--- 
layout: post
title: A polluted trust web
created: 1059398700
categories: 
- Social Media
---
Back when I was heavily experimenting with <a href="http://www.linkedin.com">LinkedIn</a>, I was somewhat frustrated about how slowly my network was growing. That is, people that I linked weren't linking in people that they knew, so it was mainly filled with people that I already knew.

One of the great things that came about from that spate of experimentation was a connection with <a href="http://andrewjones.zerendipity.com">Andrew Jones</a>. I hesitated about asking him to connect with me directly, since we had only communicated via email, and he was (quick calculation...<a href="http://home.justwerks.com">Evan</a> -> <a href="http://brendonwilson.zerendipity.com">Brendon</a> -> Andrew) 3 degrees away from me. But in the end, I was "linked" to Andrew.

I just recently went back to my LinkedIn page, and found it polluted! Filled with page after page of people that were so far removed, with so many other links, that I would never think of contacting them. So, I think I'm in favour of short-chain links -- they are more valuable. You <strong>can</strong> search by "degrees away", but that is also only useful if all the links are actually strong links. That is, I would never link in someone that I didn't really know or had some direct interaction with.

What actually prompted me to write was Dan York's <a href="http://www.advogato.org/person/dyork/diary.html">most recent (27 Jul 2003) diary entry</a>, where he talks about similar issues with key signing.