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Rate Your IM Popularity
aicrules writes "The internet has long been a safe haven, and thus a play-field-leveling force, for the less socially adept to create a network of friends to share in fun, games, and conversation. However, it appears as if the influence of the social ladder is creeping its way in. While it will certainly lend itself to the abuse that any online scoring system faces, AimFight is the new place where people can go to check their popularity against others." From the article: "Your popularity is based on who has you on their buddy list. There's a complicated algorithm at work here. Your score is measured to the third degree, in the sense of the 'six degrees of separation' game that seeks to link anybody on Earth to any other person through no more than five friends. Say a couple of your friends, A and B, have you on their buddy lists. A, who has three people on her buddy list, doesn't add much to your score. That's because she doesn't have as many people on her buddy list as does B, who has 16. Your friend A is clearly not as well-connected as your friend B. Not unlike life."
How do they find out who has added you as a buddy? Is this some open database somewhere? Anyone feel free to clue me in on the details? It would be neat to see who exactly has you as a buddy (ex girlfriend still stalking you? etc)