Originally Posted by
LianaThorne
Speaking as someone actively in that situation, my irl knows everything and is accepting of it. He also doesn't view it as cheating. His line is drawn at me going and sleeping with my online partner (physically, however visitation in general is something he isn't against) but whatever happens online is fair game. He has his reasons for it (a majority stemming from him working insane hours and hardly being around outside of a couple hours at night) and doesn't hold it against me that I have another person to fill the needs that he himself has admitted he can't. That doesn't mean he wants to take the dramatic step of just calling off our six-year long relationship, but he loves me enough to know that the point is everyone being happy. He's happy and I'm happy. It's a pretty easy life and has been going on for about a year now.
I also know of several pairs that engage with others online but separate it from their irl relationship. What I mean by that is, in blunt terms, it's just sex. There's no feelings behind it. It's just RP. Who they are as a couple irl isn't reflected by their fake personas.
There's no right or wrong answer here, just a matter of preference and what each person is comfortable with. If you're rigidly mono then yeah, it won't be for you. There's nothing wrong with that either. If you fall more in the middle (where I am because I swing back and forth between wanting one person and multiple), it can go either way. Those who are fully polyamorous won't see an issue at all with that as long as boundaries are respected.