Every time I visit my MySpace account, I keep getting this creepy feeling like I’m in some sort of sci-fi, future-apocalyptic ghost town. A town where the occupants have all inexplicably vanished, but all of the machinery that was created to market goods and services to them is still intact.

I get inundated with (obviously automated) requests from bands, marketing people, comedians, etc. and I used to just approve them, because I figured: Why not? What could it hurt to have more “friends?” Well, it doesn’t hurt anything, per se, but it greatly reduces the quality of whatever human interaction may still be possible on this site.

I’ve always maintained a personal policy that I would/will never send any MySpace messages, comments or Friend Requests in any sort of automated way. If you receive one of these from me, it’s actually *from me*…personally. The only thing I have automated on here is that my status updates are fed from my Twitter. (http://twitter.com/jonautry)

But adhering to that kind of ethos simply isn’t enough anymore.

So beginning January, 1st 2010, I’ve blocked all requests from Bands and Comedians. (Film Makers haven’t proven to be troublesome thus far, so they remain unblocked as of this writing.) Furthermore, each day or so I will be deleting a few pages worth of Bands/Comedians on my friends list unless I either know, have worked with or am an actual fan of them. My friends list is going to be like George Costanza after a dip in the pool.

If you’re a band/artist/comedian and I know you, or you’re a fan or lonely or want nude pics or all of the above, but can’t friend me because my settings just shoot me a quick message and I’ll send a request. No big deal.

And, to reiterate, if you receive a friend request from me, it’s actually from me and not automated through software. If you don’t know me and get a request from me it’s probably due to someone we know or like in common.

As my friend Joost said recently: “2010 is about love and quality, not greed and quantity”

-Jon