That's how I classify friends. Truly good friends are the ones that can (and do) say "You are being an asshole-knock it off." There aren't very many of them in my life. Not because I don't like other people enough or anything like that. I just only need maybe 10 in that circle and that serves me fine.
I actually do have a couple of on line friends that I can say that to or hear it from. Our relationship is obviously at a different level than stop over for coffee, but with a pretty good depth nonetheless.
I think that where many "go wrong" these days is having a reference group of millions of strangers that they compare themselves against. 10 well chosen is plenty.
There are different types of online relationships too - but in general, they are still pretty narrow windows on each other - so even though valuable, it isn't quite as holistic in value. I have some decent people from Hive too :)
Oh, I agree. Though I've gotten pretty down and dirty with both of them over the years. One is on Hive now (for a couple of months) and the other isn't here at all. I can't imagine that it's permanent but she actually took a real job running the service desk for an on line printer. She's a serious freelancer and a serious hustler that's owned several on line businesses over the years.
It's the same thing as 'being in front of the screen'. You can NEVER fully read body language and acceptance levels if you aren't in the same room...