How To....

[ClonesorOf'ELonely]

How does one go about making 'friends' on here successful without making a 'fool' out of themselves; and making themselves feel pointless, alone, and completely worthless and stupid completely and utterly? Never been good at making friends in the 'Real' world either.... and don't know how to tell if someone is being completely sarcastic, or being legit and sincere ya know?

 

[Jabberwocky]

Just start talking with people. Keep things safe in terms of boundaries (try and keep you personal info to yourself, as there are some messed up people on the internet), but just start taking to people.

Create an account, post in threads, create your own threads about topics you're interested in. Random PMs to people you enjoy reading posts/threads from is never a bad idea.

I'm also particularly gullible/thick. When it comes to sarcasm/etc, it's as simple as gently asking for clarification.

On that note, I'd suggest treading lightly in TL if you aren't the best with internet sarcasm (again, I can relate). A bit less hazing in TL these days, and it's a fun forum for sure, but a lot of it was over my head until I'd been around for a few years.

 

[Dr Griffin]

How does one go about making 'friends' on here successful without making a 'fool' out of themselves; and making themselves feel pointless, alone, and completely worthless and stupid completely and utterly? Never been good at making friends in the 'Real' world either.... and don't know how to tell if someone is being completely sarcastic, or being legit and sincere ya know?

Be honest and true in everything you post. Anybody bagging the truth is in denial, and it is their problem and not yours.
The more honest and truthful you become the clearer it is to see the truth in others _ such as the motive for being sarcastic, deceptive and insincere.

 

[Xorkoth]

Yeah I would say just be yourself and try to participate in discussions. it takes time. I made some friends who were pretty casual on Bluelight back in 2005/2006. But one of them in particular I started talking to in instant messenger almost every day, I was going through some stuff and he was a really good sounding board. Then I moved to ma new town and found out his parents live there so we met up. To this day he's one of my best friends. I also met two other people on here who ended up in the same town as me and they are some of my best friends in the world (well one is dead, RIP Erin ). They're a big part of my life, and I met them here, but we got to know each other and gradually took communicating to outside of Bluelight, just by participating in the same forum and eventually started PMing each other. It happened naturally just like it does in real life, but slower. All you need to do is be genuine and share of yourself. And realize it'll take some time and steady participation.