Confused about "Friend Request Sent" feature on Facebook?

Question

I found an acquaintance on Facebook (I only just joined a few days ago) and sent him a friend request, using the "add friend" tab at the top of his front page profile. A few days have passed and so far, I have received no E-mail to confirm that he has accepted me as a friend (obviously because he hasn't....yet, if ever). When I have checked his online profile, it says in a gray tab "friend request sent" and has remained that way ever since.

How long will the "friend request sent" tab remain on the screen for? Does my potential-new friend have a time limit to accept or decline my request or will "friend request sent" stay permanently on his profile until he makes a choice?

Is it also true that if a person ignores/declines a request for friendship that the tab will disappear from the screen and return to "add friend" status?

If, after a period of time, the "friend request sent" tab returned to "add friend" (if my first request was ignored/declined), would that come across as harassment (in which case, I should take the first answer as the only answer, accept his choice and move on)? Am I allowed to request a second time to be friends?

Is it possible that "friend request sent" is only still displaying on the screen because my potential new friend is so very busy, that he may have not yet found the time to check his E-mail and doesn't even know a friendship request is there? This leads me back to my previous question being, how long can a "friend request sent" status remain online without a yes or no?

More importantly, can some requests for friendship automatically be declined/ignored because the potential-new friend was so very busy, that they never got a chance to give an answer to the person requesting to be friends, even though they may have been aware of the request and even WANTED to be friends? Do you see what I mean? I'm mixed up about all this. Is it possible to be ignored or declined by someone UNINTENTIONALLY because the potential-new friend was so very busy, that he/she didn't get time to give a yes to the person and sincerely wanted to? And, if I've been rejected/ignored, please can someone tell me how to know?

Many thanks for all your help. (*_*)

Answer 1

If your friend doesn't accept your friendship and doesn't take any action, 'friend request sent' remains unchanged. The status remains unchanged until he closes the account.



If he declines the request, the tab returns to "add friend" in your friends profile.



The request cannot be automatically declined or accepted. Most of the times, you get a notification in the top bar about the new friendship request. If you check it and don't take any action, the notification will be disabled. For then, you need to manually check the friendship request page.

Answer 2

As you said, your friend might have ignored it...

It may last for 1 or 2 months (max)



But a friend request will not automatically get ignored



And Facebook will not let you know about that ignorance

So the thing you want to do is...



wait...wait....and wait again............

Answer 3

I wouldn't. Chances are his life never really panned out for him so he's taking a shot in the dark and trying to get in touch with ANYONE who will talk to him. Don't be naive. You're life was fine without him. Keep it like that.