#650: No-tie list

I’ll be a big fan of LinkedIn, whenever I work out how best to make some use of it. One thing that this networking tool currently lacks is the ability effectively to screen out the bad guys. Everybody has a personal list of individuals (thieves, tax inspectors, ex-wives, adulterers, cocaine addicted former bosses…) with whom they would prefer to avoid any kind of contact in future.

Today’s invention is therefore an upgrade to online networking tools which allows specification of these names. When a request is made by anyone to link to you, your list is scanned to see if their existing links include any of your blacklisted miscreants. If it does, then the individual causing the problem is highlighted.

In this way, people can weigh their preferences among connections (without the threat of libel litigation). Maybe this will cause civilised behaviour to start to be selected for?