Miscellaneous Forum

My VT friend criterion is, simply, that the person and I have had some interaction...on the forums, or via email or via comments. I have no problem in deleting 'friends' whose interest quickly fizzled out and who have not logged into VT for years. I have many people adding me as a friend without such interaction (often with none). I just ignore those. Sometimes, if they have added me as a friend, I will add a welcoming comment to a new member's page, but pretty rarely. I've met over a third of my 'friends' in reality (my friends' list includes a few euromeet pages and some fluffy toys, so I haven't counted them). And I've met quite a lot more Vt-ers in reality but we've never got round to 'friending' each other. :-)

My friend criteria is pretty loose, but don't accept those that just joined VT and started "friending" (I hate that word and so does spell check)VTers. I have met 29 of my 76 friends here but about 70 people as a result of VT - and in about 10 countries. One of the big reasons I love VT.

I don't pay much heed to it. I have strict rules for Facebook friends, but here I don't even use my friends list--so add pretty much anybody who adds me. For some reason, when we had the pop-up control panel back in the old VT days, it seemed to make more of a difference when you'd notice people online and chat with them through e-mail or comments. ...But now I rarely hover over the "Friends" link.

I have met thousands of VT members! :) Not all of them are noted on my friends list though. :) I always say that no matter what sparring might happen in a forum or something, meeting personally in the spirit of VT friendship always works out.

Just 3 of the 28. I don't live in a place that many people visit, and I don't drive in foreign countries. (I don't even drive a lot at home.) Most of my "friends" are people I talk to on line; the others are people who asked me and seemed to need a friend.

I’ve only met 31 people of the 135 on my VT friends list, but I've also met two or three dozen VT members who aren’t on the list. One member on my list has not been online since Sep 15, 2006, but I keep him on the list so I will notice if he ever returns.

Out of the 179, there are a few Euromeet, local chapter and BArney pages to deduct. From the rest I have met 137 members. I may add someone after some interaction and often after a VT meet. In reality I've met many more members but it's not important if someone is on the friends list or not to be a good friend. On fb I only add people I met in real life unless they are relatives.

There are several I have met at VT meetings who are also not on my friend list, they are not online with VT very often. I'm also am friends with several members who were active at one time but are not on very much anymore. I will glance at friends who are on line just so I can send them a quick VT email and know that I will get a fairly quick response back from them.

I agree with you Rich. I'd like to know them a bit writing in the forums, via VT mails or comments. I have met several of my VT friends. I don't know exactly how many.

I have only met one VT'er in person, but he resigned his membership from VT because of the partiality regarding what can be discussed in this forum. Therefore, technically I have met zero VT'ers.

Like Ed Kaspian says I do not pay much attention who is on my friend list and who is not I think Claus is not even on my friend list haha go figure I have met Claus 9 or 10 times in real life and neither one of us ever bothered to ask . Not that biggie deal Rich I have met way over 400 VT members in real life but I have been a member almost 10 years now . I stopped counting couple years ago . I have met prob 75 % of the VT rs going to Eurmeet in Bergamo . But it is great and it is something that I LOVE to do Hansi

What Ed said :o)

No big deal, but statistics have always interested me so I was just curious. Sounds like we all need to meet up in Prague, Oklahoma to meet up with Drew. What do you think of that idea Drew?

I've met 29 of my 54 VT friends, and have spoken to two more on the phone. I don't add everyone who asks - there has to have been some kind of connection between us.

I see the friendlist more as a bookmarking list and i accept friend requests from just about anyone, but i will take them off my list again if they want to chat on msn or facebook (i don't do that with anyone and disabled MSN from my netbook years ago). If they start trying to sell stuff then i report them and they are gone soon anyway. I accept frienship requests from a lot of new members often just to encourage them to join us in the socal aspects of the site. And i have met over 1000 vt members over the years but most of them are not on my friendlist as you don´t need it on vt. It´s not like facebook where they must be there in order for you to interact with them. But Rich, you just got me counting anyway and i can see that i currently have 486 friends on my friends list and after a lot of counting i can see that i have met 241 of them.

55 out of 73 (75%) here, but I've met at least one more not included on my list; why?, no special reason but he/she can consider me friend, no doubt about it. The criteria for the list: If I have a special "feeling" no matter if I have met him/her or not.

Interesting question Rich and one which sent me scurrying for my homepage. Excluding sundry Barneys and groups like London-Calling, Team Viking, TipoftheDay etc. I have met 20 of my 110 friends listed. This, owever, raised another interesting point. Through various meets in London especially the Treasure Hunts, last years wonderful Serbian / Macedonian Euro pre-meets, meet and post-meets and this years equally wonderful Philippines meet (which I am still trying to get home from!) I have met and enjoyed great times with a number of members who are not even on my friends list. There are some glaring omissions and I am not sure whether I should have a mass "friending" (hideous word, I agree) of people now. I am not really sure it is that important on VT. I have heard others mention FB and other networking sites which I am not a member of but I don't think it really matters so much on VT other than to let you know when someone is on and you can always get that on the members online page anyway. Conversely, I hve "friends" whom I have not heard from for a long time and may not even have been on VT for aqges. should I remove them? I really don't know. Yet another thing to think about!

Cool question Rich. I have 119 on my "friends" list and after going thru this list, I can count 84 of whom I have personally met - so about 80% Hans and I have been on VT for many years and have had the pleasure of attending many Meets, and soon the Bergamo Meet. I so look forward to meeting up with the many friends we have made. As for "friend" requests, I do not add them if I have had no contact at all from them.

Drew, Oklahoma is one of the places we hope to drive through when we do our big southern US states drive in a few years. I would definately love to meet up with you.

Ann, if your plans include stops in New Orleans, San Antonio, or Dallas, we could plan a big VT meet to mark the occasion. A meet in any of these popular cities would work well for me. If you do decide to visit Oklahoma, I would be honored to show you the best of Tulsa, Oklahoma City, or anywhere in the state.

Oh mate...Yes! Yes! and definately Yes!! :o) I'm thinking that we could probably do this big trip in 3 years time - 2015. Hubby and I plan to drive from Florida through Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisuana, Oklahoma, Texas and Arazona to LA. A vt meet or 10 along the way (depending on who is interested) will certainly be planned :o) Oh and we also plan to advertise it here on vt for all that are interested in joining us all of the way or part of the way as a tag-along. In other words you organise your vehicle and we will supply our phone number and you can meet us and tag along. This could very well turn out to be the first big vt convoy road trip ;o) So what do you think?...

This genuinely gladdens my old heart. I know that VT is specifically NOT set up to be a "dating" site, although the front page used to boast (maybe still does) about the number of VT marriages known of. The number of friendships formed here is actually quite remarkable. I have been lucky enough to meet many VT members both at home and in various places around the globe and the members have been, without exception, absolute delights. Thinking vaguely logically for a moment (not usual for me) I suppose it must be that like-minded people are attracted to VT and long may it continue.

had never looked before, but i now know that i have 171 friends listed and have met 69 of them. also met many more VTers at meets. martin