Do you ever think about old online friends you've lost touch with?

Not necessarily from EP/SW.

As someone who's been posting online regularly since 2006, I have made many friends online who have come and gone. A few whom I lost touch with long ago and I wonder what became of them. (In most cases, it was a matter of the site we were talking on shutting down, and then having no way of contacting each other afterward).

I've also made some online friends whom I now talk to outside of the site we met on and I don't anticipate losing touch with them. But I can't help but wonder about the ones who are no longer in my life.

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SethGreene531 · M

It's the unfortunate reality of online connections.
More than once I've met great people to whom I relate. There's a great dynamic, then weeks become months, and they simply vanish. No notice, no goodbye, no indications.
Fellow users are equally baffled.

The "what ifs" occupy my thoughts. Have they met with an accident, or heaven forbid - death?
More than likely, though, the responsibilities of the offline world demanded their full attention.
Add a negative site experience, and the decision to leave is easy.

While I wish them well, I miss that synergy we once had; and still wonder where they are in this vast world of ours.

Nate931 · 31-35, M

@SethGreene531 This is especially relevant to me because I did have a friend on EP who disappeared on me. I was disappointed, I moved on, but a year later I searched his name and found his obituary, from right when he stopped messaging me. So I can’t help but wonder whenever someone stops talking to me if something bad happened to them…

SethGreene531 · M

@Nate931 The brevity of life - a sobering reminder.

I am very sorry for your loss.

An interval of lost contact, bookended in death, compounded your sense of loss and shock all the more.
I can't imagine how you must have felt.

The minority I've lost to death, were well anticipated and openly discussed. We were afforded time to support them, and then properly grieve.

Those I worry about are contacts who disappear after repeated posts about life's overwhelming assault.
The posts most users mistake as vents, rather than a last call for help.

They haunt me the most.