MySpace may have saved itself from being absolutely intolerable today when it added an option to require a CAPTCHA entry before sending a friend request. Every one's friend Tom announced a host of changes to MySpace this afternoon, most of which were aesthetic and likely to be of consequence only to serious MySpace users.

For the rest of us who keep accounts there primarily to facilitate discovery by old, non-technical friends - the new spam controls will probably be the only change that matters. What a change it is, though! If you've been tempted to cancel you MySpace account because you're tired of porn stars trying to be your friend (is it just me?) now you can log in and change your account settings to block automated friend requests. Sweet. What took so long?