When I first started playing, visiting neighbors (and being visited by neighbors) seemed to be integral to progressing in events. Since then, EA has made almost every event playable with just a handful of neighbors so I no longer cull my neighbor list. I have two neighbors who haven't logged on in over a year, but I like their towns so much that I've never deleted them. After an event with currency, their towns usually reset and everything is tappable again. I am probably their only active friend so I almost never succeed in exhausting their town before the next event.
Although it is super easy to delete and add new people, the new ones are rarely any better than the old unless they're forum regulars.
