Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed • Hacker News Board

Re: Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed

#141

Post by sangnoir » Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 4:28 PM UTC

_exnk wrote: post #96

vbtemp wrote: post #34

I had an idea for a dating app a while back, in which the basic idea is that you pay the service to message someone (above a free weekly limit of say 1 msg). The pricing would be reactive - as popular attractive people get more messages, the more it would cost to message them, growing exponentially in order to limit incoming messages to approx a few a day. Unpopular people who got few messages would have a price that…

Purely a thought experiment here: what do you think would happen if rather than making "ugly people" free to message, you incentivized the message? Pay $1 per message to a hot person, get paid $1 per message to an ugly person. I wonder if that market would find equilibrium. Edit: I guess the "purely a thought experiment" disclaimer got dismissed by everybody looking for a little outrage today. This is not a business…

That's so easy to game this system - people will send "hey" to 10 non-hot people, just to be able to afford a proper message to one attractive person

Re: Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed

#142

Post by wccrawford » Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 4:28 PM UTC

zozbot234 wrote: post #87

Someone1234 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One idea I've had is to disallow conversation in the app, and instead focus on making date plans if there's a match. You should likely run this idea past a few women. The typical reason they want to converse before meeting is security: Meeting strangers is dangerous and they want to "sniff test" to see if it is safe enough to even go that far. Your app idea largely seems to exist to solve issues men have with datin…

This is silly, you can't expect to screen out bad actors in a brief online conversation, least of all via text. You should arrange to meet at a safe, neutral place that provides its own (formal or informal) physical security.

I think you haven't seen some of the creepy or horrible stuff that some men say on dating apps. Some of the women I dated would tell me about them.

While you can't guarantee a good date, you can at least eliminate the worst and unsafe-est dates by a little messaging.

I dated for a while on various services before choosing OKCupid and sticking with it. I talked to and dated several women before I met the woman who is now my wife.

That included some chat up front, then picking a safe, public location to meet and do something. I'm lucky to live in Orlando, so it was very often a theme park. If either of us were unhappy, we could just go our separate ways and be done. (Thankfully that never happened to me.)

Re: Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed

#143

Post by cdirkx » Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 4:28 PM UTC

vbtemp wrote: post #34

I had an idea for a dating app a while back, in which the basic idea is that you pay the service to message someone (above a free weekly limit of say 1 msg). The pricing would be reactive - as popular attractive people get more messages, the more it would cost to message them, growing exponentially in order to limit incoming messages to approx a few a day. Unpopular people who got few messages would have a price that…

Yes this is indeed what some dating apps do.

Other users are free to message if you two are a "match", or directly - unless they are new or receive too many messages, to "protect their inbox". This information is hidden from the popular users themselves, who often have no idea that others have to pay (directly/in-app virtual tokens/premium subscription) to message them.

Sometimes there is also the mechanic that if you are popular enough yourself, you can message other popular users, working around the problem of the people you most likely would want to connect with being drowned out by the crowd.

Edit: I should mention, this was about paying for the _ability_ to message someone, not paying per message. I think paying per message is largely avoided by legitimate dating apps because it is mostly employed by scam "hookup" sites.

Re: Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed

#144

Post by maximente » Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 4:29 PM UTC

jressey wrote: post #70

erikpukinskis wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you say more about what’s not working? I’ve been with my girlfriend three years, just bought a car together. It’s going well! We met on OKcupid. I’m a happy customer, though I don’t think I’ve ever paid them anything.

Survivorship Bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias I met my wife online after a year of fruitless first dates. Maybe I'm just unappealing or something but it was truly a miserable part of my life. Edit: I'm gonna add in here that most people don't have the stick-to-itiveness that most readers of this site do.

well, when using these sites/apps, people have different motivations. some are fairly short term (exotic weekend abroad, want a romantic experience on top). some just want to meet new people. some want to find whatever love means to them. some people are bored and want attention from people.

it sounds like you wanted to find a long term/partner for kids/etc. type thing. that's fine, just realize not everyone on these sites/apps are looking for that, and there's no motivation to give you that bc your value to them ends when you're off the platform.

Re: Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed

#145

Post by Someone1234 » Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 4:30 PM UTC

klipt wrote: post #86

Someone1234 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One idea I've had is to disallow conversation in the app, and instead focus on making date plans if there's a match. You should likely run this idea past a few women. The typical reason they want to converse before meeting is security: Meeting strangers is dangerous and they want to "sniff test" to see if it is safe enough to even go that far. Your app idea largely seems to exist to solve issues men have with datin…

Ironic that people don't want to meet someone off an app without "sniff test" conversation first, yet are happy to meet strangers at a bar with no prior knowledge of them whatsoever. I guess it's just a lingering bias that makes us think "dating app people are creepy" even though today the people you meet in a bar are probably all on dating apps too.

> Ironic that people don't want to meet someone off an app without "sniff test" conversation first, yet are happy to meet strangers at a bar with no prior knowledge of them whatsoever.

Consider the "social contract" of both situations.

With the bar situation you can literally leave immediately with no social expectation that you should have to interact with that person again.

With the "date" typically they're alone (i.e. she cannot bring friends, unlike a bar) and there's a social expectation to stay at least for whatever constitutes an entire date.

I think it is less irony and more that we have complex social expectations.

Re: Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed

#146

Post by peruvian » Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 4:31 PM UTC

jressey wrote: post #90

zulln wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you met your wife after a year and call the whole thing a failure?

What I'm saying is a might as well have dated random people for a year, it would have been the same result. The dating sites sell you on 'matching.' Oh, and if you think you're using it for free, think again. They are collecting all kinds of personal information about you

> What I'm saying is a might as well have dated random people for a year, it would have been the same result. The dating sites sell you on 'matching.'

Dating apps sell you on showing you more people you otherwise would never meet. The chemistry and "good match" are left to the two people to figure out via chatting and a date.

Re: Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed

#147

Post by empath75 » Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 4:31 PM UTC

astrojams wrote: post #91

I have a friend who used to work for one of the bigger dating app services. He is an AI expert and wrote the matching algorithm for the service. He is very good at his job and his algorithm was so good that people matched, got married and stopped using the dating service. The higher ups in the company noticed the loss of revenue and asked him to make his algorithm worse so that people would match, date, but then brea…

back in the early days of okcupid, my top two suggested matches were my first girlfriend and another girl who I had been friends with for years and had already been on a date with before either of us signed up. It was pretty remarkable. And this was when they didn't have anything like a social graph.

Re: Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed

#148

Post by imdsm » Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 4:31 PM UTC

asynch8 wrote: post #11

mumblemumble wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you talking about the target of this link from TFA? > a new app called Singularity (only built to open on phones not computers).

it was a joke, but i was refering to the news website

I get 403 when connecting from the UK. Connecting via a US access point, I can view it.

Video

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wWkAHOph6A

Text

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Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's The Only Guy Allowed Most of us don't have the tech skills to create an app, but there are other ways to improve your odds for online dating. Author: Ben Briscoe Published: 3:29 PM EST November 20, 2019 Updated: 6:06 PM EST November 20, 2019 GREENSBORO, N.C. — 31-year-old Aaron Smith can put his finger on exactly what’s wrong with dating apps.

“The biggest problem with the other apps is that my face is not featured prominently," he said.

To cut down on competition, he created a new app called Singularity (only built to open on phones not computers). What's unique about the new app is that he’s the only guy allowed on it. No matter how many times you swipe, it’s only different versions of his picture.

“If life gives you lemons, you should first make lemonade," he said. "Then make sure no other companies can produce or distribute their own soft drinks. So the only game in town is lemonade.”

He even made a commercial to promote the app.

Singularity was created with the help of Smith's best friend and software engineer Scott McDowell.

“All of us who have done online dating in some sorta way can all relate to the fact that it really does sometimes suck," McDowell said.

Improving Your Chances

But not everyone has a computer genius at their disposal, so how do you improve your odds? By knowing when and where to look!

HighSpeedInternet.com says Tinder has the most men on it, but to get women, tinder tied with plenty of fish.

Your age matters too. PC Magazine found for 18 to 45 Tinder is king, 25 to 34 it’s plenty of fish and 45 to 65 is most likely to find love on Match.

And a study by Ogury says the best day of the week to make your move is Thursday. Most people use the apps then looking for a date on the weekend.

It Can Happen

And don’t give up hope of finding true love.

“It’s 100 percent possible. We’re proof of it," said Amanda Caudill.

She met Jonathon over Bumble. The two were married less than four months later.

Jonathon and Amanda Caudill Jonathon and Amanda Caudill get engaged. JONATHON CAUDILL “Trust in god to write your love story," Amanda said.

Jonathon said there's another key to success too.

"Be authentic. Be honest," he said. "Too many people try to sell themselves like a car. Just be honest.”

And know one day you too could delete all these dating apps.

"Hallelujah,” Amanda rejoiced.

As for Aaron, he hasn’t heard from many women after making his new app.

“No, well other than like my mom who calls me. No.”

But he hopes creativity will be the key to finally making love happen.

"Hopefully it will give people a chuckle about just the absurdity of what we’re reduced to as a society," he said.

Re: Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed

#149

Post by rahidz » Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 4:32 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #97

akersten wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Match is not responsible for your lack of success in online dating. Having a lot of brands is not a good reason to involve the government. Hilton hotels has over a dozen brands. There's nothing stopping you from creating a competing dating app. If you have some insight into what's "extremely broken" and a solution for it, you might even attract customers. Sorry for being brash, but I've been seeing a lot of unjustifi…

What major dating sites are not owned by Match?

Bumble, despite Match's best attempts to buy it out, and once that failed, to sue it into oblivion.

Re: Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed

#150

Post by goatinaboat » Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 4:32 PM UTC

klipt wrote: post #86

Someone1234 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One idea I've had is to disallow conversation in the app, and instead focus on making date plans if there's a match. You should likely run this idea past a few women. The typical reason they want to converse before meeting is security: Meeting strangers is dangerous and they want to "sniff test" to see if it is safe enough to even go that far. Your app idea largely seems to exist to solve issues men have with datin…

Ironic that people don't want to meet someone off an app without "sniff test" conversation first, yet are happy to meet strangers at a bar with no prior knowledge of them whatsoever. I guess it's just a lingering bias that makes us think "dating app people are creepy" even though today the people you meet in a bar are probably all on dating apps too.

yet are happy to meet strangers at a bar with no prior knowledge of them whatsoever.

You can easily do a social proof check on a stranger in a bar by checking out their friends. That’s why it’s such a successful strategy to go on the pull with a wingman/winggirl.