At Nick’s urging I have joined Friendster. I am still not quite sure what I think of it. It is built on the “Web of Trust” model that PGP has made famous, but you automatically trust your friends as “Trusted Introducers” with a maximum trust depth of four. Therefore if I add Nick as a friend, Nick’s friends, Nick’s friends’ friends, and Nick’s friends’ friends’ friends are seen as valid members of my “Personal Network”. Of course Nick is seen as inherently valid as I have personally designated him as a friend. I would be much happier if the trust depth was definable per friend. I might trust Nick to a depth of three, but there may be other friends that I only trust to a depth of two, or for some friends, whoose ability to judge the character of others is questionable, I may not trust them to introduce me to their friends at all.
If you are a member of Friendster, feel free to add me as a friend. I feel like such a loser with only three friends and no testimonials. Wait a second… I am a loser!