How to maintain a friendship

In keeping with this theme of friendship, I present 15 tips for maintaining friendships.

[* In this post, I am merely the messenger. I may not agree with all these tips, but the purpose of ths entry is to give you an idea of what the "experts" are saying.]

1. Be an equal contributor to the friendship. It's all about give-and-take. You must be willing to give to the relationship so that it grows, as well as being able to accept what your friend is contributing.
2. Learn to listen. Sometimes when people approach you with a problem, they don't want a solution, as hard as this may be to believe. They often have an idea of what is to be done, but talking through the problem may help them arrive at a more conclusive means of handling the situation.
3. Inspire and encourage your friend. It feels pretty great to have someone believe in you and encourage you to persevere when you feel like giving up. They encourage you to make responsible decisions and motivate you to be the best person you can be, just as you encourage and motivate them.
4. Be tactful when pointing out a friend's mistakes. Nobody's perfect, so be nice about it - they may not be aware of the mistake they made or they may have felt justified in what they did. Don't walk away from a friendship when you see some of your friend's faults; give them a chance.
5. Try not to be a clingy, needy, or controlling friend. A healthy friendship needs breathing room and a quality friendship will withstand the test of time and distance. There can certainly be too much of a good thing. Plus, obsessive behaviour is creepy.
6. Make sure you are reliable and can be counted on. When you say you are going to be there, be there.
7. Know when to agree to disagree. In every friendship there will be argument. It is these such differences of opinion that make each person in the friendship unique and interesting.
8. Be willing to forgive. Don't let hurt turn to bitterness. Forgive your friend and move on.
9. Learn to keep private information private. The ability to keep a secret is an excellent demonstration of trustworthiness.
10. Be there for the good times and the bad. Share and celebrate successes, milestones and accomplishments, but also offer a shoulder to cry on.
11. Have fun together. Shared experiences are da bomb.
12. Trust each other.
13. Keep in touch.
14. Don't try to change the other person. Learn to accept personality differences in your friends.
15. Know when to leave a friendship. Sometimes, two people just cannot be together. If the give/take balance is wonky or if your friend is a toxic bundle of negative energy, well, it may be time to take steps in another direction.

[These tips are an amalgamation of those found at eHow/WikiHow/Knowledgesutra.com]