Seriously!? How to hell am I supposed to do it. I had friends in elementary school, and over the years despite my efforts, I have done nothing but lose friends. Please don't give me any of the crap like, "oooh, you just have to believe in yourself and all your dreams will come true~~~~~~!" because we all know that is not going to help. Ever. So please help me out.

Common interests are pretty much your best bet. Try a club or some class where you can meet people and hopefully do something you like together. It takes effort to approach them, but the worst that's going to happen is that you might not really click or get along that well. Unless you're young and dealing with other kids; kids are assholes and will tease you for being friendly or something evil like that. I'd say this site is almost like spending time with a group of like-minded people, but it's anonymous. Maybe ask someone politely for their email if you're having a good conversation with them?

Keeping friends is a whole nother story, though. You can do everything in your power to stay close and they'll still leave your life one day, believe me. You've gotta enjoy the time you have and really appreciate someone while they're around, but you also have to not get content with what you have either and take it for granted because it could be gone the next day. Don't let that make you afraid to get attached or put effort into your friendships or you won't be able to have that appreciation while you can.

I agree with what >>2 said, however, I want to add to that second part. Keeping friends is really difficult, because you can do everything in your power to keep them, but sometimes you drift apart anyway, or it could even have an opposite effect and actively drive you apart. I think that trying too hard to keep them close sometimes results in over-compromise from one of the parties, which can lead to the other person taking advantage of the one doing the compromising. If that happens I feel like you can lose depth and respect in the friendship. Well, that's just my opinion, as for helping to keep friends I'm not really sure. Avoid over-compromising I guess, other than that I'm still trying to figure this out myself.