I hate to pour water on this brilliant & fun tongue-and-cheek post, but actually signing the FriendDA in most U.S. states DOES signal intent.

With a strong intention argument, a competent lawyer can make a strong enough prima facia case to at least coax a large settlement--esp if post-dated and verifiable contributions are, in any way, attributable to the "blanket keeper".

The bottom line, in the eyes of the law, is to:

1. Write down and date the details of the idea prior to discussions with any 3rd parties (even friends).

2. If you wish to have discussions, do so ONLY on a one-on-one basis in a U.S. state (a distinct minority) which requires BOTH parties to agree on any surreptitious recording.

Ensuring #1 allows for prior documentation as evidence and ensuring #2 provides for plausible deniability.

That being said, the spirit of the article is great and I've broken BOTH of the aforementioned rules often enough. Life is simply too short to be concerned with legalisms the vast majority of the time.