I logged in this morning to read a few blogs, check out the forums.. normal stuff for me really. I just got off work and was wasting a bit of time while I take care of some laundry on this lovely Monday morning. I decided I would clean up my email a bit and as I went through the tons of conversations spanning back several months, it occurred to me and caused me to wonder why is it that some people join the site, make a few acquaintences who could very well have become friends and then ... cancel? Of course the obvious ones... Dear Preety, Hello Sweetie, were obviously scammers and got caught. That's not at all what I'm talking about here. No, I'm not talking about meeting someone on here and having delusions of the instant eternal and forever lasting romance either. I'm just talking about every day people, seemingly very nice ones, that I've enjoyed corresponding with regularly over a period of time.. a few weeks, a month, whatever, even had a couple friendly telephone conversations. One day you check your email and notice that they don't have their profiles active anymore. No warning, no explanation, not that any was warranted in the first place.
I suppose they are simply looking for something and felt like they weren't going to find it here. Maybe they found what they were looking for and feel like it would betray their new love to maintain friendships with the opposite sex. It does make you wonder. Was there something that they were hiding? Depressed? Who knows. Sure, I could give these acquaintences a call, but I doubt that I would do that. I will just continue on, making new acquaintences and friends and enjoy visiting with longtine friends, also.
This kind of thing really doesn't bother me too much, but in a small way it makes me feel.... ambivalent?
~S.
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read more blogs!
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dalebr
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Jul 16 @ 9:04AM
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This is a great place to meet people. The downside is that it is a bad place to grow friendships or otherwise. The reason for this is that it is time consuming and there are so many to meet. At least that has been my observation. If I am at the computer a lot, then it is good, but if I am away or working on something eilse the connections are hard to maintain. Good point in this.
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JimNastics
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Jul 16 @ 9:08AM
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ambivalent = am + bivalve. Thus, a bit clammy ? 
If you have their phone number, why not call & say hi ?
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simplegal873
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Jul 16 @ 9:30AM
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Because I would literally be on the phone for hours. This wasn't about anyone in particular... finally realized that this has happened well over a dozen times in the past couple of months! If any of these acquaintences/semi-friends wanted to persue a friendship, they certainly could contact me as well.
~S.
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The_Boy_Next_Door
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Jul 16 @ 9:49AM
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Happens all the time. somwe are gone for days and back, some are gone for weeks
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DiamondRain
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Jul 16 @ 9:53AM
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It's fairly common. I know a lot of people who have been on here a long time that occasionally "cancel" their accounts, and then come back at a later date. Of course some never come back.
I wouldn't make too much of it. It's just a form of entertainment. It's no different than canceling a subscription to a magazine or something like that...no big deal.
Don't take it personally, I doubt they are thinking about you sepcifically as their reason for just disappearing.
And who really has the time to notify everyone when you are canceling your account on some silly Web site. Think about it...in the order of priority of things in most people's lives, that doesn't even make the list.
I know what you mean. I've seen a few friends just disappear here, and I have to say it made me sigh with a little sadness. But that is the nature of the cyber world right? It's all just illusion anyway. 
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sassypoo
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Jul 16 @ 10:11AM
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It doesn't happen just on MD. I've been online for probably 10 years. I have met hundreds, possibly thousands, of people online. We start a friendship; we chat; sometimes we even call on the phone; then gradually you drift away from each other. It is a part of the cyberworld. Friendships made; friendships forgotten. There are only one or two that I have maintained for years. The first thing to remember is that cyberland is not the real world. And when I use the word "cyber", I am not referring to anything sexual, like cybersex. I am referring to the internet, the WWW. If you stop to think about it, how many friendships do you have in the real world that have drifted away? Schoolmates, college buddies, even relatives? You were once so close to these friends, now you no longer talk or see each other. They are little more than an acquaintance. Unfortunately, that is life.
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MahonMacRi
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Jul 16 @ 11:15AM
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Simplegal, there may be a much simpler explanation for them leaving. Quite a number of good friends have cancelled their accounts lately because they were sick and tired of certain people getting on their cases, running them down, spreading nasty rumours about them, and so on. It's sad but it's true, but there are certain types around here who apparently have nothing better to do with their time than to try to make themselves feel "superiour" by ganging up on and picking on good-hearted people they see as being somehow "different/less worthy than they are."
While this place (MD) is a slice of the outside world in miniature, I have always found that the truly nasty types are proportionally under-represented here, and that there there is a much higher proportion of nice, decent and kind-hearted people on MD than I've found outside. That's not to say that MD doesn't also have its fair share of mean and nasty people (the sort we call "begrudgers" back in Ireland) but that's precisely what the Block button is for 
Hang in there, simplegal...maybe your friends are just taking a much-needed break from the poor, miserable begrudgers! And if they don't come back, well...I'm sure you'll sill find that there's plenty of good friend material around here.
Just my .02's worth, sincerely  "Mac"
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craftmaker
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Jul 16 @ 11:25AM
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 Always looking to make new friends and i have made some and lost some but i am still here. 
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simplegal873
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Jul 16 @ 7:31PM
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While I certainly appreciate the 'well wishers' who are 'advising' me to hang in there etc., I just have to laugh. I've no intention of going anywhere... this was merely an observation/reflection.
As always, all comments from all people with all kinds of views are gladly posted automatically. :-)
~S.
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mystery2u888
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Jun 1 @ 6:14AM
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