Friends and Foes itself came to fruition by a young teenager named Alex in 1997 on an America Online homepage. The original story arose out of an inside joke among friends. In the early stages of F&F, the characters dealt with extremely over the top, bizarre situations, and the first 20 episodes are (regrettably) overwhelmingly violent in nature. In its infancy, F&F faced a whirlwind of controversy and scrutiny in the Online Community for these desensitized violent story archs.

However, the series matured with the author, eventually garnering recognition from the Online community, including a 2000 Eppy Award Nomination for Outstanding Storyline ("The Conspiracy") and 2001 Eppy Award Nominations for Outstanding Leading Female Character (Amber Newel) and Outstanding Storyline ("Lovers' Destiny.") In each case, the nominated storylines and characters ranked highly in "Audience Choice" polls. Additionally, F&F was honored in 2001 by The Episodic Review with Featured Site status, an elite group of the community's finest online serial producers. Nonetheless, the series still prides itself on its bizarre Melrose-esque plot twists.