Who needs friends when we’ve got the Internet? Thanks to new technology, it’s easier than ever to find pals who share your interests and worldviews. Unfortunately, online chemistry doesn’t always translate to offline friendships that last a lifetime. Ask these beleaguered Redditors, whose real-world encounters with online buds failed to go as expected. Log onto these “I Met My Online Friend” stories that went horrifically wrong.
1. PM’d Into A Love Triangle
I'd been chatting to a girl for quite some time and finally ended up visiting her house about 50 miles away for an evening of enjoying each other’s company. We wake up the next morning to loud noises, which turned out to be her fiancé, who I knew nothing about, ripping a window off its hinges and climbing in as she'd locked him out.
There was a strange car on the driveway, so he thought she might be in trouble. Alas, it was me in trouble, as this guy was huge, and a bit upset by this point. I managed to calm him down and clarify the circumstances, only to discover she had contacted law enforcement and accused him of unauthorized entry. While he was being questioned by the law enforcement officers, I seized my chance to escape and quickly fled the scene.
2. Chaos on Wheels
I used to engage in a conflict-themed game and formed a camaraderie with this other participant (a guy), closely bonding over time. Then out of the blue, he asked me to be his girlfriend (he was a truck driver in the USA, and I was only 12). It freaked me out a lot and I ghosted him. It was a terrifying experience and a real eye-opener for me.
3. Now’s the Time to Power Nap
He was driving cross country with a friend. I said I had a couch/floor they could crash on if needed. He was great, she was annoying. She hated everything, was annoyed by my cat, didn’t like anything I had to eat or drink, etc. They were literally there for like 16 hours.
4. Where You Are, I Once Was
Not a horror story, but about a year after I made the move from Massachusetts to South Carolina, I was playing video games and a guy on my team talked about how he just moved into a house in the same area that I moved from. So, I PM’d him, and it turns out that not only had he moved into my old place, he was playing in my old room with his desk in the same spot I had mine.
5. I’m Seeing Double?
I met up with a girl I'd talked to online (BBS, back in the day). I see a girl answering her description, at the meeting place we arranged. I walk up and say, "Are you Jane?" There's a pause. She looks very uncomfortable. She says, "Uh, no.” At this point we both know it is her, but she's taken one look at me and wants out. There is another long pause. She walks away. So, do I.
6. Logging Off Forever
My best friend of 14 years, who I solely knew online, sadly departed this life back in September. I found out the night after he passed when his mother messaged me and told me the news and passed along the info for his funeral. I live in California and he was in Chicago, but I felt that it was my duty to finally go out there and see him.
It was completely surreal and horrifying to finally see him in person, in a box. That being said though, I'm so glad I flew out there for his service and had the honor of being one of his pallbearers. I just wish we had met up a long time ago before this.
7. The Truth Still Exists, Dad
On the game RuneScape, my sister and I made friends with this guy. He was super chill, and once my whole neighborhood got together and started playing, we all came to know this guy and exchanged phone numbers. He called me a few times, usually asking about quests specifically. I remember him asking about silver light.
He lived close by, so he visited us a few times via bike, but we always hung out outside so our parents never really met him. Well, one of my neighborhood friend's parents found out and flipped the heck out. This was during that whole "every online friend is a predator phase." They refused to believe that we were all the same age.
These parents told everyone else's parents and everyone including me got grounded from the computer for months. My dad interrogated our online friend over the phone and threatened him, then concluded that he was in fact the same age as us and not a 40-year-old man with a voice changer because HIS parents got into an argument with my dad. It was a total circus.
8. I’d Climb Heights for You
I went down to Stockholm to meet him. He was so tall, I felt myself nearly shrinking in intimidation and social anxiety. Ten years later, and we're married.
9. Paired Up With the Plot
I played Everquest when it came out all day every day, still being in high school at the time. My girlfriend at the time and I played regularly together, and we had made some friends in the game that we adventured with all the time. One particular “friend,” who we had been adventuring with for nearly four years, had just got stationed in Arizona and came up with a great idea for us all to move out there together.
We were a couple of years post high school and were ready for a real-life adventure, so we jumped on the chance. About three months into living together, with things seemingly going just fine, I came across some event logs on my girlfriend’s computer with old net send messages when investigating why her PC was crashing.
These were old command line messages you could send between networked computers that were built into Windows. They were discussing taking me white water rafting and pushing me off, and how far from civilization we would be, and that I would probably die in the water or trying to get home.
10. I’m Too Old for This
When I joined Reddit about 7 years ago, I saw someone mention my hometown in a comment thread. I messaged that person, and we began chatting. She seemed very cool and intelligent, and one day she invited me to stop by her family's yard sale. I was picturing someone my age (late 20s) who was living alone. Instead, I stumbled upon a 13/14-year-old girl and her boyfriend.
They were both so young and nerdy that I could barely communicate with them—they literally spoke in memes. It was like they'd never had friends before. And both of her parents were clearly raging drunks and high on painkillers, and they tried to hit me up for money. It was creepy as heck. After I was there for about 15 minutes, she looked at me and said, "Awkward Penguin?" and I responded, "Yup, Awkward Penguin." Then I got in my car and left forever.
11. A Less Than Fairytale Living Arrangement
Back during WoW's second expansion, there was this guy in my guild I'd become friends with, mostly through other friends. We talked more and more over time and became fairly close. He had this jerk roommate, and I could hear the guy sometimes, especially when something went wrong during a raid. He'd scream and throw fits; he was pretty awful-sounding.
My friend told me he wasn't just loud and obnoxious, but verbally and sometimes physically abusive, too. I had my own apartment, so I said, “You know what? Come stay with me. Just long enough to get you on your feet and into a place that's safe.” He showed up at my place with a trash bag full of his stuff and a laptop.
I set him up in the apartment and started trying to help him find a job. Well, he did not want a job. He did not get a job, either. He sat in my apartment, day after day, eating my food and slowly draining my savings. No matter how hard I tried to get him motivated, he would just dig in his heels and somehow become more sedentary.
Eventually, I told him he had to go. I couldn't afford to keep him there. He was just couch surfing. I spoke to some people and eventually pieced together that his method of securing a new "temporary" place was playing on the sympathies of his friends to convince them he was in a terrible living situation. It just worked really well on me because he had that loud, obnoxious roommate to play off of.
He wound up calling a nearby relative to come and get him, I think his aunt. I don't know what he told her I supposedly did, but I have never seen a more venomous look from someone in my life. As far as I know he moved in with his sister and brother-in-law after that, but frankly, I don't care where he ended up. He also took a bunch of my stuff without permission. First and last time I do anything like that.
12. Three’s a Crowd, Even in a Chatroom
This is more of an embarrassing story. When I was in high school in the 90s, I was active on the local dial-up BBS scene. I was friends with someone who went by the handle “Venus.” I knew she was a woman but had no idea what she looked like. I also knew she was dating a guy in real life with the handle Lord Gumby, who was also a friend online.
Being a socially misadjusted 15-year-old, I had a massive crush on her anyway, even though I knew they were both about 18 years old. This was like 1992, so privacy wasn’t as big a concern and they knew my address. This was also when people would randomly come by your house to see if you were home. That’s unfathomable today.
So, one Saturday morning I’m at home on my computer totally disheveled, un-showered, and just gross in ratty sweatpants and no shirt. I hear a knock on the front door and go open it. There’s a woman who was incredibly beautiful standing there, and she just goes “Hi! I’m Venus!” I stood there for a minute it seemed like jaw dropped trying to say something, when Lord Gumby walked up and was like “Hey doofus, ever met a woman before?”
Needless to say, I wanted to sink into a hole in the ground and die. But I hung out with them and I guess I wasn’t too horrible because we hung out a lot after that. Throughout that entire period, I was questioning my life decisions! I haven't spoken to them in decades. I wonder how they’re doing.
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13. Just One of the Girls
Not a horror story, but definitely weird. At 13 years old, I went to a show where my male online friend was also supposed to go. Not a big show and I was with my father, don't worry. We were supposed to meet at one of the entrances, but he never showed up. When I asked him about it later, he said he must have been at the wrong entrance.
Over time we stopped talking, for no reason really. A few years later, one of our mutual online friends told me she learned that the guy in question was actually a girl. I don't care about gender. The thing is that she wasn't the one on any of the pictures she sent to us and our other friends, and her name wasn't her real name—she totally invented another identity.
The worst part is that another of our friends even told us she got pregnant from "him.” I don't know if she asked her to fake a pregnancy, or if it was her own idea, but that was really weird. Wonder what other things she lied to us about.
14. Offbeat from the Beginning
I was on Rainbow Six Siege one day, and I got into a game with a really nice kid who sounded 17-18 years old. We talked and realized we lived within a five-mile radius! Over the span of three months, we played and played until he finally decided we should meet up. We planned on going to a park with a few other people, and when I got there, he had a completely shaved head and a ton of face tattoos.
He started saying how he was an aspiring rapper, which never came up when we played, only that he was into rap. Turns out that the only reason he met me was to get me to listen to him on SoundCloud. I dipped out of there immediately, because I didn’t want to have to deal with his trash.
15. Guild Leading You Into Darkness
I used to play World of Warcraft with my now-ex. Our guild leader actually wound up moving to the state we lived in with his wife. My ex and I ended our relationship before we had a chance to mingle with the gentleman. Right after we split, he reached out to my ex, essentially inquiring if it would be okay for him and his wife to put me in a vulnerable position and take advantage of me.
Ex showed me screenshots when I was getting my stuff from his place, and I canceled my plans to meet the guy and his wife. My ex had been physically abusive and broke up with me to date the girl he'd cheated on me with. I'd tried leaving before, but he'd fake attempts on his own life and I was so scared he'd go through with it, so I stayed.
Even though he was in a new relationship he tried to keep tabs on me and control me, I saw it as my chance to escape. I happened to move right after we split, and he didn't know my new address. I blocked him on everything. Somehow, he kept getting information on me though. Turns out, the guild leader was feeding him everything,
I hadn't deleted the guy off Facebook, because I figured he was only a problem in person. When I confronted him over Messenger, addressing the harmful behavior, and the guy responded, "He said he choked you because you guys were arguing, and he was afraid he wouldn't get the chance to speak. He still loves you." The choking was because I was defending myself against accusations of cheating, which I hadn't done.
16. It Takes Two to Game a Relationship
A guy I knew in college met a girl online and spent every day talking about her. She lived about six hours away, so he planned to take a semester off and pursue this relationship. He got a job in her town and asked if I'd help him move out there, since my car would hold more than he could take on a bus. I had a long weekend off and figured why not?
A road trip cold be fun. I'd drive him out as a goodbye present, and the way back I planned to visit Yellowstone. Well...we arrive, and it turns out he doesn't have an apartment lined up and while he found a job posting in his girlfriend's town, he hadn't actually gotten the job. Or even applied yet. I make a bunch of phone calls and find him a room to rent that will let him move in that day with just first, last, and deposit, even without a job.
I'm tired and disgusted with his lack of planning, but figure it's worth staying the night and trying to end things on good terms with my buddy. Then he breaks down and confesses that he hasn't actually met this girl. The nights he spent "video chatting" with her were really just him watching her vlog and jacking it. They've never talked. Never texted.
Never even emailed. He's never even left so much as a comment or "like" on one of her videos, not even once. She genuinely didn't (still doesn't) know he existed. His plan was to hang out at this game shop she talks a lot about, until she showed up and somehow create a relationship from that. He thought that they'd meet, and she'd fall in love with him and move back to our college town to marry him...all before the next semester began.
That didn't happen. Instead, I made my "buddy" buy a bus ticket for his ride back to school and left. He came back to school and got more cringey, not less. I lost track of him after that.
17. Take Care of Yourself Before Others
I was the horror in this story. I was part of an online writing community that I really enjoyed, and I made a lot of good friends through the years. One man and his wife were visiting from another country, so another guy from my area and I were going to take them to dinner and have a nice in-person evening with sight-seeing and conversation.
Things kind of blew up for me at that time. My (now ex) husband and I were having major issues and I was near my mental and emotional breaking point. I had lost 15 lbs. in three weeks just from pure stress. On top of that, my family had chosen that evening to have a get-together for my uncle, who would soon be traveling to undergo surgery for cancer.
I showed up in body, but that was basically it. My mind was a million miles away. I wasn’t talkative at all, and I left after about an hour. I feel like I lost three good friends that evening because of my behavior at dinner and my subsequent withdrawal from the whole community. I’m sure they look back on that evening and think what a nightmare host I was.
18. Addicted to the Distance Between Us
Back in about 1998, I met someone playing an online word game. We were both 16-year-old girls and we just hit it off and became very close. Finally, in 2004, she was passing through where I lived, so I invited her to stay for a few days. She shows up totally coked up. Then, she invites some guy over and they were snorting stuff off her car key in my living room.
I was unaware of her substance use, and felt so uneasy throughout the entire duration. It was like having a stranger there, yet we knew everything about each other. We remained in touch and I still really like her, but it was just such an awkward visit. We haven't seen each other since, though.
19. Try Disappearing Forever Next Time
I met a guy online, we really got on and he came over a few times so we could hang out. I did find him attractive and tried to hint that I was into him (note, I can't flirt to save my life), but nothing ever happened. After a few "dates," he suddenly vanished. No social media, he wasn't answering texts or emails, nothing. I thought he'd ghosted me.
After six months he reappears, I asked him where he'd been and he said, "I don't want to talk about it". A few weeks after, there was a fad where people were Googling their names and posting humorous stories they had found about similar people with their name (mine was about a ship that had my initials), and I started to Google friends’ names just out of boredom/morbid curiosity.
After searching his name on Google, I discovered a news article from his local area. The story reported his engagement in inappropriate activity with a minor and harmful online interactions, which resulted in his computer and phone being seized for further investigation.
20. Been There? Not Physically
I never actually met the guy but spoke to him on the phone. We’d met on Myspace when I was in college and exchanged email addresses when we realized we lived in the same town. Eventually, I gave him my phone number and made plans for him to call me. When he did, his voice creeped me out. It was how I imagined a psycho would sound.
By the time I got past it and was comfortable talking to him on the phone, I started noticing other red flags. Whenever I brought the neighborhood up, he changed the subject. At one point, I asked him what his favorite restaurant on the boulevard was and he hedged, so I made up a restaurant that I said was my favorite.
He immediately said that was his favorite too and that he especially loved one of their dishes. He went on and on about this wonderful place that didn’t exist (and there wasn’t a similar one in town, so he couldn’t be confused). I called him out on the fact that he’d obviously never been to my neighborhood. Turned out, he didn’t even live in the same state as me.
21. Sick of You
This is way back in the mid-90s. Bulletin Board Systems were all the rage. I made friends with this guy from NC—he was friends with a bunch of us from my dorm, mostly females, which should probably have been a red flag, but I was extremely naive at the time. A couple of months in, he mentioned he was coming to our state for a wedding and asked if he could come by our college to meet everyone.
It was agreed he’d sleep in my dorm room, since my roommate was almost never around. Now, there was no discussion of intimacy, but I was pretty excited to meet this guy and see if he was as funny and charming as he was online. Well. The day arrives, dude shows up. I should mention that I and all my college friends were 18 or 19. This guy was 24. Or so he said.
Guy looked like, and I’m not exaggerating, a cancer patient. Pale, gaunt features, long greasy pale blond hair except where he was bald on top, and just generally looked like he was about to die, or he was dressed as a ghoul for Halloween. He insisted on hugging all of us. I was trying to remind myself that looks don’t matter and that he was a cool guy despite his very unsettling appearance.
But then, when we all started hanging out together, things just got way worse. He was asking really invasive questions to all of us, making weird comments about whatever was said, just all around creepy and distressing. I was sitting on the floor with another friend and actively rocking back and forth from discomfort.
I lied and said I had hurt my back and that sleeping on the floor helped, because that night he kept insisting we could share my tiny twin college bed. Nope nope nope nope nope. Last time I ever met anyone from that site.
22. Don’t Turn Your Nose at a New Friendship, But Do Wash Your Hands
I’ve been active in numerous online communities over the years and have been fortunate enough to hang out with many of the friends I’ve made there in person. There’s only been one incident I couldn’t cope with. He picked me up at the airport, which was very nice of him, and as soon as we got into the car, he started picking his nose.
There’s a lot that goes through your mind when you hop into a vehicle with someone you’ve never been alone with and you immediately catch them two knuckles deep in their nostril. I looked quickly away, so that he wouldn’t know I caught him and be embarrassed, if he was just trying to sneak one out before I noticed.
If he did notice my noticing, he didn’t seem embarrassed, so I relaxed a little. I guessed that maybe he was just so confident about himself and our friendship that he’d ascended past caring if I saw him take care of a quick booger. Fine, whatever, sure. When I finally looked back at him, he was wiping his fingers across his dashboard.
To this day, I’m not really sure what to think, but this guy spent the entirety of the few hours we were together scooping out boogers and wiping them off on parts of his car or the table or wherever it was that we’d stopped at. I realized I was being transported in a rolling booger shrine and that there was nothing I could touch without needing to wash my hands.
I was sitting on a crust of fossilized booger stuff. I had to be. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, he was a nice dude, but I wound up bailing out of our visit early because I couldn’t handle it. I don’t consider myself a clean freak, but as wiping started to stack it was all I could do not to throw open the passenger door and roll myself out into traffic to escape.
I still wonder if I should have done or said anything to save him some grief in the future, but it didn’t feel like it was my place, you know? What do you even say?
23. A Sunnyside-Up Friendship
My friends and I had this online friend (who lived in a bordering state) that we played games with all the time. He found out we were planning a big LAN and asked if he could take the train down and come. We all thought it'd be cool, and I agreed to let him stay with me at my mom's place. The guy was 6-foot something, 400+ pounds, and I don't think showered often (In the four days he was there, didn't take a shower).
Now, I'm not trying to rag on him, he was a nice guy and fun to play with, but it just goes with the story. He ended up falling asleep on my bed at one point, which was next to the window. We lived in basically the desert, and it's about 100 every day during summer. The blinds happened to be open, and he literally was roasting in the sun.
The sweat had completely soaked the mattress (I so wish I was kidding), and the smell wouldn't go away no matter how much we washed or scrubbed. Sadly, had to get rid of the mattress.
24. Not Your Prince Charming
I met a chick on Myspace that only had "angle" pictures and close-ups. I could tell that she wasn't the hottest girl in the world, but I was bored so I figured I'd have a go just for fun. The second she showed up I regretted it. She looked like Octomom and was crazy. She lived with her ex-husband and got all creepy obsessed with me and would write poems about me on the internet.
At the time, I was a career alcoholic, broke and had nothing to offer anyone, so the fact that she got all obsessive was just that much weirder. She'd get mad at me if I didn't call her twice a day. It took about two months to get her out of my life.
25. You Look Good Enough to Eat
Online dating. We met at the train station and walked to the restaurant. Within 10 minutes, he stopped me, turned my body towards him, said "You're so beautiful," and leaned in for a kiss (which I would have been okay with). Instead, he licked my cheek.
26. You’ve Got an Unwanted Guest
I moderate this sci-fi chat site, the mods there aren't really any different than the chatters, so we're generally liked. This one guy took a bit more of a liking to me than normal. Then one day I came back to my dorm from classes, and he was sitting outside of it with chocolates and gifts and things. You ever have one of those "What the heck? There’s a four-hundred-pound man outside my dorm" moments? 'Cause they're messed up.
So, I ask this guy what he wants, and he says all he wants is dinner with me, so I agreed as long as my roommate came, since there was no way I wanted to be alone in this. So, we order a pizza and eat in, and my roommate has this brilliant idea that he should spend the night in our room. Holy moly. I had a lofted bed and woke up to him trying to climb it at least twice.
He asked if he could spend a second night and I was decidedly clear that was not going to happen. So, I tell him to leave and I go to class the next day. Needless to say, I no longer talk to him.
27. The Wannabe Ninja & Me
I went to a meeting for my Counter-Strike clan many years ago, and it started off great. I am still friends with many of them years (and many games) later. There were a few though that were undoubtedly psychos. The first meet was at a LAN party. We all had our PCs and the like, and indulged in plentiful beverages, with most of us actually lodging in a pub/inn a few hundred yards away.
The first clue that one of them was a psycho was that he carried ninja throwing stars and knives with him. For protection. Now, that in itself is not bad, and in fact, could be quite cool. But the guy was seriously short-sighted. The thickness of the lenses of his glasses probably meant he was blind as a bat without them on. All a potential attacker had to do was knock his glasses off and he was screwed.
Add to this the fact that he couldn’t even hit our makeshift target with said throwing implements, should have been warning enough. The real indicator was the next morning when after a long night of drinking, one of us woke up, with the psycho sitting cross-legged on the floor inches away watching him. Closely. With steamed up glasses. Holding a stuffed toy (I can't remember what type). The guy was about 20.
28. Happily Enough Ever After
Didn’t happen to me, but it happened to a good friend of mine when I was living in Oregon around a few years ago. He had an older sister who met some random guy from the East Coast online and was constantly chatting. After some time, they developed feelings for each other, and he decides to move cross country in order to marry her.
The issue was that she was 26, didn’t have a job, and was still living in her parents’ house. He was incredibly lazy, a slob, never graduated high school and also couldn’t keep a job to save his own life, but since she was lonely and insecure, she accepted and continued living in their parents’ house—where she lives to this day.
29. Enlisted into the Domestic Conflict
We were both in our early teens and had already met in person once before at a public event. We decided to meet up again, but at her house this time. In the short span of time I was over there, I watched her physically attack her mom and bust a door. I mean, I was already aware of some home problems, but I was not prepared to get caught up in the middle of it immediately.
30. Putting the Move Van Before the Horse
This was about 16 years ago. I was talking to a guy online, and we were calling each other back and forth. He lived in NJ and I lived in Massachusetts. We finally decided to meet, so he drove up here from New Jersey. My friend was working at a laundromat at the time, so I decided it was a safe place for us to meet there.
After hours of waiting, he pulled into the parking lot in an old beat up car with all his belongings in the back seat and he looked about 50 years old. He was pretty scary, and I was pretty freaked out. I guess he thought he was moving in, which was in no way happening, as I had a roommate. What he told me on the phone was that he was a few years older than me, and I never saw a picture.
I guess I was very trusting, because everything he told me, I believed. Good thing I decided to meet him last minute in a public place. I had to tell him that I was not interested, and he needed to leave that night. That was such a bad situation.
31. What’s the Big Deal About Friends?
I had a layover in Amsterdam, and I met up with a buddy I'd been chatting with on Soulseek for years (an electronic music file-sharing service). He provided me with directions to his workplace; we took a massive wheel of cheese to a church in the red-light district, then indulged and elevated our senses in a bar. 10/10 most Dutch experience possible in Amsterdam.
Only horror show part was how tall Dutch people are and how they speak English. The guy was like 6'7" tall and his voice was high to match, and all loopy and sing-songy, very hard to take seriously as a person.
32. Go Back to Charm School
I've met tons of online people at various meetups. Out of any 10, there's usually about four I wouldn't normally associate with—I'm not saying they're bad people, but they're so socially inept I cringe just talking to them. I typically feel remorseful until I reach a state of high intoxication, at which time it becomes quite enjoyable.
33. Didn’t Log On to Be Second Banana
Not instant regret, but definitely my BIGGEST. My ex-fiancé and I met online, via console forums. Over the course of seven years, I racked up over $10k in credit card debt to visit him (he was in Canada, I was in the US), pay for him to move out of his mom's place, buy him a new computer, and help with miscellaneous bills that he could not pay for.
Two years after we met, he befriended a girl from work, and as they became closer, he would completely disregard anything I told him in favor of things she said. Before her entrance into his life, he upheld a strict prohibition on substances due to an unfortunate history with his father. However, he was soon cheerfully indulging in X, mirroring her behavior.
He constantly would sit through and take all of her ranting when he made the smallest mistakes, and she would always have something to complain about. He talked to her about our bedroom life and difficulties with rubbers, so she tells me, "What is wrong with you? Get on birth control, you should be wanting him to feel better."
But if I ever antagonized him, or called her on her garbage, he'd run a guilt trip on me saying that he was holding me to higher standards because he expected to spend the rest of his life with me, or he'd say that he wasn't good enough for me and he knew it and if I wanted, we could just end it. Eventually, he was the one to break it off, because I was “too controlling.”
I wanted to know why he would go out to dance clubs and raves with her and not with me, when he'd told me he didn't want to even go to bars because they were too loud. It was the only good thing he ever did for me. But man, do I wish I could go back and give a wake-up call to 20-year-old me, urging myself to wise up and realize that I was worth so much more.
34. Sad Ending, But Happily Got There
I was traveling in South Korea. I'm an active member of Couchsurfing.org, which I used to find a few places to stay and to meet a few locals to show me around and make some new friends. I messaged about 20 people, male and female, and I got responses from three girls about my age. Met up with a couple of them, and they were cute and fun, but it was never really a "date", since using Couchsurfing for that purpose is generally frowned upon.
Got a message from one girl my age asking to meet up. Told her I had plans for the next few weeks, but I'd be back, and we could hang out then. I was pretty nervous, though, because she didn't have a lot of information on her profile, and though she had a picture, it was extremely obfuscated, and you couldn't see her face.
Anyway, I got back, sent her a message telling her I was back, and we made plans to meet up. I get to the subway station, and a girl approaches me, and introduces herself. She's freaking gorgeous. Tall, Korean girl, with the most beautiful face, well-dressed. I couldn't believe that someone I met on the internet was actually more attractive than I had thought.
We met at noon that day, and spent the day together, getting to know each other. She showed me all the cool places around. I learn more about her, and everything I learn just makes me like her even more. She played drums, spoke excellent English, studied art. Just an all-around amazing girl. We meandered through various different bars, enjoying a few drinks here and there, but without overindulging.
Got a bit closer, started holding hands, and eventually, at around 6:00 AM the next day, we fell asleep cuddled together in a cafe. I was in love. She has to go home, so we say goodbye and promise to meet again. We meet again the day before I leave. Spend some time going to arcades and doing silly stuff. We have a hug and say goodbye. I never saw her again.
35. He’s Not Worth the Airmiles
I had a guy profess his love for me. Over Skype. He wanted to come to see me. He lived in the UK. I live in the States. Except I had a boyfriend at the time. I told him this. I told him that he was wasting his time and I have ZERO interest in him. He still is coming. I told him that there was no time to see him, as I had work and school. He says it's fine.
He will wait until I have time to see him. I told him not to come, he says he has his parents’ blessings. So, he came. He stayed in a hotel for 3 weeks while I had to deal with finals, work, and spending time with my boyfriend. I hung out with him twice, once with a group of friends and once with my boyfriend. He got mad because he said that he wanted to hang out with me, alone (in his hotel room) and when I said no, he flipped.
He said that because he flew over here, I should at least "hang out" with him. He flew back home to the UK a few days later and blocked me on all social media.
36. Given the Switch-A-Roo?
I matched with a girl on Tinder and we agreed to meet up at a nearby coffee shop. When I arrived, I was sitting in the parking lot and noticed only 2 people in the coffee shop, some old guy and a girl who looked similar to the girl I matched with on Tinder. She didn't entirely look like the girl I matched with, but she looked enough like her for me to pass it off as her using filters to make herself look better.
I texted her that "I'm here,” when I did that the old guy and the girl got their phones out at the same time and I got a text that said, "I'm inside.” I went inside and went up to the girl and said, "Hey, Melissa, right?" She looked up from her phone, frowned, and said, "No, wrong person.” Right after she said that, the old guy tapped me on the shoulder. I turned, he gave me a toothy smile, and casually said "Howdy." I ran out like I was running from a killer.
37. Talk About an Emergency Contact
A guy in a forum for a specific hobby would talk to me a lot, but he never revealed his real identity. Out of the blue, he urgently requested my visit to the hospital, where, after a few weeks, his life unfortunately came to an end.
38. Return to Sender
After more than four years of playing WoW together and chatting (online and on the phone), he invited me to visit him in Australia. I figured it was safe, since I'd known him for quite a while and had never gotten any weird vibes—no flirtation, no creeper-ness, nothing. Two days into my very-clearly-stated platonic visit, he tried to assault me.
I ditched all of my stuff except what I had in a small duffel bag and took off, traveling on my own for the two weeks until my flight home. A few months later, I received an unsigned postcard from the Gold Coast that just said, "Thinking of you," with a smiley face.
39. The High Price of Online Friendship
We were friends online for years. We’d meet up every so often and when we started families we’d meet up and take the kids to the zoos or whatever. She wanted us to go on a cruise together, with our husbands and kids. I made the comment towards the effect of “We can’t afford that,” and she went nuts. We shouldn’t have had kids if we can’t afford them, we shouldn’t have more children, our life sucks blah blah blah because I didn’t want to go on a cruise with her and her bratty kid. Sounds like a nightmare.
40. Age Isn’t Just a Number
He said he was 14. Turns out he was 38. My parents gave him a stern “talking-to.” Everyone is making serious allegations about him, but let me clarify a few things. He was always nice and friendly online until I found his Facebook and saw his age. At which point my parents had a mental breakdown. Was never allowed to play video games with him online again. Ok, maybe he was a total creep.
41. A Tragical Romance
He and I were part of the same forum many, many years ago. He was dealing with his issues and I was dealing with mine. I think we both went there to escape, where people wouldn’t judge. Also, because we were bored. I’m not quite sure when we got properly talking, I think it’s when he told a terrible joke about kipper ties.
We used to share everything with each other, over MSN. I’d give him advice about his love life, and he’d listen to all my screw ups. It took quite a few screw-ups before we eventually met up. I think I already knew we were in love but seeing him in person really cemented it. We decided to give it a go, even though we lived 300 miles away from each other.
We had a lot of ups and downs. I was distant, he lived with his ex-girlfriend for a bit even though she didn’t have a job and couldn’t afford her half of the rent. The same ex-girlfriend who I’d given him advice on, who he had nicknamed “Trouble” and liked to claim she was pregnant every so often. We got over that, along with many other things, and finally moved in with each other.
I thought our issues were going to be solved when there was no distance between us. Ends up, we were just very different people who wanted very different things and the distance wasn't going to change that. We broke up after three and a half years together. None of that’s the horror story. Not the way he treated me, not the fact he probably cheated on me, not that I wasn’t a priority and used to cry myself to sleep.
About a year and a half after breaking up, he gets back in touch and we talk like it was in the beginning, when we were friends. After a few weeks, he asked if I want to get back together. I said no. I told him that he’d broken my heart again. The next day, I got a phone call from his work because I was still his emergency contact asking me if I knew where he was because he hasn’t turned up. The law enforcement also made contact. The last phone call that day was from his mum, to let me know that he’d taken his life.
42. Maybe Parental Permission Before Going Online Shouldn’t Apply Here
Met this dude on EverQuest, and we've played games together ever since. Been a part of the same guild, help each other out on mobile games, and have conversations about life in general. It isn't him that's the horror story, it was his mom! So one day, I think we were playing WoW at the time, and I log on to do some quests.
Suddenly, his user comes on and asks to chat by video. We've done this before and there's no problem, but after I click to start the video chat: there's his mom undressed on the screen. She asks me to watch her and I'm like "No lady, this is just awkward," and I log off for a few days. I get an email from my friend, and he wants to know why I haven't shown up for quests or anything.
So, I tell him what happened and he is seriously like "What the heck!?" It appears his mother had been doing this to several of his online friends, and she ultimately ends up incarcerated for sexually assaulting one or two minors. Buddy's doing great though: wife and kids plus we still play the occasional game together.
Sources: Reddit,
