I've got an unusual idea for making friends

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Ok, don't dismiss this right away -- it's a little intriguing if you really think about it.

Eharmony's approach to guiding single-and-looking individuals toward a compatible, meaningful romantic relationship is to allow apparently-similar people to gradually, stage by stage, find out a little more about each other. At each stage, the system asks each person whether they would like to continue to share with and learn about the other person, or whether they have become disinterested, at which point the connection is simply ended. I know this process well, as I was an eharmony member for about a year. That process has a lot to say for it in its method, even though I did not find a match, and I know others who also did not. Romance is probably more complex and tricky than friendship, though.

So... why not have an eharmony-type website, but aiming toward uniting potential friends instead of romantic partners?

There's Facebook, but the problem with Facebook in meeting new people is its lack of the above-mentioned stages. Well, there's up to 2 stages -- the hide-everything-about-yourself stage before adding the friend, and the let-them-view-your-entire-life stage after adding them. Those are clearly too few stages!

In contrast, Eharmony has like 15-20 stages. (It's been a long time, so someone please correct that numerical guess.)
On Facebook, people almost always either know too little or too much about you for your own good -- there's not a way to attain that happy medium of gradual mutual revelation. I mean, seriously, what if a really good friend for you is out there -- someone with whom you could hang out with or at least have cool conversations with if they live a good ways out of town, simply because of the long list of commonly-shared interests and the compatible personality they happen to share with you.

Thoughts, comments? I don't have the skills, money, or will to actually create something like this, so feel free to be totally frank -- I just want to know if more help in gaining friends, through a controlled online method like the above, could meet a need in society. I don't have a problem with the quality of friends I personally have, but I wouldn't object to adding 1 or 2 more, given that my true friends are quite few.

Sounds like a good, common sense idea. Based on it's commercials, I always felt that E-Harmony's approach was a lot better than the other computer dating sites. However, I find that WP already serves me well enough, along with my day dream pals. Still, others may want more, and this would be a good way of working into a friendship for the socially challenged, like us.