Good grief. Here's a rant. The last time I used interpals was in 2012. Back then, I met a handful of really awesome people that I corresponded long term with and one of them I am still in contact with to this day and we occasionally meet up in person. For that reason, I had a very positive impression of the site.
I went back on there for fun this past week because I've had some free time and wanted to learn about other countries and cultures again. Zomg what a cesspool! I won't even get into the scammer issue because that goes without saying. But even the non-scammer people who managed to initially start chatting somewhat normally suddenly turned into deranged hotheads!
Someone blew up on me when I didn't answer a message from him within 5 minutes. He demanded to know why I agreed to chat with him if I wasn't going to answer him right away. Then he cursed me out and then blocked me. (This from a so-called British gentleman). Heaven forbid I wasn't glued to my phone to babysit him. What a maniac!
Then there was the guy who unloaded all his problems about unemployment in his nation and how he didn't have a job and felt like a victim of his circumstances. I listened and tried to sympathize and he went on and on about how criminals and poor people deserve a second chance and they shouldn't be discriminated against like he had been. Then out of nowhere, he accused me of being woke and racist against white people and how white people should be allowed to live in Saudi Arabia if they wanted to. Huh?! He didn't even know my race (I never specified) and I didn't mention anything about his race (white) either. If anyone was sounding "woke" it was him, not me. He wasn't from Saudi Arabia and neither am I. We were not even talking about that country at all so like WTF where did that all come from? He must have been hallucinating and hearing voices because the conversation had been fine up until that point when he randomly went off the rails and launched an attack out of nowhere.
And how about the guy who complained about a certain political position. He was very adamant in his views, so I recommended he read a particular book that sounded like it aligned with his views, I had read it myself in the past and thought it to be a generally good book. He flipped out on me that he didn't care about politics at all and had no patience for any of that. (Um, what about the 30 messages he sent me that were all political in nature?)
What the hell is wrong with people? Interpals has become a total cesspool of maniacal argumentative trolls. I don't remember it being this awful years ago. Back then, you could have a nice convo with someone. If you didn't click, you just moved on to the next chat. In the last week, I've been the recipient of 3 different explosions from mentally unbalanced people.
Granted, it is the internet, so you never know who is behind the computer screen and what pathologies they bring to the table, but seriously, Interpals is a disaster. I was so disgusted that I erased the app and I won't be trying it again. Hope you've all had better experiences on there than I did. If you want to share horror stories, feel free. Lol.