I have yet to get this to work. I assume it's due to having a larger friends list than most, but the server always disconnects. As for "big names", we don't have any insight into that. Despite my being here a lot, and using the hide feature a lot, I've been cutting back on who I follow here from almost 400 to about 300. There does come a point when it makes sense to not follow everyone interesting, and rely on FOAF. - Louis Gray

that's something i've just never cared about though i know its important to some folks - i figure i'm just listening to them if they don't want to listen to me no biggy - mike "glemak" dunn

Louis, as of earlier today, the limit was 3,000 people in your venn diagram, any more and the list would be truncated. You're probably also hitting some sort of script execution limit, too: I only have about 500 people in my venn diagram, and it takes close to two minutes to complete. It's interesting to see the results from this: I found a good two dozen people who had been following me for months who recently unsubscribed from me, as well as a good 100 or so people I had no idea were following me. - Mark Trapp

@Mark, yes, I'm over the limit. And even if I didn't follow anybody, I'd be over the limit. :-) - Louis Gray

8 people you are subscribed to, 39 people who both sub to you and you sub to, 18 people who only subscribe to you. Kinda cool information. - Bradley McSpinn

Yea. Big names are too busy to follow everyone. Except probably Scoble. - Winston Teo

Upon further inspection, it appears that I don't tend to subscribe to people who only update via Twitter. - Bradley McSpinn

@Mike Dunn, I don't really care much either. Just thought it was interesting. I did unsubscribe from most of them anyway, because while they do generate a lot of content, many of them don't really participate. - Michael Hocter

even I am slowing down on following people. - Robert Scoble

Thanks for felix's app I was able to knock my subscriptions down to 434 -- still hiding profusely. The only big names I follow are the one's that follow me back, with one exception. - Shey, Jamaican of FF

@bluechameleon Awww thanks - Michael Hocter

you have to ask at some point though whether its fair that people get 10k + followers and follow 50 people in return. This is FRIENDFEED after all, not lets all follow a few elite people who couldn't care about us at all in return. - Duncan Riley

You have to ask at some point whether people who follow several thousand other people are putting any thought into who they follow, if they just add anyone they see, and if they actually read or pay attention to the things their "friends" are writing. This is FRIENDFEED after all, not USENET. - Jason Carreira

You can easily follow a couple hundred people, be able to follow what those people are doing, and break outside the A-list. A lot of people stopped using other social services (like RSS readers and Twitter and such), so I guess it makes sense for them to follow the people who just broadcast, and the great thing about Friendfeed is that it can accommodate those people as well as the people who want to have two-way conversations. - Mark Trapp

Topic fragmentation again but here goes. How are you using friendvenn? - Mathew A. Koeneker

duncan: there's no crying in friendfeed ;) mark: you nailed it, friendfeed will accommodate any desired utilization, very configurable to one way push/pull & two way participation (the other thing to remember is foaf allows for ability to see lots of popular folks items w/out having to actually subscribe to them - thus filtering their flow somewhat)... - mike "glemak" dunn

Oddly, I agree with Jason, which is rare. I work plus raise 4 kids. No nanny, no daycare. I can't follow 500 peopleand actually pay attention to what they are saying. - Cyndy

I have a hard time just following Cyndy. - Louis Gray

Amen, brother. - Rodrigo Leme from twhirl

Big names? You will get bored just reading their dribble! I think many of them stuck in reverse, "Me" But a few are fun! - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

big names...as in ALL CAPS? - leigh himel

I'm following 2551 people right now. Makes it far more interesting than following a few and it's entirely manageable if you use the hide feature right. - Thomas Hawk

Gee, with language/attitude like yours, I wonder why no one follows you? Hard to imagine huh. - Dan Nimtz from twhirl

Excellent, the use of the hide functionality is finally revealed. I see no "all caps" and I like it. :) - Mathew A. Koeneker

@Leigh I was thinking just that. :) @Thomas I completely agree, I love following interesting people regardless of whether they follow back. Unlike Twitter et al, I never feel like having a larger number of follows drowns anything out. - Steve Spalding

Compared to many of you I'm relatively boring, so I certainly don't expect lots to follow me, I'm just happy to have the opportunity to follow the interesting folks who challenge me to think and expand my knowledge. - asiriusgeek

Anyway, I don't need the big names to follow me as well. I just need a bunch of FriendFeeders who are willing to engage in meaningful and interesting conversations. - Winston Teo