Among the many features Friendster has, my favorite is the one that allows friends to receive and submit testimonials.

I may joke in some I myself wrote for but I never lie. As to the testimonials friends submit, all in all, I only have three requirements. When praising me for example, friends have to be sincere and honest, the first two requirements. And the third requirement comes in, when instead of praising me, a friend chooses to criticize. For that criticism to be approved, it has to be done with good intentions.

Because I look for sincerity and honesty, I reject testimonials in the form of pictures, movies, and combination of words, like mine, depleted of its resources.

Because of testimonials, for example, I learned that I am a brother a cousin never had. I am admired by a friend because I could write a poem “before the smallest Pepsi bottle gets emptied”, never mind the rest of his praises. As a boyfriend, I “rock” though I always knew I am a pain to my girlfriend so, she telling the whole Friendster world that I cause her heartache after heartache is not new to me. I am not even surprised much more moved. But I do repent.

There is a lawyer, who used to be my school mate, who thinks I am h_nds_me. I am not surprised too because I have long ago been convinced by mother. What I like about that Lawyer’s testimonial however is, she recognized the warmth and the goodwill I have towards my friends, and my passion for words, etc.

There is however a testimonial a friend wrote for me that did not pass the sincerity and honesty tests yet is still found in my testimonial lists. Listen to this: “who doesn’t know him (me) in the good ol’ Maskom? He is as passionate as a 50 year-old virgin with the brains of Aristotle, Einstein, and Edgar Allan Poe combined.”

The first sentence is ok. The rest? Lies. If i have “the brains of Aristotle, Einstein, and Edgar Allan Poe combined”, I should at least have written our undergraduate thesis. Instead, it was the person who submitted that testimonial who wrote our thesis for both of us.

And to be compared to a passionate 50 year-old virgin is not very accurate to say the least.

So, why is it there anyway?

Indeed.

Why do you think?

It is there because it passed the “pure intentions” test. It would be stupid for me to think that I am praised when I am being compared with people like Aristotle, Einstein and Edgar Allan Poe given the above mentioned precedent. In fact, I am being mocked!

It is sad that from time to time, Friendster’s system malfunctions erasing some if not all testimonials. I have written a testimonial for a friend, Anne, for example. I like that testimonial so much because I was able to invent figures of speech for that piece alone. Friendster system failed erasing my testimonial for her. And I have no copy of that.

Then one time, I visited my Friendster account and when I looked at my testimonial pages, about three or four pieces were missing.

Of course, I was in panic! Given her hectic schedule, it is not easy for a lawyer to write another testi for me. I could not ask my girlfriend to rewrite a testi she wrote for almost a week, and so on.

Fortunately, when I visted the next day, the prodigal testimonials were home again.

But I no longer trusts Friendster to keep my friends’ testi for me and vice versa. I saved a copy of the new ones I wrote, those I still can retrieve, and those written for me.

Here are some of the testimonials I wrote for friends:

For Mark       For Zenith       For Sam    For Don      For Carlo       

For Coco         For Jan

Would you like to read the testimonials my friends wrote for me? Please click here.