I don't get this trend with myspace

I understand myspace is a great tool for keeping in touch and catching up with people you haven't talked to for a while.

One of the fundamentals is the "friends" system - you can see a persons other friends and find if you know any, if so adding them and expanding your network.

Yet a trend I have seen develop lately has been to hide the friends thing - what the hell?
People say that its because of the ranking system - that people get pissed off if they aren't number 1 on every single persons myspace.

I can see a solution to this - either have it random or alphabetical

But by hiding your friends list, you are completely sabotaging the effective operation of myspace. How else are you to find people?