I enjoyed reading through the discussion of online friendships. No surprise that this group would be in favor of them.
I tend to be cautious online, especially given the fact that I work in a public position. The fact that this group is as open as it is, and can talk about just about any subject without devolving into flame wars is a minor miracle, in my opinion. Maybe the love of Disney and family just seems to attract a certain kind of person.
There are different levels of friendship, of course, and at any point in time you probably only have 2 or 3 people in your life that you'd feel comfortable telling them anything. With the rest, you're more guarded because you don't know how they'll react if you reveal certain truths about yourself. But you tend to reveal more to people that you know will still accept you without judgment. This isn't to say you can't criticize someone or call out something you feel is wrong, but it's done in a constructive way and with their best interests at heart. That's where I feel like this group works really well.
So, I think the DIS Dads is a great case study for why online friendships can work very, very well. And that's why I've made the effort to try and seek out many of you when I'm on the road. Life is about relationships--nothing else really matters. And I'm interested in having relationships with fundamentally decent people.
Also, it's really cool to know that I can go to Wisconsin or Indiana or Connecticut or West Virginia or whereever and know there's an awesome person to hang out with there.
And my wife stopped laughing at my "pull my finger" jokes years ago, but I know you guys will still appreciate them.