[Catch 22]

I'm not positive on this one, but I had two really good photos taken of me recently and added them to my ok stupid profile. As you'd expect, I got more more e-mails and the quality went up a little (they started liking my personality from what I wrote in the profile, of course).

But then after like a week, I noticed that the women popping up in my searches were much better looking. Like legit 7's and even the occasional 8, which is tough to find in most DC bars. And then I noticed the women who viewed my profile were a lot better looking than before too. And so were the girls who wrote me.

Which leads me to conclude, ok stupid must have some algorithm that splits people based on looks and popularity. When it starts to realize that you're a better looking guy, it shows you to better looking women. And since they don't seem any harder to hit up than the others on there, ok stupid must be keeping the hot women from showing up on searches from hit up dudes.

If that's true, I wonder if this can be gamed. Use fake photos until you hit the top of the algorithm and get access to the top girls? Then open them all at once with your real photos? Has anybody tried anything like that before?

[haywire]

It's a fact that okcupid does discriminate based on hotness. Those who are better looking than a certain threshold(based on 4-5 star ratings) receive an email saying "you're hot, you'll see hotter people now".

But what you are suggesting hasn't been field tested here before. Why don't you give that a shot?

[Basil Ransom]

(11-24-2012 06:24 PM)haywire Wrote:  

Those who are better looking than a certain threshold(based on 4-5 star ratings) receive an email saying "you're hot, you'll see hotter people now".

Yes, I received one of these emails. OKCupid was full of absolute trolls before I got it.

[Single Dad Swag]

I got that email, too... but didn't notice any major improvement in quality.

It is also important to note that I received this email after about a week or so of not logging in. We suspected in the OKC metathread that this is simply a ploy to lure back inactive members. I think someone even said they got that email with a profile that didn't even have pictures up.

If, for some reason, there is a legit algorithm- your idea would be worth trying out.

[Private Man]

Let's never forget that the purpose of an online dating website is to keep people single!. This means that they continue to pay for the monthly membership of the premium features.

If online dating worked really, really well... well, they'd put themselves out of business.

However, online dating is still a valid option for many men and women, despite the inherent flaws with the business model.

[Scott]

(11-25-2012 02:53 PM)Private Man Wrote:  

Let's never forget that the purpose of an online dating website is to keep people single!. This means that they continue to pay for the monthly membership of the premium features.

If online dating worked really, really well... well, they'd put themselves out of business.

However, online dating is still a valid option for many men and women, despite the inherent flaws with the business model.

OK Cupid is free aside from the option of throwaway premium features.

[Private Man]

(11-25-2012 04:13 PM)Scott Wrote:  

OK Cupid is free aside from the option of throwaway premium features.

Those aren't throwaway features, they make good money from those "minor" features. The same goes for Plenty of Fish. Online dating is a huge business and if it were truly successful, online dating would be much smaller. There's an incentive - via the business model - to make sure ignorant folks are single and looking. Regardless, it's one of the best ways to meet women if the guy has a consistent strategy.

[Samseau]

(11-25-2012 02:53 PM)Private Man Wrote:  

Let's never forget that the purpose of an online dating website is to keep people single!. This means that they continue to pay for the monthly membership of the premium features.

If online dating worked really, really well... well, they'd put themselves out of business.

However, online dating is still a valid option for many men and women, despite the inherent flaws with the business model.

But there has to be enough success stories or else women won't sign up. People need to believe they will profit from their online profiles, which means women need to see other women finding successful relationships.

[RandalGraves]

Dating sites don't have to do anything intentional at all in order to keep people single and coming back to the site. It's really just a part of human nature: you become addicted to the attention and validation of OKCupid and those sites. You get a rush every time you see your notification light up pink--or buzzed on your smartphone--when you get a message.

From a thread on reddit why a guy was closing his account:

Quote:

Sunday, I woke up to NINE notifications, four of them messages. I was elated.

That afternoon, I had no new messages. I was crushed.

I've stopped caring about my work, my hobbies, anything but turning that little mailbox pink. I have addiction issues. And that's not hyperbole -- I have nearly relapsed on my sobriety because of OkC.

I think it's really similar to a gambling addiction. Pull the lever on the slot machine, pull the lever, pull the lever, reward! Send a message, send a message, send a message, reward!

It's easy for people to get hooked on the ups and downs, especially girls in their drive for validation. Some of the girls who flaked out on me after a couple dates, I had to laugh at these 5's and 6's who don't have their lives together rejecting me. It's all the attention on OKCupid they get addicted to and inflates their ego.

I mean, look at Plenty of Fish... they have the shittiest web design ever, like a 2006 MySpace page. And yet they're the biggest dating site in the world. Goes to show you don't even have to try as a dating site, it's the underlying mechanics of human behavior.

[Catch 22]

(11-24-2012 06:24 PM)haywire Wrote:  

It's a fact that okcupid does discriminate based on hotness. Those who are better looking than a certain threshold(based on 4-5 star ratings) receive an email saying "you're hot, you'll see hotter people now".

But what you are suggesting hasn't been field tested here before. Why don't you give that a shot?

I got that e-mail awhile ago and didn't notice much of a difference in quality. What I'm talking about is something beyond that. I'm floored by the quality of what I've been seeing lately and who I've been interacting with on there...in Washington DC of all places! And I got my first online dating notch this week with minimal effort. Very weird. I'm someone who always said online game was a total waste of time, but something funny is going on here. Either DC has had some amazing influx of women or there's some secret VIP area of OKcupid that I've magically stumbled upon. I don't know.

[Kwisatz]

I got the “You’re Hot! email and noticed a big difference in the quality of women. They were much prettier after that.

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

I got such an e-mail once, but it didn't make any difference because there are maybe 50 women total registered in my country

[Fatless]

I got the good-looks email, and indeed the quality in the "special blend" filter, quickmatch, quiver, and visitors all DID go up in quality. What did go down was my visitors! Funny, right? But I guess my profile isn't being show to too many 4's and 5's anymore who all click on it.