Achievements are often used to guide players through a site's many features, doesen't matter if it's directly gameplay related or not, (and in fact, they are, this is a multiplayer game where you constantly interact with other people even if unknowingly), if this achievement were removed, we'd have an unexplored site feature that is generally accessible to every user, and would that make sense? Not really.

It's just an achievement, and while I know there can be a weird mishmash between people's general social anxiety (which can be overcome, even if crippling) and completionism (we did just well without achievements before and can be ignored) it is a very minute one.

Honestly, I'm surprised that this doesn't have more support and am disappointed to see the OP's concerns dismissed. I see many responses that reference that there are threads to gain friends and that a player can always send a friend request and then delete it.

That's missing the point entirely.

I don't enjoy games that force the player into unwanted social interaction. I left the site when I realized that Lorwolf was adding companions that would be locked behind hunting referrals for the site. A few months later I check back to see if any improvements or changes for the better had occured and find even more forced interaction has been added. I do not intend to spam for referrals, spam for friends, or spam the forum - and as a player I really shouldn't feel like my arm is being twisted to do so.