For me, one. We met on the board and when she and her husband were moving to my area, I volunteered to watch their dogs during the move. We became great friends and even though I’ve since moved, we keep in touch and visit. My friends thought it was weird that I would watch someone’s dogs that I’ve never met and just couldn’t understand the atmosphere here.
None, that I know of. But I continually entertain the fantasy that one or more of the people I interact with on the Dope I do in fact know in real life, I just don’t KNOW that I know them… you know?
Well, I’m married to Suburban Plankton, so there’s that. Also the Kiddo has an account, but rarely posts so I don’t know if he counts.
I’ve met not what you’d expect a couple of times IRL. We ate at her deli when she had it. I’m not sure it counts as a real, on-going relationship, though.
I have several Dopers that I communicate regularly with on Facebook.
These replies show that SDMB does not have a good score for “real life relationships.”
The Board certainly provides the opportunity for personal contacts. I have used the utilities
but no one has shown any interest in an email exchange. I saw a number of friendships
develop in USENET, because over there you join a GROUP rather than a FORUM. The groups
are based on subjects that are much more specific. My favorite was “Alt. History.British”
and I eventually exchanged email with about 6 members of that group. However these chaps and one gal (the “duchess” of Gothenburg) were in places like England, Sweden, Australia, India, and Canada. One of them was a docent at the Tower of London and
another was a Wimbledon Hill Spencer.
I see **dogbutler **regularly at hockey games. I’m facebook friends and interact regularly through that medium with several additional Dopers that I feel like I would be IRL friends with if we lived in the same area. I feel like I know them better than a lot of people I do know IRL.
A few. I’m married to one. Qadgop and the lovely Cynthia will drop us a line whenever they are in SoCal and we’ll meet for Mexican. Everybody else is pretty virtual except for Dopefests.