I agree. The only time I can see it serving any useful purpose is if you are trying to figure out whether some journals have actually been abandoned or if the people are reading and just lurking (and of course that only makes sense to do if you have some/all entries locked, because otherwise they can lurk away and still read it even if you defriend them). Most of the time it's not done for that purpose, but just done so that the poster can get an ego boost by seeing people clamour to stay on the list.