Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble. Round about the cauldron go; in the poison'd entrails throw. Fillet of a fenny snake, in the cauldron boil and bake; eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog. And most diabolical of all: liver of blaspheming Jew, nose of Turk and Tartar's lips; finger of birth-strangled babe, ditch-delivered by a drab. I think you get the idea.
The thing is, the internet leaves you with no firm idea of friendship or closeness. The general convention is then to declare whoever you meet a friend, just to be sure about it. (Of course, my own instinct is to declare no one a friend, but clearly I'm curbing this nowadays.)