Love on the net - it's there (Have you found love on the internet?)

Member Name: elvis42

Product:	Have you found love on the internet?
Date:	13/10/01 (55 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Global, Immediate

Disadvantages: Potentially dangerous

Did I find love on the internet? Possibly, probably, depending on your definition. Did I cultivate love on the internet, definitely...

...and so the feeble introduction leads on to a story of how I met my husband, and what part the internet played in this.

In 1993, when I first started using the internet, I used to MUSH (it stands for Multi-User Shared Hallucination, but is actually referring to online roleplaying games that you telnet into, or use specific software to access (SimpleMU*). Once on a game you create a character which then can interact with other characters, change clothes, enter buildings, drink drinks, etc etc). I mainly stuck to World of Darkness games (the crew bhind Vampire, Werewolf, Mage and Changeling roleplaying games) and I quickly became addicted.

By 1996 I was staffing on various games, specifically one called Dublin by Night where I ran the Changeling plots. The head of the MUSH (who I was quite friendly with) asked if I'd speak to one of his friends who was about to visit London for a holiday, and I agreed. Said friend had mutual friends with me and was going to stay in a youth hostel while they came to London and stayed with me (they're from Chester area).

Until the visit I had little other contact with our American tourist, except a quick email to give him my phone numbers (I'd just moved house) and tell him he could stay the first weekend with me, seeing as my new place was so big. And our mutual friends had also cancelled their trip to London for various reasons, so I offered to show him around a little.

And then the day of his arrival came and I realised I'd given him the wrong code (this was just at the time London switched to 0171 and 0181) but he worked it out and eventually I went down to the local tube station to meet the man who was to become my husband for the first time.

We had a great week together, and obviously clicked although I'm not sure either
of us would have callen it love at that point. Still, from the day he left we started corresponding by email, and wrote every day for at least a year. This was followed by a trip to the States for me, and two visits to the UK by him (one for 6 weeks and one for four months in 1999). After the second we knew we wanted to be together and decided to get married. We sorted it all out quickly because we wanted to marry on Feb 29th for a laugh, and that's pretty much a cut down story of how I found love on the internet, with the internet and revolving around the internet.

Of course, like everyone else I've heard many stories of online and offline relationships, and the fact that I've been such a heavy net user over the past few years has meant that I've witnessed both types of relationships. These have occurred over and because of ICQ, Bulletin boards, mailing lists - anywhere where there's some communication and community going on. So, I definitely believe that people can find love on the internet, and if not love, then some enduring and dear friendships that it's well worth cultivating.

However, as a quick final message of warning as someone who's met many of their online friends in real life...be careful, remember that people may not be all they seem on the internet, and don't feel stupid about taking precautions (like bringing friends along to the first few meetings), anyone worth knowing really won't hold it against you.

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