How can anyone dislike people they have never met? - if anyone is foolish enough to send me a friend request then I accept it, (I've never sent any out lol)

I would simply say no, but then i would message them and say Im sorry for the refusal but I think its best and go into why you dont really like them

I tend not to accept or refuse, but simply do not reply if it is someone I am unsure of. Or if it is a newbie, I send them a message saying that I need to see the cut of their jib better first!

I tend not to be overly verbose normally so I would just decide yes or no unless they asked for a reply if no.

I don't dislike anyone on the site so any friend's request I get will be accepted.

Actually, not all. In the unlikely event of the two members who have shown me animosity asking me to be a friend, I think I would just not reply. I wouldn't want to accept or get involved in explanations as to why I didn't want to.

I know perhaps the right thing to do would be forget about any problems, and I would in real life, but I see no reason to do so on here.

I don't think you could click the No button without an explanation so if you didn't want to do that, either accept or don't reply.

But don't worry about it too much - if you don't like someone don't answer their questions and they won't feel they know you well enough to ask to be your friend, so there will be no problem.

I believe it was Thoreau who said "Let me live by the side of the road, and be a friend to man". I have responded favorably to every friend request I have received, and (happily) eveyone I have asked has accepted. So I have a fairly sizeable network of LycosIQ friends now, I'm glad to say.

I can't imagine the couple of people on this site for whom I have little regard or respect sending me a friend invitation. But, hypothetically, if one did I would message him/her back and ask why I was being invited. Then, in an exchange of correspondence we would either resolve the reasons for my (let us say) dislike; or we would agree just to drop the matter, without hostility or rancor.

soft.centre, I think you may be getting slightly confused.
It's a Network request not a friend request. Having someone on your network doesn't necessarily mean they're your friend.
It can be useful to have members in your network that interest you and contribute alot to the site. By using the "My Network questions" it is easier to find their questions.

I'm always happy when someone has taken the time to invite me to join their network. Conversely if someone leaves my Network for whatever reason, I get sad. (you must all think I have the emotional intelligence of an 8 year old.)

The harsh answer is: if you don't want to have someone in your network then refuse their request. It's not a big issue.

Why would you want to deny a friend request? I've had only 4, but I accepted them. What does it matter?

Since the friends aspect of this site seems to mean nothing and serve no purpose, I just click yes if anyone asks me to be their friend. I sometimes make the offer to new memebers, if I like the cut of their jib, just to make them feel more welcome into the IQ community