IMO Sometimes online loneliness spaces are bizarrely full of lonely people ignoring other lonely people.

see a lot of posts asking people to DM, sometimes even asking for age/gender/location. I've reached out to several people based on what they've written, but often don't get a response at all. Obviously nobody owes me a friendship or conversation. I'm just confused by the pattern: if you're actively posting because you want people to reach out, what makes you decide not to respond when they do?

**I'm curious about the other side of this too.** For people who've posted here looking for friends, what does your inbox actually look like? Do you get overwhelmed with DMs? What makes you respond to one person but not another?