being formed. Scratch's emphasis on creativity may have also contributed to this too; the first one is an artist and animator like I mentioned, the second one does animations inspired by video games, and I guess I like to draw, or do whatever piques my interest in terms of artistry.

I'm still trying to get to know everyone on here so I don't have any mutuals or whatever on TBT...yet. It does feel nice to go around and help people, which is what I've been doing quite a bit of lately. Surely it will come back to me. It just takes me a while to open up because of the possibility of befriending an online predator... Highly unlikely, but still possible. Now, I'd like to talk about my struggles with IRL relationships, but that's another story. And I'm not sure I'm ready to bring that up anyway.

 

[Chris]

I've made many over the years, and it just came through spending time talking to them. In my teens and 20s I made an active effort to make and maintain friendships online. Some of those people I even met in person despite us living in different countries. I also met a former staff member on here some years back.

In recent years, especially since lockdown ended, my priorities have changed. I've some long-standing online friends I adore (one is a fellow staff member and I'm sure he knows who he is!) but I just don't spend all that much dedicated time online anymore. I prefer spending time with people face-to-face.

 

[Roxxy]

Actually can’t believe I’ve not replied to this. Yes, on tbt I have made a few friends who i speak to daily and honestly couldn’t imagine life without them. They will never get rid of me

In a past life I met a person who is not in my life now but changed it forever.

 

[SkyKnight03]

I've made a few long term friends elsewhere online. (6+ years and counting). Those are nice. Can be rather on and off, but we always seem to float back to each other.

I haven't really spoken to anybody here. (aside from one person on discord). I don't know if I'll end up making the effort. In all honesty I simply enjoy being around the forums. Even as a sitting odd duck of sorts.

Life moves fast. But I hope to remain part of here instead of completely drifting out. I'll consider that worthwhile on its own merit.

 

[Dunquixote]

I made friends on twitter by one day replying to a cat account I saw randomly in my feed by posting my kitties’ pictures. Soon after, a lot of cat accounts followed me and eventually I got drawn in to the fun of cat twitter . I have a couple chat groups my cats (me) are in and some of us exchange christmas cards; this year i couldn’t because of depression. They’ve all been really understanding about my mental health problems and about me randomly needing time away from there.

 

[Neb]

I used to DM and initiate conversations and hope the other person was up for potentially being friends. It didn’t always work out, but I met some nice people that way. I have a hard time doing that anymore though since I don’t want to come off like one of those people that slide into people’s DMs to try to get into a relationship with them.

 

[Suguri]

I like to find dead threads and post on there. This one's an interesting discussion... bringing this thread up.

When I was in the second grade I was really active on this website called Scratch. My explanation is not the best but it's where you can drag blocks to make things. (speaking of which, today's the 8th anniversary of me creating my first account on there!) I actually formed two online friendships there and they are still maintained to this day. This one guy in particular went on to become a digital artist on DeviantArt and an animator. I remember when years ago he made this elimation series thing and one of my OCs was in it. He's not on Scratch anymore but I discovered his Discord while browsing YouTube and I managed to reunite with him this way. The other friend I met while we were both editors on this drama-filled wiki which I won't speak more about. We have Scratch accounts too and somehow we hit it off. We even became Discord friends right away.

The one thing we have in common is that we are autistic, so that kind of played a role in those connections being formed. Scratch's emphasis on creativity may have also contributed to this too; the first one is an artist and animator like I mentioned, the second one does animations inspired by video games, and I guess I like to draw, or do whatever piques my interest in terms of artistry.

I'm still trying to get to know everyone on here so I don't have any mutuals or whatever on TBT...yet. It does feel nice to go around and help people, which is what I've been doing quite a bit of lately. Surely it will come back to me. It just takes me a while to open up because of the possibility of befriending an online predator... Highly unlikely, but still possible. Now, I'd like to talk about my struggles with IRL relationships, but that's another story. And I'm not sure I'm ready to bring that up anyway.

Update - I have good news: I managed to befriend someone on the forums about a week ago! How? Um...it just happened. I know there are some people out there who like my drawings, and I appreciate it because I think I'm a lousy artist. But not once have I come across someone who likes them so much they decided to gift me fanart out of the blue...until recently. ^_^ I'm currently following them alongside Circley, who is one of the online friends I spoke about in my original post that I quoted.

 

[Dunquixote]

Since coming back from my hiatus, I made some more friends, got back in touch with others and I even got invited to some discord groups . I’m not much of a day to day chatter, so I’m very grateful to both for having me still and understanding that . I feel like a lot of the credit goes to friends for reaching out to me; i’ve been interested in chatting with a lot of people on the forums, but I’ve been too shy about approaching and also since I feel like I’m awkward at initiating conversations or even just conversing .

 

[Zinnia.]

I've made a lot of online friends through Club Tortimer or other online Nintendo games during the 3ds era. I've also made some friends through online chat rooms like pict.chat or omegle. I'm just acquaintances with users here on tbt since i'm really quiet, but I'd like to change that sometime!

 

[Yoshi155]

Uh don’t ask why I’m reviving this month old thread

There’s a lot of different ways I’ve made friends on this site, so I’ll just list them:

- posting in threads that other users post in a lot (in this case it was a certain thread in the Basement and whenever I posted there, two/three other users there would always love or at least like the post)
- events in general, but especially team events obviously
- finding out we share interests
- just talking to people

But I think the biggest and most common one in my experience is just being nice to other users. Like complimenting their avatar/lineup/art, saying happy birthday to them, giving them collectibles they really want, especially if you do it for free, checking in on them if they’re going through something, etc. Most people tend to appreciate and remember when you do things like that.

 

[Suguri]

Okay, I'm going to post here again. I made one here before but it's crazy outdated and I was very reclusive and nervous at the time. >.< I mean, look at this...

I'm still trying to get to know everyone on here so I don't have any mutuals or whatever on TBT...yet. It does feel nice to go around and help people, which is what I've been doing quite a bit of lately. Surely it will come back to me. It just takes me a while to open up because of the possibility of befriending an online predator... Highly unlikely, but still possible.

Anyway, as I spent time on the forums, I came to realize that it wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be! I continued to help others, and just like that the kindness returned to me. <3 And no one here was an online predator, at least to my knowledge. Thank goodness!

In general, I've made acquaintances online by talking to users about interests and other things we have in common. Sometimes this blossoms into a friendship. It has only happened a few times though, since I'm introverted and kinda shy. For TBT, I just post in random threads, and then people will notice how abundant those posts of mine are and follow me.

If you're nice to me and we have a bunch in common, we could be great friends. Or if you're lucky, we could be best friends! Or more than friends! Or...dating!? (///w///) Yeeaahh, it happened to me just recently! looks shyly at zeldacrossing64 ><

 

[Doo]

Let’s just say at this point in my life, my friendships are exclusively online (anxiety and stuff ) and I personally find it much much easier than irl. I dont know if anyone here considers me a friend because I’m so new but there are some people I’ve sort of got to know a little. I’m not sure how it happened. Honestly when I see people struggling with things I can relate to, I do everything in my power to help them, and then it sort of results in a friendship. I do worry though that people would rather I left them alone, maybe they don’t want my input. I don’t want to force myself on to anyone.

Also, I’m a crazy person, I’m just silly and chaotic. When people see that side of me and accept it, I feel more able to be myself with them and get closer to them.

Oh, and TBTWC was a great time to get to know people, I feel much more part of the community after playing and chatting with everyone.

I kind of find it difficult to work out if someone is my friend or if we’re just acquaintances.

 

[skarmoury]

Made one friend, she introduced me to her other friends…. and the rest is history ;w; To be honest it was a stroke of luck since I’ve had much difficulty making friends prior to ACNH, but with the influx of new members and old members, I’m so happy I got to be close with a bunch!!

TBTWC also happened this year and I made new close friends that way too (especially Splatoon 3 and the TBT Salmon Run event). I’m really really happy.

The thing I like with online friendships is that it feels much easier to find something to talk about! Sending silly memes or sharing something interesting that just happened is a cool convo starter, and it can snowball from there. Talking in a small group also keeps up the convo a LOT because the range of things to talk about widens from there! Not every convo starter is gonna spark a long convo, and sometimes I don’t chat my friends for a day or a few, but I think that’s okay, there are days when people are up to chatting and days when people are busy.

I would say I have some friends outside TBT too, esp. on Twitter, but not a whole lot I sometimes tier competitive rhythm games and they have dedicated servers/groups that I join to support the runners, so that’s where I met some people. Recently I’ve reconnected with a twitter friend whom I met from tiering, asked her some advice on the game and it sparked quite a long convo! She inspires me a whole lot This November I’m planning to high-tier an event so I’m playing with a community, so I’m hoping to meet a few new friends there c: I’m also supporting my friend in an event next year June and she’s also running with a bunch of other friends so I’d like to get to know them too

 

[Dim]

I've made a few. Some I actually talked to quite a lot on discord. Unfortunately not anymore these days. Same for the other forum I went to: I had quite a lot of mutuals I used to speak a lot, even the ones who I wasn't all that close to always messaged me, but those times are gone. I partly blame myself though for deleting my accounts and such a couple of time when I felt very depressed. It's nothing personal, but it's like I want to cut myself from everyone and everything, online or in my life, when nothing seems to matter to me anymore.