The NDA for Friends (opens in new tab)

If someone handed you a friendDA to sign they are indeed being a 'douche'. The site and form exist only to explain the concept.

The ideal usage is no more than saying "friendDA?" to signify a shift in tone and clarify implicit assumptions of the conversation. It's easier to say than "this next idea means more to me than the usual shit we talk about, can we keep it between us?"

It might be worth looking at Rands original post. http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2008/10/19/friendda.ht...

When I've been on the receiving-end of a FrienDA, it's really served more as a signal that the sender wishes me to keep the following to myself. Someone sends the URL and it's a sort of lighthearted and quick way of conveying this information. It didn't even occur to me to take offense at it.

I don't think it's any more effective than just asking the other party to keep something quiet, other than possibly being slightly more memorable, assuming you don't get FrienDAs all the time. To me, it's mostly just a joke.

(And thus, that's why I didn't upvote this story -- who finds the FrienDA and says "finally, I can talk to people about things!"?)

The friendDA isn't meant to protect ideas. It's meant to protect friendships.

(by framing a conversation to prevent honest misunderstandings that nevertheless cause feelings betrayal and violation of trust).

Agreed. A douchebag is the type of person most likely to break an agreement with a friend, so making the agreement "don't be a douchebag" is pointless.