I recently trimmed my friends list down to about half its previous size. It was basically a time management issue. I still occasionally read most of the journals that were previously on my friends list when I'm at home, but I spend less time on LJ at work.

I wound up unfriending a bunch of local real-life friends and I wondered if I should post something apologetic, but then I thought it seemed incredibly self-absorbed to imagine that anyone would care if I kept up with their journal so I didn't bother.

I really wish it was easier to maintain a private reading list. I tried filters but they were more trouble than it was worth.