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OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

nytimes.com

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Re: OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

#31

Post by beachstartup »

burgers wrote: post #30
beachstartup wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because it doesn't subscribe to his fantasyland world where all people are equal in the sexual marketplace.

This has nothing to do with my "fantasyland" or wanting everyone to be equal. Its about making racial and other generalizations without publishing the full data with it. Racial and gender generalizations are dangerous things for a society. If you are going to go down the road of pointing out these things, you need to do it with extra caution and transparency.

i can tell you're going to have a great time with this thought-police hobby of yours. there's so much for you to do out on the internet!

Re: OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

#32

Post by burgers »

beachstartup wrote: post #27
burgers wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So while its fun to play around with data, these are not real insights. The very idea that they can think some metric you've gathered via an online app can determine whether someone finds someone else attractive is goofy. But then publicly publishing that narrative, which is straight up pseudo science, is dangerous as people in the general public will use this kind of thing to say stuff like, "I read online that they…

> "I read online that they did this study about Latino men and it said that they all think black women are ugly" what you're doing is called "projection" - you're taking your own thoughts, and assuming others have the same ones. ironically, i bet you're a white guy - because all of the black, latino, asian guys i know talk about this stuff openly. in general, my white friends find this kind of talk extremely unsettli…

> people in the general public will use this kind of thing to say stuff like, "I read online that they did this study about Latino men and it said that they all think black women are ugly".

Maybe you should go back and read what I wrote one more time. I said that "people in the general public", not "I think that".

1. I know this is pseudo science so I don't read anything into it. 2. Plenty of people have no experience with data science and do not know the difference between causation and correlation.

Can you do me a favor, and stop projecting your issues with political correctness onto me? I'm sorry you've had your difficulties with it in the past, but my comments have nothing at all to do with the topics making me uncomfortable. It's because as a society as a whole, there are many people that will use this type of information to spread hate. If okCupid or anyone else is going to do it, they need to release all of their data publicly at the same time so that there can be a complete and two sided discussion with all the data available.

Lastly...

> because all of the black, latino, asian guys i know talk about this stuff openly. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=I%20Have%20Bl...

Re: OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

#33

Post by burgers »

mpweiher wrote: post #28
Chinjut wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does it have to do with?

Preference. See Wikipedia. "Racism consists of both prejudice and discrimination based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples" ... "In sociology and psychology, some definitions only include consciously malignant forms of discrimination.[4][5] While some consider any assumption that a person's behavior is tied to their racial categorization is inherently racist, regardless of whether the acti…

So I guess the KKK isn't racist. Interesting...

> "We're not racists," Chambers told CNN Monday. "We just want to be with white people. If that's a crime, then I don't know. It's all right to be black and Latino and proud, but you can't be white and proud. I don't understand it."

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/12/a-kinder-gentler-k...

Re: OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

#34

Post by purerandomness »

Natsu wrote: post #24
nether wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pressure from management? Sam Yagan is still the site's CEO. Also the pressure must have failed because he's releasing a whole book about his findings now, not just blog posts. You people are ridiculous.

Most of us have not forgotten the "why you should never pay for a dating site" analysis that vanished, nor will we any time soon. EDIT: Might as well link to it while I am at it - http://machinesentience.com/why_you_should_never_pay_for_onl... Also, I know the explanation they gave. I don't give a damn whether anyone was pressured into taking it down and they never bothered to actually explain what was wrong with the…

Wikipedia has a link to a copy at archive.org, for anyone who missed it in 2010: http://web.archive.org/web/20101006104124/http://blog.okcupi...

Re: OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

#35

Post by mpweiher »

burgers wrote: post #33
mpweiher wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Preference. See Wikipedia. "Racism consists of both prejudice and discrimination based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples" ... "In sociology and psychology, some definitions only include consciously malignant forms of discrimination.[4][5] While some consider any assumption that a person's behavior is tied to their racial categorization is inherently racist, regardless of whether the acti…

So I guess the KKK isn't racist. Interesting... > "We're not racists," Chambers told CNN Monday. "We just want to be with white people. If that's a crime, then I don't know. It's all right to be black and Latino and proud, but you can't be white and proud. I don't understand it." http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/12/a-kinder-gentler-k...

That statement is not racist. I doubt that statement is the full extent of the KKKs racism...

Re: OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

#36

Post by beachstartup »

burgers wrote: post #32
beachstartup wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I read online that they did this study about Latino men and it said that they all think black women are ugly" what you're doing is called "projection" - you're taking your own thoughts, and assuming others have the same ones. ironically, i bet you're a white guy - because all of the black, latino, asian guys i know talk about this stuff openly. in general, my white friends find this kind of talk extremely unsettli…

> people in the general public will use this kind of thing to say stuff like, "I read online that they did this study about Latino men and it said that they all think black women are ugly". Maybe you should go back and read what I wrote one more time. I said that "people in the general public", not "I think that". 1. I know this is pseudo science so I don't read anything into it. 2. Plenty of people have no experienc…

so in other words... i'm right, you're a white guy.

Re: OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

#37

Post by kachnuv_ocasek »

burgers wrote: post #33
mpweiher wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Preference. See Wikipedia. "Racism consists of both prejudice and discrimination based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples" ... "In sociology and psychology, some definitions only include consciously malignant forms of discrimination.[4][5] While some consider any assumption that a person's behavior is tied to their racial categorization is inherently racist, regardless of whether the acti…

So I guess the KKK isn't racist. Interesting... > "We're not racists," Chambers told CNN Monday. "We just want to be with white people. If that's a crime, then I don't know. It's all right to be black and Latino and proud, but you can't be white and proud. I don't understand it." http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/12/a-kinder-gentler-k...

Of course, there's nothing racist in that statement. Their actions don't seem to be in accord with their words, though.

Re: OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

#38

Post by hueving »

burgers wrote: post #32
beachstartup wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I read online that they did this study about Latino men and it said that they all think black women are ugly" what you're doing is called "projection" - you're taking your own thoughts, and assuming others have the same ones. ironically, i bet you're a white guy - because all of the black, latino, asian guys i know talk about this stuff openly. in general, my white friends find this kind of talk extremely unsettli…

> people in the general public will use this kind of thing to say stuff like, "I read online that they did this study about Latino men and it said that they all think black women are ugly". Maybe you should go back and read what I wrote one more time. I said that "people in the general public", not "I think that". 1. I know this is pseudo science so I don't read anything into it. 2. Plenty of people have no experienc…

Your last link is irrelevant. Did you read the part where he said he was Asian?

Re: OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

#39

Post by corey »

mpweiher wrote: post #28
Chinjut wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does it have to do with?

Preference. See Wikipedia. "Racism consists of both prejudice and discrimination based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples" ... "In sociology and psychology, some definitions only include consciously malignant forms of discrimination.[4][5] While some consider any assumption that a person's behavior is tied to their racial categorization is inherently racist, regardless of whether the acti…

"because stereotyping necessarily subordinates individual identity to group identity"

No it doesn't. Many stereotypes are useful when you have very little information about a person. You're only subordinating individual identity to group identity if you refuse to update your beliefs about a person after receiving new evidence about him.

Re: OkCupid’s Unblushing Analyst of Attraction

#40

Post by Theodores »

keerthiko wrote: post #2

I have a lot of respect for the people behind OkCupid. They tread a lot of grey areas that many online entities are scared to. On the whole, I also think usage of willfully submitted and gathered user data for things other than advertising is amazing. Too many companies have invested too many resources into data analytics purely for increasing revenue from advertising. I think if companies can find ways to gain bette…

> I have a lot of respect for the people behind OkCupid.

Those people being match.com - the same people that operate the 'tinder' app.

Much like how the company that sells the eco-friendly smoothies is probably Coca Cola.

Ultimately match.com want to own online dating. Since there is always going to be a niche for free dating sites (as well as the subscription model), they have to have the best 'free'/freemium dating site going. The marketing/PR consists of 'insights' rather than TV adverts or social networking thingies. The site is just one part of their strategy to own online dating. People on the site might not pay, however those adverts probably bring in a lot of revenue - see Plenty of Fish story.

Returning to the eco-friendly smoothies - there are no saints at the helm of the company determined to make a better world, they are just doing what is needed to bring in the revenue for the parent company and making sure nobody else is in that space. Another analogy - big software company making sure their software is reasonably easy to pirate so people don't use any other software, free or paid for.

Clearly OKCupid was more valuable to match.com than anyone else hence they bought it. However the idea is no more respect worthy than the operations of the eco-friendly smoothie company owned by a fizzy drinks giant mega corporation.

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