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“I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

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Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#91

Post by Kurtz79 »

Spearchucker wrote: post #46
Kurtz79 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's sad there are people for which having an invisible boyfriend/girlfriend is an appealing idea (which is the entire premise of the service), regardless if it's the case with the writer of the article. "On its Web site, Invisible Boyfriend calls itself “believable social proof”: When your mom won’t stop asking you when you’re going to settle down, or your weird male acquaintance keeps hitting on you, you can just w…

It's also sad that people are saddened by others not like them. The world would be a lot nicer if we accepted, instead of being saddened.

"Being sad" means exactly that, and does not imply having disdain, disrespect or not accepting someone.

I'm just saying that whatever problems these persons have with their lives, I cannot see how this service can be of help in any way.

If anything, the problem is with society and social pressure: by conforming to it, and not fight it, you'll end up exacerbating the cause of the problem.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#92

Post by jusben1369 »

xianshou wrote: post #2

A perfect application of the Forer effect: humans have an amazing ability to interpret what can apply to anyone as having special significance for themselves. It's the same reason why horoscopes and fortune cookies work. Stepping back and thinking logically, it's easy to see why their messages might apply to a lot of people. But when you're reading one, you can't help but think, "Ah! It says that I would encounter ad…

When I was young I picked up a book at a friend's house on astrology. I am a Taurus. I mistakenly opened it on another sign thinking I was reading the chapter on what made up a Taurus character. I was reading and nodding my head "wow, this is kind of weird. That is me. I do that. Well, I'm not like that but it's not going to be a 100% fit" After several pages I realized my mistake. And then I realized the Forer effect without knowing what it was or that it had a name.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#94

Post by Raphmedia »

Invisible Girlfriend Monthly Subscription: $24.99/month

100 texts 10 voicemails 1 postcard

...

I think 100 texts is a bit low for $24.99/month. The postcard option is very nice, so are the voice mails however.

But how do the voice mails work? Will it be the same voice every time?

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#96

Post by lmm »

return0 wrote: post #59

Not surprised that it works, it looks like something fun to do on both sides. In fact, i believe people who love romance would sign up for a free service like this on both ends. (Since their niche is people who dont want to have the actual relationships, they could easily pair up their users with each other as pure conversation partners). The sad thing is the reason that this app exists. Has it become so taboo to be…

Years ago I worked in the messaging industry. We had an "adult chat" platform in the UK, and to our surprise a lot of the messages looked to be lonely people rather than after something sexual - even had one client wanting to use it in the US, where the phone networks only let you run "non-adult" services, but they reckoned there was enough of a market. (Don't remember what actually happened in the end.)

The trouble is that you need human moderators to prevent trolling/harassment/etc. - and if you're going to pay humans to read every message, you may as well have them write them as well.

> The sad thing is the reason that this app exists. Has it become so taboo to be single that you have to pay to hide it?

Article mentions more traditional cultures, and semi-closeted gays. I think singledom is becoming much more acceptable to our generation than it ever was before - but it doesn't play so well with our parents.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#97

Post by drzaiusapelord »

EGreg wrote: post #89
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, imagine if the gender roles were reversed then. "Haha, you're so much better/funnier/sexier than my gf" would be a disaster to a woman, especially if I spent my day flirting with this fake girl. The hypothetical real girlfriend taking offense at this is 100% understandable. Go ahead and post to /r/askwomen if they think it would be hilarious if their boyfriends and husbands flirted with a fake woman 24/7 and co…

I'm a liberal but probably not the demographic you think. Compare if the situation was reversed for the following phrase: "Oh, you're so much more dependable than my actual gf." Or "Oh, you're so much funnier than my actual girlfriend". Men would get far more offended than women. Why is that? Why aren't there as many female comedians? I think that biologically, women value the intimacy and sexual appeal that their ma…

Justifying dual standards with questionable evolutionary psychology, frankly, is just not convincing.

If I found my wife flirting with other men online, be it via a "fake" service - whatever that may mean, its a serious violation of my trust and damages our relationship on a significant level. I don't care what hamfisted biological theories you toss out, its hurtful and disloyal. We're not all Sheldon Cooper.

>adventures to provide for their tribes.

I don't live in a tribal society and I suspect neither do you. I can't have 10 wives or 20 mistresses nor challenge people to honor duels. In fact, the state demands I'm non-violent, have only one wife, and society puts a great deal of pressure on us to stay monogamous. We have next to nothing in common with cavemen and the tribes of old.

I live in a modern society and play by its rules, that includes taking monogamy seriously in my marriage. My wife doesn't get the luxury of being immune from this because she's a woman and my feelings towards monogamy aren't invalidated because I'm a man.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#98

Post by iopq »

ctdonath wrote: post #70
return0 wrote: post #59

Not surprised that it works, it looks like something fun to do on both sides. In fact, i believe people who love romance would sign up for a free service like this on both ends. (Since their niche is people who dont want to have the actual relationships, they could easily pair up their users with each other as pure conversation partners). The sad thing is the reason that this app exists. Has it become so taboo to be…

The really sad thing is that by using something (like this) to veil singleness, one cuts off any genuine interest from a genuine person. Few will initiate a date with someone texting their (unbenownst virtual) "significant other".

She doesn't want the unattractive guys to hit on her, so she texts her fake significant other. The fantasy of an attractive guy being her boyfriend is better than a real boyfriend being just a regular guy.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#99

Post by lmm »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #14
brador wrote: post #9

It's surprising how many people are dateable once you remove looks from the equation.

For most people, looks ARE part of the equation. It's like removing Pi from an equation. I wonder what's going to happen when science makes looks whatever we want, like hair color.

> For most people, looks ARE part of the equation. It's like removing Pi from an equation.

Did you read that OKCupid piece on when they turned off profile pictures for a day? Supposedly the result was better for their users - people who went on these "truly blind dates" had significantly better odds of a successful relationship coming out of it than the site average. Looks do matter, but the way we encounter each other via technology is artificial and superficial. I wonder if there would be a market for a text-only matching app.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#100

Post by CitizenKane »

Funny to see this here. My business partner did the design and I'm friends with the team.

I can't say that I feel much for the business, but I've been continually impressed by its ability to generate press. People _love_ talking about and debating this concept, and I can't say that I've been completely free from it.

That being said, this is currently probably the most covered startup from Saint Louis. While it is nice to see a startup from this ecosystem getting this amount of press attention, it's disappointing at the same time. I know a lot of people working on very ambitious and difficult problems that would kill for a tenth of the amount of attention that Invisible Boyfriend and Invisible Girlfriend get.

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