Forget followers, we need the feature that was present on the original Digg... FRIENDS!

Digg was more-or-less my very first foray into the social news/media space, and it's where I started making my first online friends; I even remember the literal first Digg user that ever friend-requested me. I think we've become so obsessed with the whole "follower" mentality, that we've left the human, and more importantly the social part, at the door.

It would truly be excellent if we could roll out, at some point, a friends system that mimics or rivals the original Digg friends system. Much like most other networks, you can request or add individuals as friends, which maybe could lead to more advanced options than something like an impersonal "follow." Put the decision to accept that friend (or follow) in the hands of those being sent the requests. Whenever I would get followers on Reddit, I felt slightly creeped out, because I didn't know if they were a fan, a cyber-stalker, a bot, or something else.

I've already come across a boatload of users whom I'd love to add to a friends list of some sort, so make friends a thing again!

Just my two cents. ;)