Tell me all about buddy lists

I looked in the rules to learn about buddy lists but all I could really find was this:

So, would anyone like to expound on this anymore?

What are they like? Are they easy to access? Do they automatically add subscriptions? Would someone know if they are my buddy if I added them, and is there even an etiquitte about asking? I would imagine not since CK said to be discreet about who’s on it, and it was written before the time of PM’s.

There are a number of Dopers I love to follow, be that they’re intellectual, or interesting, funny, or other reasons. Now with the search time increased it just make’s it a bit more annoying to find them unless I trip across one of their posts in a thread. Tripping hurts dammit!

From the FAQ:

Mainly it is just useful to see if someone is on-line or not. The new PM function is facilitated to a small degree by the buddy list.

The “Buddy” is not notified that they are on your Buddy list.

You cannot even use it as quick access to the User profile to check for recent posts. It probably will not be a big help in what you addressed in your OP.

Jim

Testing, testing…

Regards,
Shodan