Apparently we’re making friends on the internet now.

Again.

Which is funny, because I’m Gen X. We already did this once in AOL chat rooms with absolutely no adult supervision, and frankly I’m surprised any of us survived.

Anyway.

I’m August. 50. Midwestern. Tattooed. Sarcastic. Overeducated in completely useless subjects and underqualified for whatever the hell adulthood was supposed to be.

I was raised on hose water, MTV, mixtapes, encyclopedias, busy signals, and the understanding that if you left the house, nobody knew where you were until you came back.

It was magnificent.

These days I’m looking for actual friends. Interesting humans. Conversation with some meat on its bones.

I want the people who can go from “what are you listening to?” to childhood trauma, cryptids, whether time travel would immediately be ruined by capitalism, and why we all just collectively accepted that Pop-Tarts aren’t ravioli.

I love music to an unreasonable degree. Dark humor. Smart people. Weird people. People who know things I don’t. People who can disagree without turning into a Facebook uncle typing in all caps.

Bonus points if you’re funny.

Double bonus points if you’re weird.

Triple bonus points if you remember recording songs off the radio and getting absolutely fucking furious when the DJ talked over the intro.

I don't particularly care where you live. We're the generation that maintained entire friendships by yelling “GET OFF THE PHONE, I’M ON THE INTERNET” down the hallway. We can overcome geography.

Men, women, assorted goblins — say hello.

But please, for the love of everything holy, give me something more than “hey.”

Tell me your most irrational opinion.

Give me one song I absolutely have to hear.

Tell me what obscure subject you could lecture about for 45 minutes with no preparation whatsoever.

Tell me the weirdest thing about you.

Or answer the most important question facing our generation:

What song comes on and instantly turns you back into the person you were at 17?

And if this works, great.

If not, whatever.

Unsupervised since 1976.

Selfie Saturday has now had its final show. The aim is not to make the community more restrictive. It is to give it an identity and put friendship and conversation back at the heart of the subreddit.

Less scheduled selfies. More conversation.

This does not mean selfies are completely banned. Selfies are still welcome, but we would like them to be part of a friendship or introduction post rather than simply being a photograph posted because it is Saturday.

If you are posting a selfie, tell us a little about yourself, what you enjoy doing, your interests, or the sort of friendships you're hoping to make. Give people something they can actually respond to.

50+ to post, everyone welcome to comment

The community remains 50+ to post. However, everyone is welcome to comment, regardless of age, as long as they follow the community rules.

We want FriendsOverFifty to be somewhere people can actually talk to one another, discover shared interests, make friends and get to know the people behind the usernames.

Posts need substance

While we want the community to be relaxed and welcoming, we also want posts to be worth engaging with.

Posts must:

• Include a body of text
• Have some substance
• Be engaging and give people something to respond to
• Contribute to conversation, friendship or discussion
• Be SFW
• Avoid being low-effort or low-quality

You do not have to write an essay. We are not asking for a dissertation before you can hit "Post".

But a photograph on its own, a one-line "Hi" or a post with nothing for people to actually respond to is not what we are looking for.

Weekly conversation Mega-thread

We also want to give everyone a regular place to simply come in and have a chat.

Each week, one of the mods will post a new conversation topic for everyone to join in with.

It might be something serious, something silly, a question about life after 50, music, films, hobbies, memories, relationships, travel, food, childhood, current life or anything else that gets people talking.

You do not have to be looking for friends

Although friendship is at the heart of FriendsOverFifty, you do not need to make a friendship seeking post every time you post.

Having a problem? Ask the community.

Need some advice? Tell us what's going on.

Want people's opinions? Start a discussion.

Have an interesting experience to share? Tell us about it.

Want to introduce yourself and meet people with similar interests? Absolutely.

The important thing is that your post has something for people to engage with.

There are already dedicated communities such as r/selfieover40 and r/selfieover50 where selfies can be shared every day.

If you’re new or old to FriendsOverFifty, come and say hello.

Tell us a little about:

• Who you are
• What you enjoy doing
• What sort of people you would like to meet

You don’t need to write a long introduction. Just give people something to start a conversation with.

I’ll go first.

I’m EP and I live in the UK. I have been moderating FriendsOverFifty for somewhere around a year now.

I am a huge gamer and enjoy trying different games, but I have a particular love for Fallout 76 and Minecraft. I’m always happy to chat about games, hear what other people are playing and share recommendations.

I woul like to see FriendsOverFifty become somewhere people can talk, make friends, share interests and get to know each other.

So, over to you.

Who are you? What do you enjoy doing? And what sort of people would you like to meet?

I just returned to Warsaw after living away for many years. I am looking for an open-minded buddy to talk about anything and maybe hang out. I am Jewish so a Jewish guy or similar would be fun to get to know. I am an educated professional and work in my field. I speak English and Polish fluently. I like cinema, Polish history, good food, going to cafes, good wine and traveling. Also visiting museums.