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@Velocio
Thought I'd put this out there because it came up in the pub yesterday...
The social network stuff that's built into this forum... why?
Well it's not for the popularity contest, it's for this: When the site gets bigger (and it is doing so, every day) you won't be able to read everything (if you even do already). What that buddy list thing does is give me the ability to add a small change that will allow you to search for new posts just from those people who appear on your friend list. So instead of having to consume the whole forum, you can choose to be able to follow the mates you make.
So that's the friends stuff... but what about the social groups bit?
Again, think of when the site is big and hard to follow. If all the people who consistently do polo formed a group, you could just check that page for updates. You could also form groups for organising stuff... 3 people working together on a large social ride? Make a social group invite only and work on it there, with your own photo album and history of all your messages there.
I'm not sure social groups are as useful as a friends list, but it's still a helpful thing to have available.
You don't have to use this stuff, but there are some advantages to using it when the forum has grown a bit more or if the time you have available for the forum is very minimal.