Greetings IB
I have no understanding on what your post is about specifically - so all I can respond to is on a personal view.
There will always be people one counts as friends, and who call themselves friends, who - when the going gets tough, are suddenly not the friends one thought them to be. It happens, both online and off.
But the people who do stand by ones side, through any decision, are the people that truely matter. Online or off.
The others, in reality - do not matter - and are not worth ones love and friendship. They lose. And those that they left behind gain by learning exactly the person they are - and finding closer and more understanding relationships.
Peace and Rapture