Before 1992, in High School and College I made a lot of friends. My rule was my way or highway.
In 1992 a psychologist gave me an advice to strive for compromise in my relationships and to mostly listen to my friends. I did make some “friends” but no friends.
The value of confidence and charisma can not be overstated.
I suspect if your rule was “my way or the highway”, you didn’t have as many friends as you thought you did before 1992.
The value of not acting like a jerk can not be overstated either.
It was not a solid rule – I was very nice. But most of them talked with me about my interests most of the time.
Is this supposed to be advice?
I mostly give advice on not repeating the mistakes I made in my 45 years. Losing confidence and charisma is one of them.
But telling someone not to lose confidence and/or charisma is kind of like telling someone to just become rich. Much easier said than done, especially when no specifics are given as to how to do what it is being suggested.
Wasn’t that covered in this thread? While I appreciate your desire to help others, I’m not sure your advice is going to be coming from a solid place.
I am more looking for help myself.
But all you did was give your opinion in the OP. You didn’t ask for anything. Even the thread title was sort of ambiguous. “How to find friends” sounds like you want to tell us how to find them but actually, you are asking us how to find them. A question mark might have helped.
Ok, so what are some of those mistakes?
Sounds to me like the OP is stuck in a vicious circle of trying to take advice but still not applying it to himself. In the thread about phone friends, he was again looking for people he can just yammer away at, and not listen to what anyone else wants/needs to talk about. He says he wants to make friends, but that he doesn’t really care about what they have to say. Not understanding or just not caring that it’s a two-way street, is not how you get people to listen to your problems. He has to care about other people’s problems and advice just as much as they think theirs is important. Both sides of a friendship are equally important, or you have no friends.
I think a blog would be a great place for the OP to talk about anything and everything under the sun that matters to him. Maybe LiveJournal.
I fit neither into English Internet nor into Russian Internet.
But I do not want to change for society. I do not want to give up being myself for society.
Could you explain why you think you don’t fit into anywhere? What quality(ies) of yours do you think is most responsible for this?
I do not know – in different societies I do not accept different aspects. I do not give up my values just to fit in.
I guess I would fit if I had regular contact with people offline.
PS. Just spent $70 to get RentAFriend membership for one year.
Nobody gives up their values to fit in.
Ever hear the phrase “birds of a feather flock together”? It’s true. When you pursue RL interests IRL, you find others who agree with you.
I’m a single 45 year old woman with no kids. Do I “fit in” with conventional “society”? Not really. And guess what the majority of my friends are like? Yep. Men and women who have all chosen to be child-free and even if were married at some point, aren’t now. Like me. Most are also either Atheist or Agnostic, and the ones who aren’t keep it to themselves. We’re all happy with what we’ve chosen, don’t lament over what we’re “supposed” to want and don’t have (because we don’t want it), are geeks (six of us drove an hour away from midnight to 4 in the morning to watch the pinnacle of the Perseid Meteor Shower in August, and met again this last Sunday night to howl at the Super Blood Moon) and brainy types who think critically and call each other out on it when we don’t. We’re liberals and democrats, are active in the animal rescue and foster/volunteer community, and would give our shirts off our backs for each other.
You do have to get your ass out of the house, though. And if you truly want a real friend, you have to give a crap about what they have to say as well. Until you do, you will never have a real friend. You don’t have to “fit in” to any society, just with your friends who may or may not also “fit in.”
RentAFriend?? That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. 
Get a dog. They will always be happy to see you.
Why? I found one good friend to whom I talk one hour every week for $15.
I weigh 155 kg, and the nearest bus station is a mile away. I do not drive.
No, you found a stranger willing to tolerate you for an hour a week for a fee.
Friends, smends.
If you want a friend worth keeping, you’ll bump into eachother eventually, maybe.
If you want more acquaintances: volunteer, join a club, take some classes, go to a place of religious worship, etc.
Maybe meeting someone there can develop into a friendship.