To what extent would you let an online friend know about you.

Question of curiosity which will vary between people.
With the internet, these days we are able to meet friends with people we haven't seen irl or people from other countries. Some people can be pretty open about it while others not so much.

To what extent would you let an online friend know about your real life?
For a lot of people I know would prefer to keep their friendship on the internet on the same site they talk at (E.g what stays on Tumblr/PC stays on tumblr/PC).
Like here on PC, a lot of people are fine with posting pics of themselves online to show friends what they look like, while others prefer to remain hidden with the extent of their avatar/signature representing who they are.
Others wouldn't mind extending the conversation to other media such as Facebook or even share phone numbers while more people will keep those sites to people they only knew in real life. And in a lot of cases, if it were possible, people would be fine with meeting a person online, while others would not take any risk off the internet.

What are your personal opinions on this?

It depends how comfortable I am with a person. Like anyone I know irl, I'll tell and internet friend a lot about me, but only if there's enough trust.

It really depends on the person and how long I've known them for.
Like, obviously I wouldn't just run around the internet throwing my complete name, address etc. at random people. I don't generally just add any person on facebook, either. Facebook for me is a site to stay in contact with people I know fairly well, or at least have met in real life.

That said though, I have made amazing friendships through the internet, some of which now belong to my closest real life friends. I am incredibly grateful for those people and they definitely make my life a lot brighter hehe

I also feel like sometimes, it can actually be easier to open up to people online, like talking about your problems etc. I think it might be because communication online primarily works through writing, and that can be easier than face-to-face conversations.

DDDchu said:

It depends how comfortable I am with a person. Like anyone I know irl, I'll tell and internet friend a lot about me, but only if there's enough trust.

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I feel the same way. Though I have been too trusting of online friends in the past who I regret telling things. If I feel like I can trust someone online I will tell them more actually than I would my real life friends. It's easier to talk about personal things over a chat as opposed to face to face. At least for me. Some of the people I am close to here know pretty much everything there is to know about me!

depends on the friend, actually. If I trust him/her, then, if he/she asks, like, what do I look like, real name etc.
But I would never give out my address.

Barring the obvious stuff like address and just straight up weird shit, I'm pretty lax with what I disclose to people. I've had no reason not to trust anyone online, so if they ask, I'll usually tell them whatever

For me, I am pretty open, but I only tell my closest and bestest friends almost everything to everything about me.

As others have said, it depends on how comfortable I am with someone. I'm usually a pretty open person about most things, so I have no problem. When it comes to address and phone number though... there's only like two people who know those things. I trust them enough to know they aren't going to come find me and harm me. :x However, I won't go running around announcing my real last name or anything unless I absolutely have to.

I'm a little open online, the only thing I will not reveal of myself is my real name. Once I feel confident about the person I'm talking to online, then I will reveal more personal info about me.

Well

Only around five people online actually know my real name and how I look like so I guess that should tell you how open I am. (not much)

No one knows my address or phone number though, but I skyped with those few...?

EDIT: On second thought I'd be surprised if said few even remember my name since it's not common at all lmao.

I often keep to myself and take extensive time to open up to friends. I rarely share my real name or actual picture. I rarely blab about something other than puppies and candies and pizza slices. When I do open up to someone, then yeah, I trust them and enjoy socializing with them. I begin to mention details about my life or school, work, and family. I find others to confide in and share my internal thoughts with. I've shared my phone number with several members, gave my facebook to some, provided my address to two, and met one member in real life. To this day, my pair would know me best. I wish he was still around here because today is our 3 year anniversary. :-:

I've always been careful about what I share online. I generally don't disclose much unless I'm relatively good friends with the person and know that I can trust them. I generally keep my online and rl friends separate, but I've added a few on Facebook. The few times I've met up with online friends I happily introduce them to my offline friends, though! Moogles has met like half of my friends lol.

~Psychic

it depends on who it is. i have someone that i talk to via text that i met on here since i first joined back in 2009. i wish i could be more closer to people that i've met on here, but it's hard finding people to trust and be close with. i always feel so different. of course my tumblr and facebook has my current picture, but not on here.

I don't like talking about me that much, doesn't matter if it's online or in real life. I mainly try to keep the subject away from me. I do not crave information about other people, and I do not want people to do the same for me. And there is also the fact that there isn't much happening to me, haha. It makes talking about me very boring too, hahah. It just takes all steam out of a conversation.

Like most people, I won't give out information straight away if I only vaguely know or if I've only spoken once or twice to you, but honestly if we get along well and you know a bit about me, I'm pretty chill with people knowing about my real life and who I am and whatnot.

In terms of social media, Twitter I pretty much follow everyone who follows me, or wants a follow. In the past, a lot of the PC members I know really well now we got to know each other on twitter. Also pretty chill about Facebook, but that's only if I've known you for a while (I've add quite a bit of PC members there back in the day.)
I've given away phone to a close few who chat to me on whatsapp or online friends who ended becoming real life friends. 2 knows my address, but they became good irl friends so it kinda doesn't count. Pretty sure a number of people know what I look like and am fine people seeing my pics except I'm highly un-photogenic.

Yeah I'm pretty open :pp

I open up to very few people online and it takes time for me to feel like they can be trusted. I rarely publish photos of myself and I can't be bothered to most of the time. I'm okay with letting others know how I appear, though I usually find it quite superficial (since I don't think how I look matters or is their business tbqh) and the other side has to reciprocate.

I've only given away my phone number to one online person but I've changed my number since then so I guess that makes it zero xD I'm not a number person anyway because global text charges are obnoxiously high and the net is a free medium :d

I don't really have any problems with giving out my real name (because my IGN in Pokémon X and Omega Ruby is my real name), or pictures (otherwise I wouldn't post them in the thread). But I won't just reveal private things to anybody, as I don't see much use in giving them my phone number or the like (what would they even do with that, anyway?).

I have three really close people from online. Geoff, Shivi, and Mallory. Shivi I don't consider an online friend anymore because we met in person a couple of times. But I keep Geoff and Mallory updated on things going on in my life in ways that I think would interest them. And they've known details about my life that I wouldn't normally tell most people from the internet for a long time now.

Pendraflare said:

I don't really have any problems with giving out my real name (because my IGN in Pokémon X and Omega Ruby is my real name), or pictures (otherwise I wouldn't post them in the thread). But I won't just reveal private things to anybody, as I don't see much use in giving them my phone number or the like (what would they even do with that, anyway?).

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On the phone number thing, I think it's texting mostly as I know some online friends that gave their phone number to some people for that purpose.

As for me, there are some stuff I'm okay revealing to my online friends like the shortened version of my first name and which certain area I live at (though not exact city and address). Other things like how many family members and pets I have I'm fine too. Some personal information I only told it to my more closer online friends .Other stuff like my phone number I haven't gotten the heart to give it to anyone after a couple incidents telling it to some real life people when I shouldn't.

For most people, what I'm comfortable with posting in public here is about what I'd be comfortable with revealing in general. I'm a rather private person by nature, so anything beyond what I would say on here is definitely not something I'm about to freely give out. I just don't like giving it out, I'm cautious like that.

There are a few people out there that get more of my personal info, such as my full name, phone number (just in case I need to be reached somehow, since I don't even use my phone that often), maybe my facebook page, address, stuff like that - but it's usually people I've come to know better and am comfortable enough with them that I don't mind giving out said info.

...Those are also the same people I would not mind meeting in real life if given the chance. :D Which has happened a few times in the past for me. Doesn't happen that often, sadly.